Musical training boosts memory

* Encouraging children to learn a musical instrument will boost their memory capacity and may give them an advantage in school, according to research by psychologists at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The scientists studied 90 boys aged six to 15, half of whom had had up to five years' musical training in the school's string orchestra. To test each child's verbal memory, the scientists monitored how many words they could recall from a list. They found verbal memory could be significantly improved by developing the left side of the brain through practising music chords and playing a musical...