Page 9 - English12 | Activity book-1

Reading Activity

Read the text and answer the questions.

Music and Memory
Keeping students in music lessons is a great way to help them to have better verbal memories. According
to a recent study, children who take a regular music training have better verbal memories and this advantage
continues even after the training is finished. Researchers studied 90 boys aged six to fifteen. Half of the group
had music training both from individual lessons and participation in their schools’ string orchestras. When
their verbal memories were tested, the young musicians performed much better than their non-musical peers.
However, no such difference was found in tests of visual memory.
The researchers believe that there is a relationship between music and verbal memory because they are
both centred in the left brain. Therefore, the music training may have served as a type of exercise for the
brain, and consequently children who were interested in music performed better in related tasks. In a follow-up
memory test a year later, researchers found that students who stopped taking a music training still performed
better than those who had never taken any lessons in the first place. However, their level of verbal memory
levelled off after they quit.

A. Answer the following questions according to the passage above.

1. What was the aim of the research?

.................................................................................................................................................................................. .
2. What changes were observed on the participants according to the research?

.................................................................................................................................................................................. .
3. Did the music training maintain its effect even after the participants stopped it?

.................................................................................................................................................................................. .

B. Complete the sentences according to the passage given above.

1. Taking regular music trainings have a positive effect on .............................................. .

2. There is no relationship between music and ............................................... memory.
3. Both music and verbal memory are ............................................... in the left brain.

4. The follow-up memory test was conducted ............................................... later.

C. According to the information given in the passage, write a suggestion for people who want to improve

their verbal memory.

If you want to have a better verbal memory, you should ............................................... .

ENGLISH-12 9