Learning foreign languages can affect the processing of music in the brain
ScienceDaily
Research has shown that a music-related hobby boosts language skills and affects the processing of speech in the brain. According to a new study, the reverse also happens -- learning foreign languages can affect the processing of music in the brain. Research Director Mari Tervaniemi from the University of Helsinki's Faculty of Educational Sciences investigated, in cooperation with researchers from the Beijing Normal University (BNU) and the University of Turku, the link in the brain between language acquisition and music processing in Chinese elementary school pupils aged 8-11 by monitoring, for one school year, children who attended a music training programme and a similar programme for the English language. Brain responses associated with auditory processing were measured in the children before and after the programmes. Tervaniemi compared the results to those of children who attended other training programmes. "The results demonstrated that both the music and the language programme had an impact on the neural processing of auditory signals," Tervaniemi says. Learning achievements extend from language acquisition to music. Surprisingly, attendance in the English training programme enhanced the processing of musically relevant sounds, particularly in terms of pitch processing. "A possible explanation for the finding is the language background of the children, as understanding Chinese, which is a tonal language, is largely based on the perception of pitch, which potentially equipped the study subjects with the ability to utilise precisely that trait when learning new things. That's why attending the language training programme facilitated the early neural auditory processes more than the musical training."
