The Sanskrit Effect

Scientific American: A Neuroscientist Explores the "Sanskrit Effect" - MRI scans show that memorizing ancient mantras increases the size of brain regions associated with cognitive function By James Hartzell

Most interestingly for verbal memory was that the pandits' right hippocampus—a region of the brain that plays a vital role in both short and long-term memory—had more gray matter than controls across nearly 75 percent of this subcortical structure.