Abstract
Musical training is becoming increasingly popular as a topic for scientific research. Here we review the available studies investigating whether and to which degree musical experience generalizes to cognitive functions unrelated to music abilities in healthy humans. In general, it seems that musical training is associated with enhancing effects, even if sometimes only restricted to the auditory domain, on various cognitive functions spanning from executive control to creativity. We conclude that musical engagement may be a useful cognitive training to promote cognitive enhancement, but more research using longitudinal studies and taking into account individual differences is necessary to determine actual benefits.
Highlights
The interest in the influence of musical experience on our daily life is constantly growing
Our review points to an association of musical training and enhanced cognitive performance spanning from executive functions to creativity
Even if in some cases the benefits were restricted to the auditory domain, the available studies suggest that musical experience is linked to benefits in unpracticed tasks and cognitive functions unrelated to musical abilities
Summary
The interest in the influence of musical experience on our daily life is constantly growing. This finding is intriguing as it suggests that musical training can have long-lasting effects to the extent that life-long musical engagement can potentially compensate for neuroplastic age-related declines in auditory brain processing associated with normal aging. Additional evidence supporting the possibility that musical training may have a positive effect on linguistic abilities comes from two recent longitudinal studies in which 8- to 10-year-old children underwent a 2-years music or painting training program (François et al, 2013; Chobert et al, 2014).
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