Music improves children's learning ability

Singing or learning to play an instrument will help children increase their ability to memorize and improve academic achievement.

Previous studies have shown that children learn music better than their school friends. However, this study has only been done with upper and middle class children. According to new research, music training can help poor children improve their language and reading skills, Nature World News said.

Music helps improve memory, reading skills in children.(Photo: Reuters / Mario Anzuoni)

"There is a difference in the brain of children growing up in poor environments affecting their ability to learn, rich students often do better in school than children of low income origin. Music training can alter the nervous system, help children learn better, compensate for this distance, ' said Dr. Nina Kraus of Northwestern University.

Subjects of the study are students whose families are in low socioeconomic status, studying at public schools in Chicago and Los Angeles, USA. Children were divided into two groups, one group participated in music classes while the other group did not, two groups of students with similar IQs when they started the study.

Scientists record children's brain waves as they listen to repeated sounds with a soft music background. After two years, the child's neurological response to music classes is higher than other students. While access to music does not bring about rapid changes, this is a long-term approach to improving the academic performance of children of lower socioeconomic status.

"We are spending millions of dollars on drugs to increase our ability to concentrate in children, and here we have an intervention that does not require drugs, thousands of disadvantaged children can approach, be facilitated to improve learning skills, ' said Margaret Martin, the Los Angeles project owner.

The study is presented at the 122th Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association.