Researchers used MEG to compare the brains of musicians and nonmusicians while the subjects tried to detect small changes in pitch during short clips of classical piano music by composers like Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. (scientificamerican.com)
When it came to tempo, musicians and nonmusicians alike synched their brains to the music — when the music had more than one note per second. (scientificamerican.com)
In addition, studies of adult professional musicians show no cognitive benefits over comparable professional nonmusicians. (scientificamerican.com)