Marie J. C. Forgeard

Musical Training Shapes Structural Brain Development

The human brain has the remarkable capacity to alter in response to environmental demands. Training-induced structural brain changes have been demonstrated in the healthy adult human brain. However, no study has yet directly related structural brain changes to behavioral changes in the developing brain, addressing the question of whether structural brain differences seen in adults (comparing experts with matched controls) are a product of “nature” (via biological brain predispositions) or “nurture” (via early training). Long-term instrumental music training is an intense, multisensory, and motor experience and offers an ideal opportunity to study structural brain plasticity in the developing brain in correlation with behavioral changes induced by training. Here we demonstrate structural brain changes after only 15 months of musical training in early childhood, which were correlated with improvements in musically relevant motor and auditory skills. These findings shed light on brain plasticity and suggest that structural brain differences in adult experts (whether musicians or experts in other areas) are likely due to training-induced brain plasticity.

Practicing a Musical Instrument in Childhood is Associated with Enhanced Verbal Ability and Nonverbal Reasoning

Background In this study we investigated the association between instrumental music training in childhood and outcomes closely related to music training as well as those more distantly related. Methodology/Principal Findings Children who received at least three years (M = 4.6 years) of instrumental music training outperformed their control counterparts on two outcomes closely related to music (auditory discrimination abilities and fine motor skills) and on two outcomes distantly related to music (vocabulary and nonverbal reasoning skills). Duration of training also predicted these outcomes. Contrary to previous research, instrumental music training was not associated with heightened spatial skills, phonemic awareness, or mathematical abilities. Conclusions/Significance While these results are correlational only, the strong predictive effect of training duration suggests that instrumental music training may enhance auditory discrimination, fine motor skills, vocabulary, and nonverbal reasoning. Alternative explanations for these results are discussed.

The effects of musical training on structural brain development: a longitudinal study.

Long‐term instrumental music training is an intense, multisensory and motor experience that offers an ideal opportunity to study structural brain plasticity in the developing brain in correlation with behavioral changes induced by training. Here, for the first time, we demonstrate structural brain changes after only 15 months of musical training in early childhood, which were correlated with improvements in musically relevant motor and auditory skills. These findings shed light on brain plasticity, and suggest that structural brain differences in adult experts (whether musicians or experts in other areas) are likely due to training‐induced brain plasticity.

Training‐induced Neuroplasticity in Young Children

As the main interhemispheric fiber tract, the corpus callosum (CC) is of particular importance for musicians who simultaneously engage parts of both hemispheres to process and play music. Professional musicians who began music training before the age of 7 years have larger anterior CC areas than do nonmusicians, which suggests that plasticity due to music training may occur in the CC during early childhood. However, no study has yet demonstrated that the increased CC area found in musicians is due to music training rather than to preexisting differences. We tested the hypothesis that approximately 29 months of instrumental music training would cause a significant increase in the size of particular subareas of the CC known to have fibers that connect motor‐related areas of both hemispheres. On the basis of total weekly practice time, a sample of 31 children aged 5–7 was divided into three groups: high‐practicing, low‐practicing, and controls. No CC size differences were seen at base line, but differences emerged after an average of 29 months of observation in the high‐practicing group in the anterior midbody of the CC (which connects premotor and supplementary motor areas of the two hemispheres). Total weekly music exposure predicted degree of change in this subregion of the CC as well as improvement on a motor‐sequencing task. Our results show that it is intense musical experience/practice, not preexisting differences, that is responsible for the larger anterior CC area found in professional adult musicians.

The engine of well-being.

The study of well-being is hampered by the multiplicity of approaches, but focusing on a single approach begs the question of what “well-being” really is. We analyze how well-being is defined according to the three main kinds of theories: “Liking” approaches (generally adopted by psychologists), “Wanting” approaches (predominant among economists), and “Needing” approaches (used in both public policy and psychology). We propose an integrative framework, the engine model of well-being, drawing on Seligman (Seligman, M. E. P., 2011, Flourish. New York, NY: The Free Press) and Sens (Sen, A. K., 1999, Development as freedom. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press) emphasis on the plurality of this construct by distinguishing among (a) inputs (resources that enable well-being), (b) processes (internal states of mechanisms influencing well-being), and (c) outcomes (the intrinsically valuable behaviors that reflect the attainment of well-being). We discuss implications for research, measurement, and interventions.

