Teach Your Children

Poststructural Pub
1

I’m sure everyone knows that the earlier you start your child on language or music, the better the chance that they’ll do well at it. Here’s a bit of technobabble on the subject from Developmental Neuroscience, Vol 14, No 7, 23 May 2003.

“Macroscopic changes attributable to adaptation-driven anatomical plasticity have also been reported. Multiple investigations of differential left/right (L/R) asymmetries of the primary motor cortex (PMC; BA 4) in left- vs righthanded persons have been reported. The central sulcus, for example, is deeper in the dominant hemisphere [2,4,5]. This finding, however, might be attributable to genetics rather than plasticity, as handedness is strongly influenced by genetics. More convincing evidence for a practice-based asymmetry was provided by Amunts and colleagues [3], who compared the size and symmetry of the PMC in righthanded, highly skilled musicians to that of right-handed, non-musician controls. Macrostructural differences were found, with musicians having larger and more symmetric PMC than controls. Importantly, the age of commencement of musical training (as early as age 36 months) was significantly correlated with the magnitude of the macroscopic difference, while duration of musical training and the age at which the subject was imaged were not. Although this strongly implies that macroscopic changes were induced by skills acquired at a young age, the hypothesis of genetic predetermination of a musician’s exceptional skills cannot be completely ruled out.”

Localized morphological brain differences between
English-speaking Caucasians and Chinese-speaking
Asians: new evidence of anatomical plasticity

P. Kochunov, P. FoxCA, J. Lancaster, L. H. Tan,1 K. Amunts,2 K. Zilles,2,3 J. Mazziotta4 and J. H. Gao

Research Imaging Center,University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, 7703 Floyd Curl Drive, San Antonio,TX 78284,USA;
1Joint Laboratories for Language and CognitiveNeuroscience,The University of Hong Kong,Hong Kong; 2Institute of Medicine, Research Center Juelich,
Juelich; 3C&OVogt Brain Research Institute,Heinrich Heine University,Dusseldorf,Germany; 4Brain Mapping Center,Department ofNeurology,
UCLA School ofMedicine, Los Angeles,CA,USA
CACorresponding author: kochunov@uthscsa.edu

Received 7March 2003; accepted1 4March 2003

2

I keep telling women at bars that I have a large PMC, but they never seem to believe me!

3

I’m still trying to plasticize my pmc. I hope by retaining immature practices such as wearing flipflops to dress-up events, and sitting on the floor to watch tv, not to mention sprinting to the paperbox just for the heckuvit, I’ll fool my brain into thinking it can still form new neural pathways.

4

Does this mean that people trained in music at an early age are potentially more ambidextrous? That’s how I read it.

Robin

5

Too much pressure is put on children. No wonder so many adults and children, alike, are in therapy.

6

I thought PVC already was plastic! Or was that PCP?

7

But a life without real experiences and opportunities would be even more detrimental. I do not think that children that have no stress these days watching TV and doing nothing else are better adjusted than the children that grew up working to help support the family and worrying that they may catch polio.

In my experience, people rise or sink to the expectations that are placed upon them and, if they become maladjusted, it is often the reasons surrounding the events. Is the parent providing opportunities, or living through their child? I am thinking of parents at little league practice. Some are supportive and play with their kids at home, others just show up to the games to yell at the kid that they are doing things wrong. Same activity, different levels of pressure.

Living vicariously through your child is wrong, but as an adult you also are in charge of providing opportunities and guidance. Knowing what things are appropriate is part of that guidance. Knowing that you may help the child learn to play music, learn a language, or swim while young may help that person grow up with positive experiences rather than the frustration of trying to learn something they are not ready for.

End of rant.

8

I know what you mean. I spent a good part of my childhood worrying about coveting my neighbor’s wife.

9

Very interesting paper. I downloaded the PDF to read the executive summary and scan the paper. Thanks for sharing it.

Most Asians I know (born in Asia) speak at least 3 languages. Mandarin, English, and some local dialect (Taiwanese, Hakka, etc.). On top of that their parents made them learn an instrument as a child. “It makes them smarter and better at math.” is what Asian parents who still do it contend.

One of the reasons I started studying Mandarin Chinese and playing the whistle was to knock some cobwebs from my aged cranium. I imagine it’s working - after all, I can imagine whatever I want. :smiley:

10

I agree.

11

I think the problem is people don’t prioritize. We were talking about this at church the other day, when one mother said she couldn’t justify bringing her kids to church on Sunday when they had so many other things to do during the week, including soccer and other sports, art lessons, music lessons, etc. I asked her when they had time to just play; she said rarely if ever. I asked her when the family found time to have dinner together; she said rarely if ever. Evidently church, family time and unstructured time ranks painfully low on the priorities list these days.

I think learning music is important. One instrument, once class a week, and 10 to 20 minutes of practice a day. Physical exercise is important, and I can see one sport a season, if the kids are into that (or dance class once a week, if that’s closer to the kid’s style). Going beyond that, I think, is too much. I know kids who have activities scheduled every single night of the week. Between that, school, homework and practice, they have little time to just be kids.

Redwolf