Music strengthens brain connections in premature babies, Swiss study shows

In premature babies, music strengthens connections in certain areas of the brain, according to a years-long study by the University Hospitals of Geneva (HUG). Researchers now know more clearly which areas of the brain respond to music. Children who were born prematurely are more likely to suffer from deficits in attention or emotional control, among other things. For almost ten years, a team supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) has been studying an original solution to prevent these problems: music. +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox Scientists at the University Hospitals of Geneva exposed several cohorts of infants born at an average of 29 weeks to music. Their latest study, published in the journal Imaging Neuroscience, shows that music strengthens cerebral connectivity in areas of the brain normally affected in premature babies. The latest cohort of the programme included 60 premature babies, 32 of whom were exposed to music, while ...