Musical training enhances movement prediction and accelerates motor learning, study suggests

New Australian research reveals that long-term instrument practice improves sensory-motor prediction and learning speed, with potential implications for rehabilitation and sports training.

A new study suggests that people with musical training may learn movement sequences faster and predict what comes next more accurately than those without it, offering fresh evidence that long-term instrument practice can sharpen sensory-motor learning. Published in Psychological Research on 2 July, the research was carried out by teams from Edith Cowan University, Curtin University and Deakin University in Australia.

The experiment involved 151 volunteers, about half of whom had formal musical training. Participants were asked to learn a 10-step sequence using visual cues on a screen and linked sounds, then were retested after a short break. Researchers found that musicians outperformed non-musicians not because their memory was necessarily more durable, but because they appeared to process the sequence more efficiently and anticipate the next step with greater accuracy.

The study also found that newly learned motor memories can be disrupted by what people see immediately afterwards. Exposure to a different visual sequence after training reduced performance on the original task, while different sounds had little effect. Li-Ann Leow, a researcher at East Carolina University, said in a statement that this showed motor memory can be altered simply by observing another visual sequence.

That distinction matters because it suggests musical training may improve prediction rather than create a stronger memory trace. Welber Marinovic, one of the researchers, said the findings point to better forecasting of movement, not a more stable memory, and that the two should not be confused. Earlier research has reached similar conclusions, with studies in journals and on PubMed showing that trained musicians and pianists often do better on visual-spatial and sequential motor tasks than non-musicians.

The practical implications could extend beyond music. The authors said the results may help inform rehabilitation, sports training and the teaching of motor skills by showing that what happens immediately after practice can shape what is retained. The team is now using techniques such as electroencephalography to examine how musical training affects brain activity during learning.