Study of Musical Brains Notes Link Between Age, Virtuosity

WASHINGTON —  To become a violin virtuoso, you have to start practicing by the age of 12. Thirteen is too late, say scientists who have studied the brains of musicians.

Edward Taub of the University of Alabama, Birmingham said magnetic images of the brains of people who play stringed instruments show that larger and more complex neuron circuits form in violinists who started their training at an early age than among those who began later in life.

“There is an abrupt change at between ages 12 and 13 that appears to be quite dramatic,” Taub said.

Violinists who started studies between ages 3 and 12 showed no significant differences in the brain circuitry. But there was a distinctly reduced level of development, Taub said, in the brains of those who didn’t start musical studies until after age 13.

What causes this dramatic shift at that moment in life “is still unknown,” he said.

Taub is co-author of a study of musical brains, which will be published today in the journal Science.