Author: Derek Beres / Source: Big Think
- Drummers and brass players have stronger visual timing sensitivity than flag spinners in the Color Guard.
- The three groups took part in over 67,000 temporal order judgment (TOJ) trials.
- The finding, while counterintuitive, fits into the complex nature of sensory perception.
“Seeing is believing” is not only a metaphor for discerning truth, but also a visual reality for many. Watching someone perform an act opens the door to mimicry, one of the most efficient ways to learn. In group fitness, for example, a majority of students perform exercises more quickly and effectively after watching a visual demonstration over audio cueing.
Yet distinction between our senses is not as clear-cut as we sometimes assume. This becomes apparent in synesthetes, people whose brains “confuse” their senses, so that certain numbers emit smells and flavors are visualized. One possible reason for this is that syesthetes seem to have stronger myelin connections linking their neural networks.
Subtle brain differences are telling, but as Oliver Sacks, who has written extensively on synesthesia, writes in Musicophilia, musicians have particularly revealing neural maps.
Anatomists today would be hard put to identify the brain of a visual artist, a writer, or a mathematician — but they could recognize the brain of a professional musician without a moment’s hesitation.
This begs the question: Do musicians strengthen other sense perceptions due to their acute auditory training? A new study published in the journal, eNuero, on November 21 suggests that this may be the case.
While the public generally only sees the Color Guard during sporting events or at parades, the training is intense. Growing up, my neighbor’s granddaughter was a…
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