Jürgen Konczak, professor in the School of Kinesiology, and Yu-ting Tseng, professor at National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan and alumna of the School of Kinesiology PhD program co-authored the study “Upper limb proprioception and fine motor function in young pianists.” 

This study investigated if intensive piano training may be associated with improved motor and somatosensory function. Specifically, researchers examined how well children can differentiate between the differences in joint position at the elbow and the wrist. Study participants were 44 typically developing children aged 11-12 years who either regularly played piano for more than 6 years or had no experience playing musical instruments.

The study found that children who regularly play the piano have superior manual dexterity which is associated with a higher position sense acuity at both the elbow and wrist. That is, they were able to discriminate smaller differences in joint position than their cohort who did not play a musical instrument. This implies training manual dexterity in childhood improves both motor as well as somatosensory function.

Konczak is also the director of the Human Sensorimotor Control (HSC) Laboratory. Tseng studied in the HSC laboratory during her Phd program.