Source

"This Is Your Brain. This Is

Your Brain On Music." NPR.
NPR, n.d. Web. 09 Feb.
2015.

Jncke, Lutz. "Music,

Memory and Emotion."
Journal of Biology. BioMed
Central, n.d. Web. 10 Feb.
2015.

Annotation

Thoughts/Connections

This source provides helpful information on the topic of the

brain and how music enhances the brains ability to interpret
languages. This particular article is based upon a recent study
published by The Journal of Neuroscience. The research was
conducted in the offices Harmony Project in Los Angeles where
dozens of kids learn how to play music. Study shows that kids
who learn to play a particular instrument whether it be a string
or wind, prove to have a better sense of pitch, sound, and
interpretation of speech. This source will help me with my
project because it provides a great base for further research as it
encouraged me to read more on how music relaxes the brain.

This article proved to be a

good staring point as it
motivated me to research
more about my topic.

The article, Music, Memory and Emotion, taken from

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, informs readers in great detail about the
link between music, memory of associated events and emotion.
Auditory signals captured by the brain like musical melodies
and pitches occur naturally. Therefore, the brain has an expected
method of integrating sequential sounds filtered through the
brains auditory system. This is considered a mechanism for
working memory, which is why there is a great overlap between
working memory and musical stimuli. Scientists consequently
infer that musicians have a enhanced verbal working memory.
This site will be helpful to me because it illustrates a distinct tie
between memory and music, which will narrow down my
research plan.

This article was very

interesting to me. I was
excited to learn more about
the brains working memory
and how it is liked to
musical stimuli.

Jenkins, J. S. "The Mozart

Effect." Journal of the Royal
Society of Medicine. The
Royal Society of Medicine,
n.d. Web. 08 Feb. 2015.

The Mozart Effect

and the Mathematical
Connection

This article taken from the Journal of the Royal Society of

Medicine outlines what the Mozart Effect is why. Research
concludes that each person who listened to 10 minutes of
Mozarts Sonata (K448) scored 8 to 9 points better on an IQ test
then individuals who had listened to just white noise. This
article talks about the localization of music perception and
spatial imaging within the brain as well as long-term effects.
Reading this article taught me a lot about spatial reasoning
linked to music

The Mozart effect is a very

interesting topic to read
about. It sounds almost like
a myth when hearing about
it. Listening to Mozart
makes you more relaxed
therefore more focused?
Seems legit to me.

The Mozart Effect and the Mathematical Connection article can

be useful to answer my inquiry question because it covers topics
directly related to the effects music has on the brain and how
music, Mozart in particular, can effect spatial-temporal
reasoning for a temporary amount of time. One with a
misconstrued view on the Mozart Effect might believe that the
Mozart Effect is a faulty theory or on the contrary, may
believe that listening to Mozart will make them a genius
however this is not the case. Listening to Mozart does, however
temporarily boost your brains ability to perform higher-level
scientific thought by enhancing spatial-temporal skills. This
ability is important because it is the brains way of solving
multistep problems in areas such as architecture, engineering,
science, math as well as everyday life. This is one of the reasons
many super markets, or supply chains in general may play
background music so shoppers can listen. This experiment

Researching deeper into the

Mozart effect I found that
listening to specific Mozart
sonatas can affect spatialtemporal reasoning. I can
connect this with my thesis
statement.

captures the publics attentions by providing detailed analyses

and statistical evidence of improved student scores in
mathematics while listening to Mozart.

Music Training Causes long term

enhancement

This particular source will be helpful in my inquiry project

because it provides statistical facts that help answer my inquiry
question. This study proves that teaching pre-school children
about basic piano measures and counting beats. Kids were
taught to associate their fingers with keys on the piano. These
test childrens coordination skills. This study was conducted
over a 5 months period of times incorporating new exercises
each month to see how well children catch on. Spatial temporal
reasoning involves maintain and transforming mental images in
the absence of a physical model. These specific brain functions
help with higher level thinking such as playing chess,
mathematics, and engineering. In a scientific sense, long-term
may only mean roughly one day and scientists have studies
college level students in a similar way. Results show that even
mature brains can be influenced greatly by listening to Mozart
however, jut listening to music will only prime the brain and
will last about 10 minutes.

