Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks.

Taking piano lessons and solving math puzzles on a computer significantly improve specific math skills of elementary schoolchildren, according to a new study. The results, (36)______ were published in the journal Neurological Research, are the latest in a series that links musical training to the development of higher brain functions.

Researchers worked with 135 second-grade students at a school in Los Angeles after (37)______ a pilot study with 102 students. Children that were given four months (38)______ piano training as well as time playing with newly designed computer software scored 27 percent higher on math and fraction tests than other children.

Piano instruction is thought to enhance the brain's "hard wiring" for spatial-temporal reasoning, or the ability to visualise and (39)______ objects in space and time, says Professor Gordon Shaw, who led the study. At the same time, the computer game allows children to solve geometric and math puzzles that boost their ability to manipulate shapes in their mind.

The findings are significant (40)______ a grasp of proportional math and fractions is a prerequisite to math at higher levels, and children who do not master these areas of math cannot understand more advanced math that is critical to high-tech fields.

(Adapted from "Eye on Editing 2" by Joyce S. Cain)