An estimated one-third of people with autism are nonverbal – yet, music speaks louder than words for many sufferers, becoming a way to relate to the world.
Why Music?
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex disability which interferes with social, verbal and cognitive skills. Amazingly, despite this socio-emotional impairment, people with ASD are often highly attuned to music-evoked emotions. Brain studies show that music can activate cortical and sub-cortical regions which are usually inactive in these individuals. Furthermore, some ASD individuals show activation in language areas whilst hearing music, not speech.
So, in many ways, those with autism adopt a novel voice – a musical language.
Despite this, there is currently no neurological evidence to support the benefit of music. To tackle this, researchers from the International Laboratory Brain, Music and Sound Research conducted a clinical trial of musical intervention.
Megha Sharda and her colleagues recruited 51 children, aged 6 to 12, with ASD; the children were then split into two groups, where only one received musical therapy. The music group worked with a therapist, using musical instruments and songs for social communication. Whilst the other group worked with the same therapist, they used non-musical methods for social communication; both interventions involved 45-minute individual weekly sessions lasting 8-12 weeks.
Remarkably, communication skills were higher in the music group after the intervention. The team also observed increased functional connectivity between the auditory cortex and subcortical/motor regions; this is usually reduced in individuals with ASD. Accompanying this, connectivity between auditory and visual regions decreased.
These findings reveal how music can rapidly reshape the brain, rectifying faulty connectivity between sensory cortices to enhance social interaction.
Reorganising the brain
We’re becoming increasingly aware of music’s power. In many ways, I imagine music as a craftsman, shaping communities, cultures, people – the brain. It’s ability to rearrange old networks in the brain and form new ones – a phenomenon known as neuroplasticity – is impressive.
A study by Huang and colleagues demonstrated this clearly. In the experiment, 20 female college students were enlisted; 10 of them began piano lessons before the age of 7 and continued training for at least 8 years, whilst the other 10 had no musical experience.
The students performed a memory task inside an MRI machine. At first, they listened to 20 words, which they attempted to remember. After this, they heard a list of 40 words; these contained the 20 words they had just heard in random order and 20 new words. Finally, the students had to state which of the 40 words were “old” and “new”.
The results were remarkable: musically trained students had the upper-hand because they could recruit their visual cortex to recall words.
Like most things in the brain, we can’t know for sure why this happens. It could be an adaptation to recall music during performance, however there possibilities are endless. Even so, the idea that musicians can recruit an area specialised for one function to perform another is exciting. Music intervention schemes for individuals with ASD could promote this plasticity, maximising the brain in creative ways.
Still, these are early findings; we need much more research into the neurological benefits of musical therapy before we draw definitive conclusions. Nonetheless, music could be a robust tool for individuals with ASD in the future.
The Neuroscience of Music 