Music lessons can improve memory and learning ability in young children by encouraging different patterns of brain development, research shows. Canadian scientists compared children aged four to six who took music lessons for a year with those who did not.

They found the musical group performed better on a memory test also designed to assess general intelligence skills such as literacy and math ability. The researchers also measured changes in the childrens brain responses to sounds during the year, and they found changes developed in the musical group in as little as four months.

[Read](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5362670.stm “Read the Story”) (BBC)