Network analysis of depression and anxiety symptom relationships in a psychiatric sample.

BACKGROUND Researchers have studied psychological disorders extensively from a common cause perspective, in which symptoms are treated as independent indicators of an underlying disease. In contrast, the causal systems perspective seeks to understand the importance of individual symptoms and symptom-to-symptom relationships. In the current study, we used network analysis to examine the relationships between and among depression and anxiety symptoms from the causal systems perspective. METHOD We utilized data from a large psychiatric sample at admission and discharge from a partial hospital program (N = 1029, mean treatment duration = 8 days). We investigated features of the depression/anxiety network including topology, network centrality, stability of the network at admission and discharge, as well as change in the network over the course of treatment. RESULTS Individual symptoms of depression and anxiety were more related to other symptoms within each disorder than to symptoms between disorders. Sad mood and worry were among the most central symptoms in the network. The network structure was stable both at admission and between admission and discharge, although the overall strength of symptom relationships increased as symptom severity decreased over the course of treatment. CONCLUSIONS Examining depression and anxiety symptoms as dynamic systems may provide novel insights into the maintenance of these mental health problems.

The two dimensions of motivation and a reciprocal model of the creative process.

Past research investigating the role of motivation in creativity has closely examined the role of intrinsic (i.e., process-focused) and extrinsic (i.e., outcome-focused) motivation. Results from this literature have shown that the effects of social factors on creativity (e.g., social inhibition or facilitation effects) are at least partially explained by their effect on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. The present review seeks to broaden the scientific understanding of the role of motivation in creativity by proposing that a second dimension of motivation needs to be taken into account. In addition to creators’ locus of motivation (i.e., whether they focus on the intrinsic process and/or extrinsic outcomes), creative behavior also appears to be driven by its intended beneficiaries (i.e., the self and/or others). Supporting the importance of this second dimension, recent empirical research has begun to investigate the relationship between prosocial motivation (i.e., the desire to contribute to other peoples lives) and creativity. Thus, a combined look at research on these two dimensions of motivation highlights the bidirectional nature of the social processes at play in creativity: While studies investigating creators’ locus of motivation have examined the influence of others on creators, recent studies considering creators’ intended beneficiaries have stressed the importance of also understanding how creators wish to affect others in return. To integrate these two perspectives, we propose a reciprocal model of the creative process in which creators’ general motivational orientations (falling along the dimensions outlined above) are translated into specific motivational goals, and we review possible psychological mechanisms explaining how motivation may guide creative cognition.

The protective function of personal growth initiative among a genocide-affected population in Rwanda.

The aim of the current study was to investigate the extent to which individual differences in personal growth initiative (PGI) were associated with lower reports of functional impairment of daily activities among a genocide-affected population in Rwanda. PGI measures an individuals motivation to develop as a person and the extent to which he or she is active in setting goals that work toward achieving self-improvement. We found that PGI was negatively associated with functional impairment when controlling for depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and other demographic factors. Our results suggest that PGI may constitute an important mindset for facilitating adaptive functioning in the aftermath of adversity and in the midst of psychological distress, and as such they might have practical applications for the development of intervention programs.

