A joint study conducted by Karolinska Institute in Sweden and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States found that musicians are more likely than ordinary people to focus their attention on the target sound in noisy environments. This indicates that music training helps improve brain concentration. The relevant results were published in the latest issue of the journal Science Progress. Focusing on conversation in a noisy environment is a complex task for the brain. The study aims to explore how music training enhances the brain's ability to lock onto specific sounds. The research team had participants listen to two melodies with different pitches simultaneously and capture the pitch variation of one of them. They measured the participants' brain responses to each melody using frequency labeling method. The results showed that people with strong musical abilities have stronger signals related to "top-down attention" (i.e. conscious focus) in their brains, while signals related to "bottom-up attention" (i.e. automatic distraction) are weaker. This study suggests that music training can not only improve hearing, but also enhance sustained brain focus, and is expected to be applied in the fields of education and rehabilitation in the future. (New Society)