Musical Skills Linked to Unique Cognitive and Personality Traits
A large international study found that experienced musicians have a significant advantage in musical short-term memory and a small advantage in visuospatial memory, but only a minimal benefit in verbal memory, which is largely explained by general intelligence and personality traits like openness. The research emphasizes that musical training's cognitive benefits are domain-specific and influenced by personality and socioeconomic factors, rather than a direct cause-effect relationship.