Creativity and Mental Illness: Bringing the whole universe to order: creativity, healing, and posttraumatic growth1

Past research and anecdotal accounts suggest that individuals pursuing creative work (especially in artistic fields) tend to report higher-than-average levels of challenging life circumstances, including experiencing adverse life events (Simonton, 1994) and psychological disorders (for reviews, see Jamison, 1993, Johnson et al ., 2012; Kaufman, 2009; Ludwig, 1995). One explanation for these findings is the possibility, noted by researchers, creators, and laypeople alike, that creative work and activities confer benefits for the well-being of individuals who engage in them (Cropley, 1990, 1997; Winner, 1982). By engaging in creative work, individuals are given the opportunity to heal and grow from the challenges that have befallen them. Anecdotal accounts from eminent creative individuals suggest that engaging in creative activities – defined as activities that generate novel and useful ideas or products (Sternberg and Lubart, 1999) – appears to have therapeutic benefits. In her diary, the writer Virginia Woolf commented: Odd how the creative power at once brings the whole universe to order. I can see the day whole, proportioned – even after a long flutter of the brain such as I’ve had this morning[;] it must be a physical, moral, mental necessity, like setting the engine off. (Woolf, 1934/2003, p. 213) Woolf, known to suffer from bipolar disorder (Caramagno, 1992), expressed her belief that writing was essential to her well-being. Other eminent artists echoed a similar feeling with regards to either physical or psychological health. For example, the painter Paul Klee, who suffered from a severe autoimmune disorder, explained during the last stages of his disease: “I create – in order not to cry” (Sandblom, 1997, p. 187). The novelist and screenwriter Graham Greene, who also suffered from bipolar disorder, called writing “a form of therapy” (p. 37), and the confessional poet Anne Sexton, having composed verse based on the advice of her therapist, famously wrote that “poetry led me by the hand out of madness” (Jamison, 1993, p. 122). Finally, the French writer Antonin Artaud, who suffered from clinical depression, chronic pain, and addiction to opiates throughout his life (Rowlands, 2004), commented that “No one has ever written, painted, sculpted, modeled, built, or invented except literally to get out of hell” (Jamison, 1993, p. 121).

Advancing the clinical science of creativity

Can the therapeutic benefits of creativity explain its documented association with psychopathology (Andreasen, 1987; Ludwig, 1995)? Past research seems to have devoted most of its attention to another hypothesis in order to explain this relationship: that features of some disorders may be beneficial for creative cognition (especially in the arts)—for example, the racing thoughts, energy, and openness characteristic of hypomania in bipolar disorder (Johnson et al., 2012), or the rumination observed in depression (Verhaeghen et al., 2005). Other explanations, however, should not be ignored or considered mutually exclusive. Creative work may sometimes exacerbate psychopathology. For example, Kaufman and Baer (2002) suggested that poets may be especially susceptible to mental illness because poetry requires emotional expression and introspection, and unlike prose, may not provide adequate opportunities for making meaning out of ones experience. Conversely, and leaving aside third variable explanations (which also deserve further research), we explore the hypothesis that psychopathology may motivate individuals to engage in creative activities as a way to alleviate their suffering and enhance their well-being. To date, two main empirical literatures have examined this claim. First, reviews of art therapy trials have found that such interventions typically lead to small but statistically significant improvements on a range of psychological measures (Slayton et al., 2010; Forgeard and Eichner, 2014; Maujean et al., 2014). Second, studies examining the benefits of “everyday creativity” suggest that engaging in day-to-day creative activities may both reflect and foster psychological health (Richards, 2007). In keeping with this, findings of a recent experience-sampling study showed that young adult participants were more likely to be engaged in creative activities than other activities when they reported feeling happy and active (Silvia et al., 2014). In spite of these efforts, important gaps exist in our understanding of the therapeutic benefits of creativity. The first and foremost of these gaps is the following: to the best of our knowledge, little empirical evidence has demonstrated that creative thinking per se is one of the specific active ingredients accounting for the benefits of creative activities. To date, past research has investigated the role of other potential mechanisms including adaptive emotion regulation, flow, meaning-making, or growth from adversity in order to explain the benefits of creative activities (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996; Drake and Winner, 2012; Forgeard et al., 2014). Thus, it remains unclear whether the benefits of creative activities are due to creative thinking, or to other factors. We propose that the time is ripe to collect such evidence in order to provide a richer understanding of the nature of the therapeutic benefits of creative thinking. We outline a research agenda to advance the clinical science of creativity from a cognitive-behavioral perspective.