Brain, musicality, and language aptitude: A complex interplay

Abstract

Music and language are highly intertwined auditory phenomena that largely overlap on behavioral and neural levels. While the link between the two has been widely explored on a general level, comparably few studies have addressed the relationship between musical skills and language aptitude, defined as an individual's (partly innate) capacity for learning foreign languages. Behaviorally, past research has provided evidence that individuals’ musicality levels (expressed by singing, instrument playing, and/or perceptive musical abilities) are significantly associated with their foreign language learning, particularly the acquisition of phonetic and phonological skills (e.g., pronunciation, speech imitation). On the neural level, both skills recruit a wide array of overlapping brain areas, which are also involved in cognition and memory. The neurobiology of language aptitude is an area ripe for investigation, since there has been only limited research establishing neurofunctional and neuroanatomical markers characteristic of speech imitation and overall language aptitude (e.g., in the left/right auditory cortex and left inferior parietal areas of the brain). Thus, as noted above, in this short review for ARAL, the aim is to describe the most recent neuroscientific findings on the neurobiology of language aptitude, to discuss the complex interplay between language aptitude and musicality from neural and behavioral perspectives, and to briefly outline what the promise of future research in this area holds.

Examining Individual Differences in Language Learning: A Neurocognitive Model of Language Aptitude

“…In the present model, the starting point of language aptitude is the auditory cortex (HG), which in previous studies was found to be a neuroanatomical marker for individual differences in speech sound learning and phonetic experience (Golestani et al, 2002(Golestani et al, , 2007(Golestani et al, , 2011, language aptitude (Turker et al, 2017(Turker et al, , 2019; see also discussion in Turker & Reiterer, 2021) and musical aptitude (Benner et al, 2017;Seither-Preisler et al, 2014). Since interindividual variation of the auditory cortex can be even observed at a prenatal stage, this cortical structure bears the potential to boost auditory processing for speech and language learning from very early periods on.…”

“…Musicality has also been shown to impact language learning (see recent review on interactions between language aptitude and music on the neural level by Turker & Reiterer, 2021). In the early stages of language learning, infants are acutely sensitive to prosodic patterns, which enable later phonological development (Gervain & Mehler, 2010).…”

“…A third essential environmental variable, namely musical training, influences language learning on the neural, as well as on the cognitive level (Turker & Reiterer, 2021). From a neural perspective, both language and music recruit an array of brain networks involving motor, auditory, visual and memory-related mechanisms.…”

Language and Music: Designing a Course at an Academic Level

“…"This is most likely caused by the large neural overlap between language and music, specifically the potential of music (through musical training or already present high musicality) to enhance language-relevant skills (e.g. auditory discrimination, attention, memory)" (Turker & Reiterer 2021).…”

Is musical expertise associated with self-reported foreign-language ability?

“…Some theorists (e.g., Patel, 2011Patel, , 2014Tierney & Kraus, 2013) propose that formal music training improves language ability, focusing on transfer from music to language. Others consider overlapping genetic contributions and neural substrates (Nayak et al, 2022;Sammler & Elmer, 2020;Turker & Reiterer, 2021), acknowledging that natural musical ability influences who takes music lessons.…”