Improved Auditory Function Caused by Music Versus Foreign Language Training at School Age: Is There a Difference?

Abstract

In adults, music and speech share many neurocognitive functions, but how do they interact in a developing brain? We compared the effects of music and foreign language training on auditory neurocognition in Chinese children aged 8–11 years. We delivered group-based training programs in music and foreign language using a randomized controlled trial. A passive control group was also included. Before and after these year-long extracurricular programs, auditory event-related potentials were recorded (n = 123 and 85 before and after the program, respectively). Through these recordings, we probed early auditory predictive brain processes. To our surprise, the language program facilitated the children’s early auditory predictive brain processes significantly more than did the music program. This facilitation was most evident in pitch encoding when the experimental paradigm was musically relevant. When these processes were probed by a paradigm more focused on basic sound features, we found early predictive pitch encoding to be facilitated by music training. Thus, a foreign language program is able to foster auditory and music neurocognition, at least in tonal language speakers, in a manner comparable to that by a music program. Our results support the tight coupling of musical and linguistic brain functions also in the developing brain.

Does music training enhance auditory and linguistic processing? A systematic review and meta-analysis of behavioral and brain evidence

“…Although results from individual studies vary (e.g., Boebinger et al, 2015;Mehr et al, 2013), the mechanisms underlying associations between music and linguistic processing have been discussed. Both music and language are forms of human communication, rely on auditory learning and on a hierarchical organization of elements (e.g., from sounds/phonemes to melodies/sentences), and share auditory pathways (e.g., Peretz et al, 2015;Tervaniemi et al, 2022;Zatorre et al, 2002).…”

“…Melody and rhythm perception were examined in three EEG studies. One examined participants' responses to deviant melodies using an oddball task (Tervaniemi et al, 2022), and the remaining two asked participants to make same/different judgments on pairs of musical stimuli (Habibi et al, 2016;Moreno et al, 2009). Our synthesis also included six MRI studies that had no task or stimuli but focused on auditory systems and/or their connectivity.…”

“…Positive effectsNEUROBEHAVIORAL EFFECTS OF MUSIC TRAINING are observed regardless of whether the control groups were passive or active Tervaniemi et al (2022),. for example, found that music training led to higher MMN amplitude during passive listening to tone frequency deviants in an oddball paradigm.…”

Effects of Music Training on the Auditory Working Memory of Chinese-Speaking School-Aged Children: A Longitudinal Intervention Study

“…The training program was based on a large longitudinal study conducted in Beijing ( Tervaniemi et al, 2021 ). The training sessions lasted for two semesters, during which the children received 50 1-h sessions of music/language training after their normal school curriculum.…”

Key Challenges and Future Directions When Running Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) Research Protocols with Newborns: A Music and Language EEG Feasibility Study

“…Considering the fact that for music has been generally shown to be a positive influencing factor of growth and resilience in the human population [ 20 , 21 , 22 ], we decided to specifically focus on the developmental domain, and we hypothesize that a more efficient functional brainstem development will be projected in the first two postnatal weeks of life of healthy newborns, when music is used as an intervention tool, following a predefined set of music stimuli, and compared to storytelling and no intervention at all. Our hypothesis is drawn upon prior research showcasing on the one hand music’s research advantage at these first stages of development—even in the most sever of environmental or clinical situations—[ 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 ] and on the other hand, that music may be an equally or perhaps more informative stimulus than language for brain development [ 27 , 28 , 29 ].…”