Forget hours of practice: We could soon learn a new language or instrument simply by taking a pill

• Learning language or music as a child is much easier than it is as an adult 
• This is because as adults our brains produce more of a certain chemical
• By blocking this chemical in mice researchers prolonged their ability to learn
• They say a drug could one day be developed that achieves the same in humans

Learning language or music is a piece of cake for children, but as we get older our ability to master these skills quickly slumps.

This could all change in the near future, as scientists have pinpointed the brain chemical that slows this type of learning down.

Researchers found that restricting a key messenger in the brain of mice helps to prolong their capacity to learn through sound to much later in life.

The team says that if a human drug is developed to block this chemical, adults could one day regain the ability to rapidly master a new language or instrument.

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Scientists have pinpointed the brain chemical that slows down our ability to learn via sound as we age. Pictured are images of neuronal in the auditory cortex of awake mice listening to tones being played. Each flash of light signals a neuron firing

KEY TO LEARNING NEW SKILLS

A 2014 study found that your success at playing a musical instrument could be down to a fatty substance in your brain.

Scientists discovered that an electrically insulating substance known as myelin is essential to learning new skills.

They claimed that when a skill, such as playing the piano, is learned later in life, myelin must be made in order to retain the skill.

However, the researchers at University College London claimed that once a new skill has been learnt, it is retained even after myelin production stops.

They found myelin was produced by the brain and spinal cord into early adulthood as it is needed for many developmental processes.Researchers at St Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, restricted the brain chemical adenosine in a brain region called the auditory thalamus in adult mice.

They found that this preserved the ability of the mice to learn from sound much as young children learn from the soundscape of their world.

Adenosine is likely found in higher levels in the brain in adults than children because its production is boosted as the brain develops.

'By disrupting adenosine signaling in the auditory thalamus, we have extended the window for auditory learning for the longest period yet reported, well into adulthood and far beyond the usual critical period in mice,' said co-author Dr Stanislav Zakharenko, a member of the St Jude Department of Developmental Neurobiology. 

'These results offer a promising strategy to extend the same window in humans to acquire language or musical ability by restoring plasticity in critical regions of the brain, possibly by developing drugs that selectively block adenosine activity.' 

Much as young children pick up language simply by hearing it spoken, the researchers showed that when brain adenosine levels were reduced, adult mice that were played a tone responded to the same sound stronger when it was played weeks or months later.

These adult mice also gained an ability to distinguish between very close tones - mice usually lack this 'perfect pitch' ability.

Researchers also showed that the experimental mice retained the improved tone discrimination for weeks.

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 Researchers found that restricting a key messenger in the brain of mice helps to prolong their capacity to learn through sound. They say that if a drug is developed to block this chemical, humans could one day regain the ability to learn music and languages with ease (stock image)

'Taken together, the results demonstrated that the window for effective auditory learning re-opened in the mice and that they retained the information,' Dr Zakharenko said.

Among the strategies researchers used to inhibit adenosine activity was the experimental compound FR194921, which selectively blocks the A1 receptor.

If paired with sound exposure, the compound rejuvenated auditory learning in adult mice.

'That suggests it might be possible to extend the window in humans by targeting the A1 receptor for drug development,' Dr Zakharenko said.

The study is not the first piece of research to study how the brain learns music.

A 2014 study found that your success at playing a musical instrument could be down to a fatty substance in your brain.

Scientists discovered that an electrically insulating substance known as myelin is essential to learning new skills.

They claimed that when a skill, such as playing the piano, is learned later in life, myelin must be made in order to retain the skill.

However, researchers at University College London claimed that once a new skill has been learnt, it is retained even after myelin production stops.

They found myelin was produced by the brain and spinal cord into early adulthood as it is needed for many developmental processes.