Differences in Primary Mental Abilities Between Musicians and Nonmusicians

Abstract

Abstract. In the present study, psychometric performance on different aspects of primary mental abilities (verbal comprehension, word fluency, space, flexibility of closure, perceptual speed, reasoning, number, and memory) was compared in 70 adult musicians and 70 nonmusicians matched for age, sex, and level of education. No significant differences could be confirmed for either mean full-scale scores or for specific aspects of mental abilities, except Flexibility of Closure and Perceptual Speed. In both these subtests, musicians performed reliably better than nonmusicians. Musicians' superior performance may reflect nonaural aspects of musical ability or the result of long-term musical training. Eventually, a similar factor structure of intelligence does not support the notion of qualitative differences in the conception of intelligence between musicians and nonmusicians.

Follow your heart or your head? A longitudinal study of the facilitating role of calling and ability in the pursuit of a challenging career.

“…As these two variables had different rating scales, we first standardized (i.e., z-scored) them and then computed their average to create the Actual ability. We focus on assessing "actual real-life musical achievement" (Kemp, 1996, p. 31) by examining overall actual ability that is meaningful for distinguishing musicians from one another, rather than assessing more specific abilities such as pitch discrimination or chord analysis (e.g., Drake, 1954) and broad abilities such as actual performance (see Helmbold, Rammsayer, & Altenmüller, 2005 for a review) that typically compare musicians and nonmusicians. Whereas our perceived ability measure uses participants' self-ratings by definition,…”

Music, Language and Modularity Framed in Action

“…Duration of music lessons predicts cognitive abilities -including language -among children and adults (Schellenberg, 2006). In contrast, comparisons of musicians and nonmusicians yield null or inconsistent results (e.g., Helmbold, Rammsayer, & Altenmüller, 2005). Similarly problematic is the failure to account for musical training when studying aptitude (e.g., Slevc & Miyake, 2006), because musical training improves performance on tests of musical aptitude.…”

An investigation on the effects of music training on attention and working memory in adults

“…Age average was 22±1.5 (range: 22-29), academic education time average was 15±1.5 (range: [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. Dominant hand was right hand in all participants and none had mental illness in their family history.Two participants had DEHB diagnosis in childhood but they had no medication stories.…”

“…20 Improvements in visual short term memory tests were witnessed in children aged between 5 and 6 who take piano training for a year, performance increase was seen in delayed visual recollection and recognition in the adults averagely aged 22.6 and took music training. 21,22 In a prospective fMRI study, it was suggested that temporary auditory novelties during music training increase processing in hippocampus and hippocampal effects result from music training. 23 A study didn't find significant differences in auditory number distance test as our study, but it linked abilities in cognitive processing of musicians to auditory skills.…”