ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Cognition
This article is part of the Research TopicCognitive outcomes and neural mechanisms of music interventions across developmentView all 7 articles
Associations Between Music Training and Language Fluency on Cognitive Control and Processing Speed
Provisionally accepted
- University of South Florida, Tampa, United States
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Abstract Scientific research has demonstrated that musical training and bilingualism contribute to enhanced executive functions (D'Souza et al., 2018). However, it is unknown whether fluency in three or more languages would confer additional cognitive benefits above bilingual and musician status. According to Patel's OPERA Hypothesis, music shares many similar components of language and also contains a high level of task complexity and temporal elements (Patel, 2012). Previous studies suggest that music and language learning enhance executive functions in cognitive control mechanisms, improving the ability to inhibit irrelevant information, flexibly shift attention, and make quick decisions. This research sought to examine associations between bilingualism and language fluency in musicians as compared to multilingual nonmusicians. Also, do adults who are fluent in three languages perform similarly to bilingual musicians? Our research assessed associations between multilingualism, cognitive performance, and musical training. Fifty-five participants (19 bilingual musicians, 18 bilingual nonmusicians, 18 multilingual nonmusicians) completed measures of visual motor processing and cognitive control in the visual and auditory domains. Results of a two-way ANOVA revealed enhanced processing speed and cognitive control in visual and auditory domains for bilingual musicians as compared to bilingual and multilingual nonmusicians. Overall, multilingualism may not enhance executive functions beyond those acquired in music training.
Keywords: music training, bilingualism, multilinguals, executive functions, cognitive control
Received: 09 Jul 2025; Accepted: 03 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Bugos, Laubisch, Zhu, Schmidt Avendano and Bryant. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jennifer A. Bugos
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