If music makes you smarter, and exercise helps brain function, can exercising to music really boost brainpower? Some researchers said it can.

    Volunteers who listened to Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" while working out on a treadmill did much better on a test of verbal ability than when they exercised without music, a team at Ohio State University found.

    "Evidence suggests that exercise improves the cognitive performance of people with coronary artery disease," said psychologist Charles Emery, who led the study.

    "And listening to music is thought to enhance brainpower. We wanted to put the two results together," Emery added in a statement.

    Writing in the latest issue of the journal Heart & Lung, Emery and colleagues said they studied 33 men and women taking part in a cardiac rehabilitation program after having bypass surgery, angioplasty or other procedures to treat clogged arteries.

    The volunteers said they felt better emotionally and mentally after working out with or without the music. But their improvement on the verbal fluency test doubled after listening to music on the treadmills.

    "Exercise seems to cause positive changes in the nervous system, and these changes may have a direct effect on cognitive ability," Emery said.

    "Listening to music may influence cognitive function through different pathways in the brain. The combination of music and exercise may stimulate and increase cognitive arousal while helping to organize cognitive output."

    Emery said he now wanted to test people using music of their own choice.

    "We used 'The Four Seasons' because of its moderate tempo and positive effects on medical patients in previous research," Emery said. "But given the range of music preferences among patients, it's especially important to evaluate the influence of other types of music on cognitive outcomes."

    如果聽(tīng)音樂(lè)能使人變得更聰明，鍛煉能增強(qiáng)大腦功能的話(huà)，那么邊鍛煉邊聽(tīng)音樂(lè)真的能提高智力嗎？一些研究人員對(duì)此表示肯定。

    俄亥俄州立大學(xué)的研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，參加實(shí)驗(yàn)的志愿者們一邊在腳踏車(chē)上鍛煉，一邊聽(tīng)意大利作曲家維瓦爾第的《四季》時(shí)，他們?cè)谡Z(yǔ)言能力測(cè)試中的表現(xiàn)要比他們不聽(tīng)音樂(lè)時(shí)更好。

    此項(xiàng)研究的負(fù)責(zé)人、心理學(xué)家查爾斯·埃莫里說(shuō)：“有證據(jù)表明，身體鍛煉能夠提高冠心病患者的認(rèn)知能力。”

    “而聽(tīng)音樂(lè)被認(rèn)為能夠提高智力。我們想把兩者的結(jié)果結(jié)合起來(lái)。”埃莫里補(bǔ)充說(shuō)。

    在最新的一期《心肺》雜志中，埃莫里和他的同事們撰文稱(chēng)，他們對(duì)33名正在接受心臟康復(fù)治療的患者進(jìn)行了研究。這些患者接受過(guò)心臟搭橋手術(shù)、血管成形術(shù)或其它治療動(dòng)脈阻塞手術(shù)。

    這些志愿者稱(chēng)，無(wú)論聽(tīng)不聽(tīng)音樂(lè)，他們?cè)谶M(jìn)行身體鍛煉后，在情緒和心理上都感覺(jué)更好。但是他們邊聽(tīng)音樂(lè)邊在腳踏車(chē)上鍛煉后，語(yǔ)言流利測(cè)試成績(jī)比不聽(tīng)音樂(lè)時(shí)高出一倍。

    埃莫里說(shuō)：“鍛煉看來(lái)能使神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)發(fā)生積極的變化，而這些變化可能會(huì)對(duì)認(rèn)知能力產(chǎn)生直接的影響。”

    “聽(tīng)音樂(lè)可以通過(guò)大腦中的不同路徑影響認(rèn)知功能。如果把聽(tīng)音樂(lè)和鍛煉身體結(jié)合起來(lái)可以在組織認(rèn)知輸出的同時(shí)增強(qiáng)對(duì)認(rèn)知的刺激。”

    埃莫里說(shuō)，他現(xiàn)在想要測(cè)試一下那些自己選擇音樂(lè)的人。

    “我們選擇《四季》是因?yàn)樗�的�?jié)拍適度，而且在以前的研究中對(duì)病人曾產(chǎn)生過(guò)積極的作用。但是倘若患者對(duì)音樂(lè)種類(lèi)有自己的偏好，那么評(píng)價(jià)其他類(lèi)型的音樂(lè)是否會(huì)影響認(rèn)知結(jié)果也尤為重要。”埃莫里說(shuō)。