Music Training and Nonmusical Abilities

Abstract

Music training is generally assumed to improve perceptual and cognitive abilities. Although correlational data highlight positive associations, experimental results are inconclusive, raising questions about causality. Does music training have far-transfer effects, or do preexisting factors determine who takes music lessons? All behavior reflects genetic and environmental influences, but differences in emphasis—nature versus nurture—have been a source of tension throughout the history of psychology. After reviewing the recent literature, we conclude that the evidence that music training causes nonmusical benefits is weak or nonexistent, and that researchers routinely overemphasize contributions from experience while neglecting those from nature. The literature is also largely exploratory rather than theory driven. It fails to explain mechanistically how music-training effects could occur and ignores evidence that far transfer is rare. Instead of focusing on elusive perceptual or cognitive benefits, we argue that it is more fruitful to examine the social-emotional effects of engaging with music, particularly in groups, and that music-based interventions may be effective mainly for clinical or atypical populations. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Psychology, Volume 75 is January 2024. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Musical experience influences socio-emotional functioning in behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia

“…More fundamentally, association does not establish causation: people with innately more resilient behavioural regulation and social cognition circuitry might be more likely to learn a musical instrument, or continue listening regularly to music. The socio-emotional benefits of musical training remain poorly understood, and causal relations could be further investigated with alternative indices of musicality and prospective longitudinal studies ( 11 , 20 ).…”

The association between music training and executive function in 6–7-year-old children

“…Music training -is "group or individual lessons with a teacher, focused on learning how to sing and/or play a musical instrument" (Schellenberg and Lima, 2024). Many researchers argue that music training enhances not only music-related skills in preschool children (Münte et al, 2002), but also plays a major role in the development of personality (Savenkova, 2023), cultural learning (Ķestere, 2017;Klimova, 2023), and aesthetic upbringing (Volkova and Shestovskaya, 2021;Ailamazyan, 2023).…”

“…Many researchers argue that music training enhances not only music-related skills in preschool children (Münte et al, 2002), but also plays a major role in the development of personality (Savenkova, 2023), cultural learning (Ķestere, 2017;Klimova, 2023), and aesthetic upbringing (Volkova and Shestovskaya, 2021;Ailamazyan, 2023). Arguing in favor of a far transfer from music training to cognitive functioning remains difficult (Schellenberg and Lima, 2024). The cognitive ability for which an impact of music training makes the most intuitive sense is EF (Schellenberg and Lima, 2024).…”

The Role of Sounds and Music in Emotion and Cognition

“…Specifically, musical training is believed to enhance various cognitive and emotional abilities, including verbal memory, fluency, perception, creativity, spatial skills, IQ scores, and empathy [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 ]. However, after evaluating evidence produced by other researchers, Schellenberg and Lima [ 13 ] concluded that causal inferences cannot be made. Specifically, these authors suggested that there is no conclusive evidence to support the claim that music training has far-reaching cognitive benefits that can be generalised to other domains, which is consistent with the findings obtained from other types of training.…”

“…Specifically, these authors suggested that there is no conclusive evidence to support the claim that music training has far-reaching cognitive benefits that can be generalised to other domains, which is consistent with the findings obtained from other types of training. Nevertheless, Schellenberg and Lima [ 13 ] advocated for music to be included in school curricula and funded research due to its intrinsic value.…”