Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Research has shown that musical ability influences language capacity across multiple domains. In this study, we reversed this perspective by investigating whether the degree of multilingualism — measured as the number of foreign languages spoken at B2 level — impacts musical ability. We recruited 176 participants who completed perceptual musicality, singing, foreign language pronunciation, and short-term memory (STM) tasks, and self-reported their educational status. As expected, results revealed significant correlations among all variables examined. We conducted conventional regression models with degree of multilingualism as the dependent variable, followed by the reverse model predicting musicality from language-related predictors. Both models successfully accounted for variance in their respective outcome variables. Critically, the reverse model showed that degree of multilingualism and STM capacity jointly predict musical ability (R² = 17%), suggesting bidirectional rather than unidirectional influences between these auditory domains. This suggests that musicality and foreign language training engage similar underlying mechanisms applicable across both domains.
Source: Mūzikas akadēmijas raksti
Language: Latvian
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7220312836