研究显示，音乐训练像一种高强度脑力锻炼，需要同时协调声音、视觉、精细动作、专注与想像力；多项研究发现，职业音乐家某些脑区的灰质比非音乐家更多。现有证据虽未完全定论因果，但已反复指向更好的执行功能、记忆与疼痛耐受，说明音乐活动与更健康的脑功能存在稳定关联。
数据上，2020年的一项研究提示音乐家有更强的执行功能，2017年的一项荟萃分析认为音乐家记忆力更佳，而去年的一项实验让40名参与者接受模拟肌肉酸痛的手部注射后发现，有音乐经验者报告的疼痛更低。儿童时期的训练似乎也重要：2010年的研究发现，7岁前开始学乐器者的胼胝体更大，2014年的研究则将乐器学习与第二语言习得和非语言推理提升联系起来。
晚年持续接触音乐也可能减缓认知衰退。2021年的一项荟萃分析将音乐练习与较低失智风险联系起来，2024年对1,100名英国老年人的研究发现，钢琴和铜管乐手的工作记忆往往更好、木管乐手的执行功能更强、歌手的语文推理更佳；2025年对10,000名70岁以上、认知健康者的观察研究还发现，经常听音乐的人认知下降的相对风险低39%，但因果关系仍待厘清。
Research suggests that musical training is a demanding mental workout that simultaneously coordinates sound, vision, fine motor control, focus and imagination, and several studies find that professional musicians have more grey matter in some brain regions than non-musicians. The evidence is not fully causal, but it repeatedly points to stronger executive function, memory and pain tolerance, implying a durable link between music and healthier brain function.
Numerically, a 2020 study suggested musicians have better executive function, a 2017 meta-analysis found sharper memory, and a study last year reported lower pain among musically experienced participants after 40 people received hand injections that mimicked muscle soreness. Early training may matter too: a 2010 paper found that musicians who started before age seven had a larger corpus callosum, and research from 2014 linked instrument learning to better second-language acquisition and stronger non-verbal problem-solving in children.
Later-life musical activity may also slow cognitive decline. A 2021 meta-analysis linked music practice to a lower dementia risk, a 2024 study of 1,100 older Britons found stronger working memory among pianists and brass players, better executive function among woodwind players, and stronger verbal skills among singers, and a 2025 observational study of 10,000 cognitively healthy over-70s found regular music listeners had a 39% lower relative risk of cognitive decline, though causality remains unresolved.
Source: Is playing music good for the brain?
Subtitle: It would seem so, even for amateurs
Dateline: 3月 26, 2026 05:35 上午