A view of the software used by researchers. The principal test was for synchrony — how close a child played to the beat.
Music Could Treat Attention Deficit Disorders
A new study has found that music could be used to treat attention deficit disorders, reports the BBC. Researchers in San Diego, California, undertook a year-long study at a local school. Eighty-five children were introduced to the gamelan – a collection of Indonesian percussion instruments as well as a practice of playing them. In addition to cognitive tests, sensors were attached to the instruments to monitor a child’s ability to play on the beat.
‘So far, we’ve found a correlation between their ability to synchronise and their performance on cognitive tests,’ said Alexander Khalil, who has headed the project and who found that playing music in a group setting helped to focus attention. ‘It is possible that music practice could become a non-pharmacological intervention for problems such as ADHD (attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder),’ said Khalil. ‘We haven’t tested it yet but it’s a possibility.’
‘The ability to time, to synchronise with others underlies all face to face communication,’ said Khalil. ‘People imagine that synchronizing is doing something simultaneously. But synchronizing actually means processing time together — perceiving time together in such a way that we have this common understanding of how time is passing. By learning music, one of the things you learn is rhythm and how to be aware of the temporal dynamic of the world around you and how to keep your attention focused on all of these things while you do what you do.’
