Donald Hodges, professor of music
Research Close-up: Donald Hodges has music on the brain
(May 17, 2002)--What are the effects of music on the brain? That's what Donald Hodges wanted to find out through his research in music and psychology. Neurobiologists have mapped the brain for many other uses, and Hodges aimed to find out one more: what areas of the brain are activated when a musician performs.
Hodges, UTSA professor of music, is principal investigator for the Music Learning Project funded by Texaco Foundation. Using state-of-the-art tools at the UT Health Science Center Research Imaging Center, Hodges and UTHSCSA researchers Peter Fox and Larry Parsons determined where the brain "lights up" for different aspects of music.
In the first phase, pianists performing Bach activated primarily motor areas in the brain. Communication between the auditory cortex and the cerebellum was also demonstrated, indicating that what a musician hears allows the cerebellum to coordinate motor movements.
In the second, conductors identified melodic, harmonic or rhythmic errors.
There were two primary results. First, music activated areas throughout the
brain--left and right, top and bottom, front and back. And, there were different
neural networks for melody, harmony and rhythm. The first of three additional
studies is nearly complete.
If you're wondering how this information will be used--in curing disease or
teaching music, for example--Hodges says the answer is not yet known. With
the first of three additional study phases nearly complete, he explains the
work falls under the category of basic research, which is solely for the purpose
of gathering information--"science for science's sake," he adds.
But it's important to note that cures do emerge from these basic, bench-science
roots. And, there already have been limited medical uses of music. For one,
doctors successfully operated on a man without using anesthesia, solely by
allowing him to listen to music. Who knows? Patients in the future may be
directed by their physicians to take a "Fifth of Beethoven," and
call them in the morning.
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Research Close-up: Donald Hodges has music on the brain
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© The University of Texas at San Antonio, 2002