Our brains can turn down our ability to see to help them listen even harder to music and complex sounds, say experts.

A US study of 20 non-musicians and 20 musical conductors found both groups diverted brain activity away from visual areas during listening tasks…

The researchers, from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and the University of North Carolina, used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, which can measure real-time changes in brain activity based on the blood flow to different areas of the brain.

Previous research has identified various parts of the brain involved in vision and hearing…

What the scientists found was that while activity rose, as expected, in the auditory part of the brain, it correspondingly fell in the visual part.

As the task was made harder and harder, the non-musicians carried on diverting more and more activity away from the visual parts of the brain to the auditory side, as they struggled to concentrate.

However, after a certain point, the conductors did not suppress their brains, suggesting that their years of training had provided a distinct advantage in the way their brains were organised…

Dr Bahador Bahrami, from the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, said the study showed the difference in “brain organisation” between musicians and non-musicians…

Source: BBC News, UK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7074695.stm