WASHINGTON, Aug. 20 (UPI) -- Studying music improves intellect, as children who took music lessons has larger IQ increases than those who did not, a U.S. psychology journal reported.
In the August issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the American Psychological Society, researchers at the University of Toronto provided evidence of the long-held notion that music lessons improve intellect.
They found children who took either keyboard or voice lessons had larger IQ increases after their studies compared to youngsters who took drama lessons or none at all.
Children who took drama lessons did exhibit improvement in adaptive social behavior, however, where kids who received music lessons showed increases more across the board, such as in index scores and academic achievement.
The study followed 144 children at age 6 who were randomly assigned to take either keyboard lessons, voice lessons, drama lessons or none at all for one year. IQ tests were administered both before and after the lessons to examine the effects of extra-curricular activities on intellectual and social development.
