Playing a musical instrument or learning another language could protect against dementia, according to research.

Scientists found that the process of learning as an adult trains the brain to become more efficient. 

Brain scans showed that musicians and bilinguals are able to activate different regions of the brain, which uses less energy.

These areas of the brain make use of different networks which means less brain activity is required to complete certain functions.

As a result of the unique and energy efficient way these brains operate, they are less likely to develop dementia.

The scans revealed that the brains of these people used fewer resources to memory test.   

Senior scientist Dr Claude Alain, of Baycrest’s Rotman Research Institute in Toronto, Canada, 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.’

This study builds on previous research which has found that musicians and polyglots are better at retaining information.

For example, this subset of the population are better at remembering a phone number, a list of instructions or doing mental arithmetic.

A reason why, however, was never found.

This mystery has been solved by scientists at Baycrest.

As the first study of its kind to use brain scans, it aimed to uncover how these activities boost different parts of the brain among individuals.  

The study involved 41 young adults aged 19 to 35 who fit into three categories: English-speaking non-musicians, musicians who only spoke English and bilinguals who didn’t play a musical instrument. 

Brain imagery captured the thought process for each participant as they were asked to identify whether the sound they heard was the same type as the previous one.

Brain scans were done as each participant was asked to identify whether the sound they heard was the same type as the previous one.

They were played a variety of sounds from musical instruments, the environment and humans.

They were then also asked to identify if what they heard was coming from the same direction as the previous noise.

Musicians remembered the type of sound faster than individuals in the other groups, while bilinguals and musicians performed better on the location task.

Bilinguals performed at the same level as individuals who spoke only one language and didn’t play a musical instrument when it came to the tasks, but they still showed less brain activity when completing the task.

Agencies