Cognitive and neural mechanisms linking musical training to verbal fluency: a multimodal review

Abstract

This study explores the interaction between musical training, language processing, and neurotechnology, emphasizing the cognitive and neural mechanisms involved in verbal fluency. Through an analytical and interpretive qualitative review, scientific literature was examined to understand how musical experience enhances linguistic abilities—particularly semantic, phonological, and grammatical fluency—and how emerging neurotechnologies allow these effects to be measured and modulated. Evidence from neuroimaging, electrophysiology, and neuromodulation indicates that musical practice strengthens auditory discrimination, executive functions, and memory systems that support lexical retrieval. Likewise, the use of EEG, fMRI, BCIs and tDCS has contributed to identifying shared neural networks between music and language, as well as the plastic changes resulting from musical exposure or targeted interventions. The findings suggest that musical training produces transfer effects on core language skills and highlight the potential of technologically assisted music-based therapies for clinical populations with deficits in speech, cognition, or post-stroke language recovery.