STUDYING THE EFFECTS OF MUSIC ON BRAIN IN RELATION TO COGNITIVE ABILITIES: AN EEG STUDY

Intelligence and Music has been correlated since ages but the exact neural mechanism of how music effectsintelligence is not well understood. An EEG study to decipher the mechanism was performed Spatial mapping offunctional connectivity dynamics (phase coherence, phase delay, and phase slope index analyses) on brain networks revealed reduced information flow in long-distance connections between frontal and parietal cortex, and between other cortical regions underpinning intelligence. EEG spectral power analyses also showed increased power in the prefrontal and occipital cortex leading to enhanced local neural efficiency at the prefrontal lobe, and increased sustained attention.With these findings, we have developed a stimulus-mechanism-end effect based neuro-cognitive model that explains the music induced cognitive enhancement by a three-channel framework - (1) enhanced global efficiency of brain, (2) enhanced local neural efficiency at the prefrontal lobe, and (3) increased sustained attention. Results signify that music directly affects the cognitive system and leads to improved brain efficiency through well-defined mechanisms.