It has been found that children who got musical training `outside school showed brain changes and superior memory. The children who did not receive this musical training did not get this memory improvement. A study on Canadian children shows that children who learnt Suzuki had larger and faster responses to brain stimuli compared to those who did not have the lesson. This study is based on the measurements of a magnetoencephalograph, a device that monitors brain wave activity. The students scored high on the general mental ability test also.
The study was made in the age range of 4 to 6 years old. It first showed specific cognitive benefits from musical training in young children. The researchers studied the effects of popular Suzuki methods because instructors follow the same steps. The students are selected not on the basis of innate musical ability or mental skills. The study shows encouraging results in the improvement of verbal memory, literacy, IQ (intelligence quotient), and mathematics.
This study has been done at McMaster University in Canada under the lead researcher Laurel Trainor. This study was established in the journal “Brain.”