Results 1 to 4 of 4

Thread: Are Drummers Brain Dead?

  1. #1

    User Info Menu

    Default Are Drummers Brain Dead?

    Not according to new science.

    -----------------------------------------------
    From: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/327279.php

    Recently, a group of researchers set out to investigate drumming-associated brain changes.

    The authors, from Bergmannsheil University Clinic and the biopsychology research unit at Ruhr-Universität, both in Bochum, Germany, published their paper in the journal Brain and Behavior.

    To investigate, the scientists recruited 20 professional drummers who had an average of 17 years of drumming experience and practiced for an average of 10.5 hours each week. They also recruited 24 control subjects who did not play any musical instruments.

    The scientists used MRI scanning technology to measure various aspects of their brains' structure and function.

    Earlier studiesTrusted Source looking at other types of musicians have shown that the brain adapts and changesTrusted Source in response to years of practice on musical instruments.

    In general, these studies have examined changes in cortical gray matter, which includes regions responsible for perception, memory, speech, decision making, and much more.

    In the latest study, however, the authors focused on white matter — the information superhighway of the brain.

    When a right-handed person carries out a task with their right hand, the left-hand side of the brain, or the contralateral hemisphere, typically regulates it. When someone carries out a task with their left hand, both sides of the brain tend to share the load.

    The corpus callosum — a thick tract of white matter that connects the two hemispheres — plays an essential role in this hemispheric asymmetry.

    Why white matter?
    White matter contains tracts of fibers that connect distant regions of the brain. In the past, scientists considered white matter to be little more than useful cabling. Today, though, they see it as much more critical to the everyday functioning of the brain.

    In particular, the authors of the current study focused on the corpus callosum. They focused here because they believe that a drummer's "remarkable ability to uncouple the motor trajectories of [their] two hands is likely related to inhibitory functions of the corpus callosum."

    As expected, there were differences in the structure of the corpus callosum between the drummers and non-drummers.

    See rest of article here

  2. #2

    User Info Menu

    Default Re: Are Drummers Brain Dead?

    TL;DR

    Who has time for reading?
    Signature here

  3. #3

    User Info Menu

    Default Re: Are Drummers Brain Dead?

    You would have to find a drummer or any musician that can be clinically proven NOT to be brain dead, otherwise you can't make a valid comparison.

    As drummers, we hit things with sticks which separates us completely from piccolo players who seem to derive great joy from blowing across a hole in a pipe. Has anyone taken a look at them lately?

    Personally, I don't trust anyone who is not a musician because I wonder what it is they do play.
    YOU MESS WITH THE DEVIL YOU KNOW.

    YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE DEVIL YOU DON'T KNOW.

    VAE VICTIS

    ONCE YOU HIT A CERTAIN AGE, YOU BECOME PERMANENTLY UNIMPRESSED BY A LOT OF CRAP.

    I HIT THAT AGE 20 YEARS AGO.

    IF DOGS CAN'T GO TO HEAVEN, I WANT TO GO WHERE THEY GO

    WILL ROGERS

  4. #4

    User Info Menu

    Default Re: Are Drummers Brain Dead?

    I've had my moments.

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •