Long-term musical training may mitigate the age-related decline in speech perception by enhancing cognitive reserve, according to a study published in PLOS Biology by Claude Alain from the Baycrest Academy for Research and Education, Canada, and Yi Du from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Normal aging is typically associated with declines in sensory and cognitive functions. These age-related changes in perception and cognition are often accompanied by increased neural activity and functional connectivity—the statistical dependence of activity between different brain regions—in widely distributed neural networks.

The recruitment of neural activity and strengthening of functional connectivity are thought to reflect a compensatory strategy employed by older adults to maintain optimal cognitive performance.