A new U.S. study this week stated that training and experience has a direct impact on how a person's brain is organized. In the study, people with music training were pitted against 20 others with no music training.

It's been said many times that patterns (like music) can spawn creativity and organizational effects from people who otherwise would not have had the same organized brain, but this is one of the few studies that made that connection with music conducting that I have seen.

Brain activity in the study was measured with a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) procedure. The result showed that as auditory tasks became more complex, those without music training tuned out more of their visual senses and acuity.

Source