Brain scans revealed more efficient processing during cognitive tasks.
Playing a musical instrument and learning another language both make your brain more efficient.
Bilingual people and musicians both use fewer brain resources when doing a memory task.
Dr Claude Alain, the study’s first author, said:
“These findings show that musicians and bilinguals require less effort to perform the same task, which could also protect them against cognitive decline and delay the onset of dementia.
Our results also demonstrated that a person’s experiences, whether it’s learning how to play a musical instrument or another language, can shape how the brain functions and which networks are used.”
It is well-known to researchers that bilinguals and musicians have better memories, but the reason was a mystery.
The study scanned the brains of musicians, bilinguals and English-speaking non-musicians while they performed various cognitive tasks.
Dr Alain said:
“People who speak two languages may take longer to process sounds since the information is run through two language libraries rather than just one.
During this task, the brains of bilinguals showed greater signs of activation in areas that are known for speech comprehension, supporting this theory.”
The study was published in the journal Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences (Alain et al., 2018).
