Music, working memory and reading

Abstract

This study examined the impact of music and working memory on the reading of irregular words and pseudowords. Twenty-three advanced adult musicians and 45 undergraduate controls were tested on various musical abilities, verbal and spatial memory, and on the reading of irergular words and pseudowords. Results showed that when taking into account general education, advanced musicians performed better than the undergraduate controls on melodic organization, temporal perception and incidental music memory. They had better verbal memory, and were more accurate in reading irregular words but not pseudowords. Likewise, melodic organization and incidental incidental music memory correlated positively with the reading of two types of words but the effect attenuated once partiallng out general educaiton. Advanced musicians may be more fluent in processing overall pattern when reading music and therefore, are more capable of tranfering this skill to word reading. The results are consistent with previous studies in that music training improves children's reading ability and pitch discrimination. The results also implied the basic hierarchiical processing for music and speech recruits distinct cortical networks. Althgouh music training seems to benefit language learning more at a young age, language skills can be improved by some other means.