Art Training

Are smarter people drawn to music, theater and dance? Or does arts [training:coaching] in childhood change the brain in positive ways? In 2004, the philanthropic Dana [Foundation:Cooperation] created a consortium of neuroscientists from seven universities to address those questions. On March 4, the group [released:found] a report, Learning, Arts, and the Brain, available at dana.org Some of the findings:An interest in performing arts helps develop [sustained:retained] attention spans, which can improve other areas of cognition. Links exist between training in music and the ability to manipulate [information:inside] in both short-term and long-term memory. Music training also appears to improve kids' capacity for geometric representation, as well as the acquisition of reading skills.