Music not only regulates mood but also promotes the development and maintenance of empathy and social understanding. Since empathy is crucial for well-being and indispensable in social life, it is necessary to develop training strategies to improve empathy and prosocial behaviors. To fulfill this aim, researchers have extensively investigated the effect of intensive musical training on the development of empathy. Here we first summarize evidence showing the powerful influence of musical training on the development of empathy and then discuss psychological mechanisms responsible for those observations. The conclusions drawn from most previous studies were mainly based on behavioral measurements, while the neural basis of musical training in the development of the empathic brain is still unclear. Fortunately, brain imaging research has contributed greatly to our understanding of the neural underpinnings associated with musical training and its possible connection to the development of the empathic brain. One of the most distinctive signatures of musical training is structural and functional changes of multiple brain regions, and such changes might be related to some of the empathic behaviors observed in musically trained children. Therefore, intensive musical training in childhood may increase levels of empathy, and applied research is required to optimize the training strategy before implementing music education in empathy regulation. Moreover, future longitudinal studies are needed to better understand neural mechanisms underlying the causal effect of musical training on empathy development. These findings have important implications for understanding the development of the empathic brain and for improving prosocial behaviors.

中文翻译：

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移情和亲社会行为发展中的音乐训练

音乐不仅可以调节情绪，而且可以促进同理心和社会理解的发展和维持。由于移情对幸福感至关重要，在社会生活中不可或缺，因此有必要制定培训策略以改善移情和亲社会行为。为了实现这一目标，研究人员已经广泛研究了强化音乐训练对共情发展的影响。在这里，我们首先总结表明音乐训练对共情发展有强大影响的证据，然后讨论造成这些现象的心理机制。从先前的大多数研究得出的结论主要是基于行为测量，而在共情大脑发育中音乐训练的神经基础仍然不清楚。幸运的是，大脑影像学研究为我们对与音乐训练相关的神经基础及其与移情性大脑发育的可能联系的理解做出了巨大贡献。音乐训练最独特的标志之一是多个大脑区域的结构和功能变化，而这种变化可能与受过音乐训练的孩子中观察到的某些移情行为有关。因此，在儿童时期进行强化的音乐训练可能会增加同理心，因此需要进行应用研究来优化训练策略，然后再在同理心律中实施音乐教育。此外，未来的纵向研究需要更好地理解音乐训练对共情发展的因果作用背后的神经机制。