Music training and working memory: An ERP study

George, Elyse; Coch, Donna

doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.02.001

Cited by 241 publications

(255 citation statements)

References 104 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

194

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…This relationship between musical ability and memory updating fits with other work showing that musicians have advantages in memory maintenance and control (George & Coch, 2011;Meinz & Hambrick, 2010;Oechslin et al, 2013;Pallesen et al, 2010) as well as with longitudinal findings of improved working memory updating abilities following a musical training program (Roden et al, 2014). One hypothesized link between working memory updating and musical experience is based on the demands of musical sight-reading (Meinz & Hambrick, 2010), however sight reading experience is unlikely to completely account for the effects found here as even those participants who self-identified as non-musicians (and so who presumably do not have experience sight reading music) showed a significant relationship between musical ability and performance on both auditory (r(44) = 0.45) and visual updating tasks (r(44) = 0.39).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Tuning the mind: Exploring the connections between musical ability and executive functions

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A growing body of research suggests that musical experience and ability are related to a variety of cognitive abilities, including executive functioning (EF). However, it is not yet clear if these relationships are limited to specific components of EF, limited to auditory tasks, or reflect very general cognitive advantages. This study investigated the existence and generality of the relationship between musical ability and EFs by evaluating the musical experience and ability of a large group of participants and investigating whether this predicts individual differences on three different components of EF – inhibition, updating, and switching – in both auditory and visual modalities. Musical ability predicted better performance on both auditory and visual updating tasks, even when controlling for a variety of potential confounds (age, handedness, bilingualism, and socio-economic status). However, musical ability was not clearly related to inhibitory control and was unrelated to switching performance. These data thus show that cognitive advantages associated with musical ability are not limited to auditory processes, but are limited to specific aspects of EF. This supports a process-specific (but modality-general) relationship between musical ability and non-musical aspects of cognition.GRAMMY Foundatio

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Tuning the mind: Exploring the connections between musical ability and executive functions

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The present overall findings that attentional switching/ shifting mediates speech processing in a domain-general nature are congruent with some previous studies where the relationship is modality-independent (e.g., George & Coch, 2011;Janse, 2012;Ou et al, 2015), yet inconsistent with others that found a modality-specific relationship (e.g., Moore, Ferguson, Halliday, & Riley, 2008;Kraus, Strait, & Parbery-Clark, 2012). Nonetheless, a growing number of neuroimaging studies has evidenced that the cortical circuitry engaged in the auditory switching of attention is similar to that engaged during visual attention orientation (Diaconescu, Alain, & McIntosh, 2011;Larson & Lee, 2013;Smith et al, 2010).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Cognitive basis of individual differences in speech perception, production and representations: The role of domain general attentional switching

Law

2017

Atten Percept Psychophys

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study investigated whether individual differences in cognitive functions, attentional abilities in particular, were associated with individual differences in the quality of phonological representations, resulting in variability in speech perception and production. To do so, we took advantage of a tone merging phenomenon in Cantonese, and identified three groups of typically developed speakers who could differentiate the two rising tones (high and low rising) in both perception and production [+Per+Pro], only in perception [+Per-Pro], or in neither modalities [-Per-Pro]. Perception and production were reflected, respectively, by discrimination sensitivity d′ and acoustic measures of pitch offset and rise time differences. Components of event-related potential (ERP)-the mismatch negativity (MMN) and the ERPs to amplitude rise time-were taken to reflect the representations of the acoustic cues of tones. Components of attention and working memory in the auditory and visual modalities were assessed with published test batteries. The results show that individual differences in both perception and production are linked to how listeners encode and represent the acoustic cues (pitch contour and rise time) as reflected by ERPs. The present study has advanced our knowledge from previous work by integrating measures of perception, production, attention, and those reflecting quality of representation, to offer a comprehensive account for the underlying cognitive factors of individual differences in speech processing. Particularly, it is proposed that domain-general attentional switching affects the quality of perceptual representations of the acoustic cues, giving rise to individual differences in perception and production.

show abstract

“…Expert musicians encode, manipulate, and retrieve information differently compared to nonexperts (Williamon et al 2002). Musicians demonstrated faster updating of auditory and visual working memory representations compared to non-musicians (George and Coch 2011). Instrumental performance also relies strongly on attentional focus (Janata et al 2002b;Williamon et al 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Musical training intensity yields opposite effects on grey matter density in cognitive versus sensorimotor networks

et al. 2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Using optimized voxel-based morphometry, we performed grey matter density analyses on 59 age-, sexand intelligence-matched young adults with three distinct, progressive levels of musical training intensity or expertise. Structural brain adaptations in musicians have been repeatedly demonstrated in areas involved in auditory perception and motor skills. However, musical activities are not confined to auditory perception and motor performance, but are entangled with higher-order cognitive processes. In consequence, neuronal systems involved in such higher-order processing may also be shaped by experiencedriven plasticity. We modelled expertise as a three-level regressor to study possible linear relationships of expertise with grey matter density. The key finding of this study resides in a functional dissimilarity between areas exhibiting increase versus decrease of grey matter as a function of musical expertise. Grey matter density increased with expertise in areas known for their involvement in higherorder cognitive processing: right fusiform gyrus (visual pattern recognition), right mid orbital gyrus (tonal sensitivity), left inferior frontal gyrus (syntactic processing, executive function, working memory), left intraparietal sulcus (visuo-motor coordination) and bilateral posterior cerebellar Crus II (executive function, working memory) and in auditory processing: left Heschl's gyrus. Conversely, grey matter density decreased with expertise in bilateral perirolandic and striatal areas that are related to sensorimotor function, possibly reflecting high automation of motor skills. Moreover, a multiple regression analysis evidenced that grey matter density in the right mid orbital area and the inferior frontal gyrus predicted accuracy in detecting fine-grained incongruities in tonal music.

show abstract

Music training and working memory: An ERP study

Cited by 241 publications

References 104 publications

Tuning the mind: Exploring the connections between musical ability and executive functions

Tuning the mind: Exploring the connections between musical ability and executive functions

Cognitive basis of individual differences in speech perception, production and representations: The role of domain general attentional switching

Musical training intensity yields opposite effects on grey matter density in cognitive versus sensorimotor networks

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About