Working in Movement

Much of the Feldenkrais work that I do is based on the idea of using unique movement experiences to sharpen the body image stored in the brain. This can often change the sensory motor system's organization, or at least provide for a novel experience. Some practitioners point to this effect as an example of the brain's plasticity, the ability of the brain to "rewire" itself.

Another example of how experience can reorganize some functioning of the nervous system is in a recent study at Stanford reported in Playing music can be good for your brain / Stanford study finds it helps the understanding of language. The bit of research suggests that musical experience can improve how some aspects of how the nervous system processes spoken language. The researchers suggest musical training could help solve reading problems in children, notably dyslexia. This might be explored in future research.

The researchers divided their subjects into groups of musicians and non musicians before played tone sequences of different pitches slowly, then fast. The musicians were more able to distinguish the different pitches at faster speeds. FMRI differences also showed up in the musician group.

Here's where the reading connection comes in. The researchers then played similiar-sounding word syllables. Musicians made the distinctions more accurately and quickly than non muscians. This is a surprise when you think about it, because we all have experience with syllables.

"The musicians are better able to detect small differences than the non-musicians, which is surprising," said Nadine Gaab, a postdoctoral associate who moved from Stanford to MIT with (researcher John) Gabrieli. "Non-musicians have the same experience with syllables as musicians."

How does this apply to reading?

Many children who become poor readers have a trouble making rapid auditory distinctions, Gabrieli said. That becomes a reading problem, because when the teacher explains that this letter is a "p" and this one a "b," a student with poor processing ability might not hear the difference.

"Once they don't hear the difference, the thought is that they're going to have a hard time" understanding the difference when the letters are written on a page, Gabreli said.

This idea calls for further inquiry. According to Gabreli, this would involve kids identified with hearing difficulties who have a hard time reading. The idea would be to see if a bit of musical training has a significant impact on their language skills.

Interesting idea.