The team used statistical models to look for links between the participant's experience of playing a musical instrument and changes in their thinking skills between the ages of 11 and 70. (Photo: Jose Luis Palaez Inc / Getty Images)

Researchers have found a link between learning to play a musical instrument while young and advanced thinking skills in old age.

People who have experience in playing a musical instrument showed greater lifetime improvement on a test of cognitive ability than those who have less or no experience, a paper from the University of Edinburgh has said.

This was the case even when accounting for socio-economic status, childhood cognitive ability, years of education, and health in older age, researchers found.

Among the 366 participants in the study, 117 said they have some experience of playing a musical instrument, mostly during their childhood and adolescence.

The piano was the most commonly played instrument, among many others, such as the accordion, guitar, bagpipes, and violin.

The participants were tested for a number of physical and mental functions as they grow older, including retaking the standardized cognitive ability test each of them took when they were 11 years old.

Researchers asked the members, aged 70, who had retaken the test, about their lifetime musical experiences, in order to find out if there is any link between musical experience and healthy aging.

The team used statistical models to look for links between the participant's experience of playing a musical instrument and changes in their thinking skills between the ages of 11 and 70.

The university said the findings gave fresh evidence that playing an instrument was linked to small but detectable cognitive benefits over a lifetime.

"These results add to the evidence that activities that are mentally challenging, such as learning to play a musical instrument, might be associated with better thinking skills," said Judith Okely, now a lecturer in psychology at Napier University.

Senior lecturer at the University of Edinburgh’s Reid School of Music, Katie Overy, said: "Music has so much to offer as a fun, social activity – it is exciting to find that learning to play a musical instrument may also contribute to healthy cognitive aging."

Age UK and the Economic and Social Research Council funded the study, which was published in the journal Psychological Science.