Scientists have found out how music lessons train attention span

This is the conclusion reached by scientists at the Karolinska Institute (Sweden), who published the results of their study in the journal Science Advances.

Their work shows that musical training can improve not only hearing, but also the brain's cognitive abilities, especially the ability to focus.

Talking in a noisy room with lots of distracting sounds around is a serious challenge for the brain. Scientists decided to find out how much musical training helps to cope with such tasks.

In the study, participants were asked to listen to two tunes with different pitches at the same time and track changes in the pitch of one of them. Using a technique called "frequency tagging", the researchers were able to measure the brain's response to each of the tunes separately.

A total of two experiments were conducted: 28 people participated in the first, and 20 in the second. Scientists deliberately created situations where two types of attention were activated:

• conscious (top-down) - a directed effort to focus on the desired signal;

• automatic (bottom-up) - reaction to unexpected and distracting sounds.

The results showed: people with high musicality had stronger brain signals associated with conscious attention and weaker signals to distracting stimuli. This suggests that musical skills train not only hearing but also the ability to control attention.

"Our findings show that musical training enhances the brain's ability to concentrate in the face of interference," explains lead study author Cassia Lowe Manting from the Department of Clinical Neuroscience at Karolinska Institutet.

She adds: "Interestingly, music helps not only to hear better, but also to hold attention for longer periods of time. This could find applications in education and rehabilitation - for example, to improve cognitive control in children or patients after a stroke."

However, the scientists emphasise: the findings do not prove a causal link between music training and improved attention. However, they do reinforce the notion that music has a positive effect on brain function.

The work was carried out in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which adds weight to the findings.