New research undertaken at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at University College London and Newcastle University suggests that working as a piano tuner may lead to structural changes in the memory and navigation areas of the brain and that the degree of change correlates with the number of years the tuner has of doing the job.

The researchers found that changes occur in the nerve cells where information processing happens and in the connections between brain cells and that the changes weren’t related to age of musical expertise but were related to the amount of time doing tuning.

Previous research has also illustrated structural changes related to musical training and also to the navigational expertise of taxi drivers.

I guess the research confirms what we already knew. When we were young our mothers told us that ‘practice makes perfect’ i.e. the more we do it the better we become at it. I never imagined though that part of the process may actually be structural changes to the brain?

It does perhaps point towards an explanation about why it’s so hard for some leaders / managers to ‘get’ employee engagement – their lack of practice (and focus) means they don’t improve.

And it also explains why my golf is so poor!

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