I was not surprised when I

found that musical training
could cause long-term
enhancement of brain
function. I am excited to
incorporate this into my
paper because it will serve
as a detail that will catch
someones eye.

Short-Term Music Training

Enhances Verbal Intelligence
and Executive Function

This source provides information proving that when kids are

exposed to interactive training programs about music developed
specifically for preschool children, 90% show improvement in
verbal intelligence. These improvements in verbal intelligence
were positively correlated with changes in functional brain
plasticity during an executive-function task. Our findings
demonstrate that transfer of a high-level cognitive skill is
possible in early childhood. (Short-term Music). Research
has demonstrated a connection between music training and
certain brain structures, especially in regions that are also
involved in language processing, such as Heschls gyrus. The
primary hypothesis of this experiment is Music training would
improve verbal intelligence independently of spatial
intelligence, and that visual-art training would improve spatial
intelligence independently of verbal intelligence. The results of
the experiment show only the music group showed significant
improvement in intelligence scores after training, and this
improvement was evident only on the verbal test.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pm This article focuses on how children with low SES backgrounds
c/articles/PMC4268440/#!
have a lesser-developed brain than children who grew up in
po=1.56250
more wealthy environments with more auditory contact.
Programs like the Harmony Project were formed to help these
underprivileged kids develop necessary skills by providing free
musical training. Between 2010 and 2014, 93% of Harmony
Project alumni enrolled in post-secondary education vs. the
67.6% who graduated from public school in Los Angeles

This source was very helpful

to me not only by providing
detailed analyses of the
experiment, but it also lead
to me to find multiple other
sources that could aid in the
writing of my final research
paper. The results of this
experiment were very
promising to read because it
goes hand-in-hand with that
other scholarly articles Ive
found.

This source was very

interesting to me because I
had no previous knowledge
of any projects like the
Harmony Project. This can
be extremely helpful to my
argument because it
describes a real world
situation that people can
relate to.

County. Our laboratory has shown that participation in music

training through Harmony Project can reinforce literacy skills,
enhance the perception of speech in background noise, and
strengthen the neural encoding of speech sounds in children
from low SES backgrounds. (Kraus et al). The children in the
experiment who had great class participation had stronger neural
encoding of speech after the 2 year Harmony Project.
http://www.ecdgroup.com/downl The cornerstone of the High/Scope approach to early childhood
oad/gn1eycxi.pdf
education is the belief that active learning is fundamental to the
full development of human potential and that active learning
occurs most effectively in settings that provide developmentally
appropriate learning opportunities.
Active learningthe direct and immediate experiencing of
objects, people, ideas, and eventsis a necessary condition for
cognitive restructuring and hence for development. Put simply,
young children learn concepts, form ideas, and create their own
symbols or abstractions through self-initiated activitymoving,
listening, searching, feeling, manipulating.
Because children in active learning settings make choices based
on their own interests and questions, and then have time to
follow through on their plans, they are intensely involved with
people and materials and freely share their ideas, findings, and
observations.

This source was very helpful

because it described what
active learning is and how
kids participate in activates
that contribute to active
learning and why it works.

http://www.brainvolts.northwest This article is titled Music Enrichment Programs Improve the

ern.edu/documents/Krausetal_H Neural Encoding of Speech in At-Risk Children. This article
armony_JNeuro2014.pdf
helped me a lot because it is exactly what my thesis is
explaining. It is noted in the abstract of this article that
musicians are often reported to have enhanced
neurophysiological functions, especially in the auditory
systems. The knowledge gained from learning an instrument
improves auditory processing linking to language and cognitive
skills. These skills include auditory memory and attention,
general intelligence and executive functions, understanding
speech in noisy environments, language processing, and literary
skills. The results of this experiment showed that the kids who
took on the 2-year training course showed a marked
improvement in the neural functions. We found an
improvement in the neurophysiological distinctions of the
contrastive speech sounds in children who participated in 2
years of music lessons, but not those who participated in only 1
year. (Kraus)

This source was extremely

helpful to me. It backs up
my thesis statement
perfectly because it
describes how students can
respond to taking music
lessons and how it affects
them academically and
neurologically.