Early Musical Training Might Help Improve Cognitive Skills: Study

Researchers at the Boston Children's Hospital have found a link between musical training and improved cognitive skills in children as well as adults.

The study supports the idea that music training must be encouraged at school as it could improve academic performance of the children. Researchers used fMRI scans to determine whether musical training was associated with executive functions.

Executive functions are the high-level cognitive skills that help people learn things quickly, make better decisions, control behavior and manage emotions.

For the study, researchers compared executive functions of 15 musically-trained children aged between 9 and 12 with that of 15 children who did not get any music lessons. Another set of participants: 15 adults who were active musicians and 15 non-musicians were also part of the study.

"Since executive functioning is a strong predictor of academic achievement, even more than IQ, we think our findings have strong educational implications," said study Nadine Gaab, PhD., of the Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience at Boston Children's, one of the study authors. "While many schools are cutting music programs and spending more and more time on test preparation, our findings suggest that musical training may actually help to set up children for a better academic future."

Related studies have shown that musicians are good at integrating sensory information such as touch, sight and hearing. A recent study had reported that musical training can increase blood flow in the left part of the human brain.

All participants in the current study were subjected to several cognitive tests. Researchers also obtained fMRI scan images of the participants during the tests.

Researchers accounted for socio-economic status because family income and education levels determine whether or not a child gets private music lessons.

Brain images showed that people with musical training had enhanced activity in certain brain regions, such as the supplementary motor area, the pre-supplementary area and the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. These regions are associated with better executive functions.

"Our results may also have implications for children and adults who are struggling with executive functioning, such as children with ADHD or [the] elderly," said Gaab in a news release. "Future studies have to determine whether music may be utilized as a therapeutic intervention tools for these children and adults."

According to the researchers, children who naturally have better executive abilities might be more likely to play musical instruments and stick to musical training than other children with limited executive functions. In the future, Gaab and colleagues will try to find whether musical training helps random people enhance cognitive skills.

The study is published in the journal PLOS ONE.