A Northwestern University study that will be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) provides the first biological evidence that bilinguals' rich experience with language in essence "fine-tunes" their auditory nervous system and helps them juggle linguistic input in ways that enhance attention and working memory.

Age-related delays in neural timing are not inevitable and can be avoided or offset with musical training.

Auditory working memory and attention, for example the ability to hear and then remember instructions while completing a task, are a necessary part of musical ability.

Researchers found that playing a musical instrument can help keep memories active and hearing working.

Musical training may offset some unwanted effects of aging, according to a new study.