Musicians have better memories than ordinary people, while bilingual speakers use less effort, a study has relived.
Mastering an instrument requires concentration and memorisation, while bilingual people’s brains are used to switching between different languages and blocking out whichever one is not needed.
Researchers from the University of Toronto recently found musicians performed better than non-musicians in a memory test.
Bilingual speakers did no better than regular English-speakers, but showed less brain activity when completing the task, said Language and music boosts our memory
Dr Claude Alain, who led the study, said the results showed that ‘a person’s experiences, whether it’s learning to play an instrument or a language, can shape how the brain functions’.