"[S]tudents having computer programming experiences scored about sixteen percentile points higher on various cognitive-ability tests than students who did not have programming experiences".
"[F]findings suggest that the outcomes of learning a computer language go beyond the content of that specific computer language".
This based on 65 studies, not all of which were conclusive, conducted in the 1980s.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2190/E53G-HH8K-AJRR-K69M