Short-Term Music Training Enhances Verbal Intelligence and Executive Function
Open accessAbstract
Researchers have designed training methods that can be used to improve mental health and to test the efficacy of education programs. However, few studies have demonstrated broad transfer from such training to performance on untrained cognitive activities. Here we report the effects of two interactive computerized training programs developed for preschool children: one for music and one for visual art. After only 20 days of training, only children in the music group exhibited enhanced performance on a measure of verbal intelligence, with 90% of the sample showing this improvement. These improvements in verbal intelligence were positively correlated with changes in functional brain plasticity during an executive-function task. Our findings demonstrate that transfer of a high-level cognitive skill is possible in early childhood.
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These findings convincingly refute all the theories claiming that music training causes improvements in any domain-general cognitive skill or academic achievement.
“We can thus conclude that these findings convincingly refute all the theories claiming that music training causes improvements in any domain-general cognitive skill or academic achievement (e.g., Moreno et al., 2011; Patel, 2011; Saarikivi et al., 2019; Tierney & Kraus, 2013).”
From Cognitive and academic benefits of music training with children: A multilevel meta-analysis (2020) · cites this paper as Moreno et al., 2011
The Discussion (page not provided) says the opposite: the authors conclude that their findings demonstrate a causal relationship between music training and improvements in language and executive functions. The Results also report improved verbal-intelligence scores in the music group. The paper does not claim a measured improvement in academic achievement, but it does not refute all such theories. (LLM, conf=0.90)
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- Authors
- Moreno, S., Bialystok, E., Barac, R., Schellenberg, E. G., Cepeda, N. J., & Chau, T.
- Affiliations
- Rotman Research Institute (CA)
- York University (CA)
- University of Toronto (CA)
- Venue
- Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2011-10-03
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 1425-1433
- ISSN
- 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9280
- PMC
- PMC3449320
- OpenAlex
- W2105410945
- Cited by
- 803
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 44 · 2025: 61 · 2024: 30 · 2023: 54 · 2022: 70 · 2021: 103 · 2020: 58 · 2019: 60 · 2018: 59 · 2017: 47 · 2016: 46 · 2015: 49 · 2014: 54 · 2013: 42 · 2012: 22
- FWCI
- 45.46
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Association for Psychological Science
- York University
- National Institutes of Health
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD052523)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Music Perception
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Music › Diverse Music Education Insights
- Keywords
- musical training, verbal intelligence, executive function, transfer of training, preschool children, computer-based training, early childhood cognitive development
- MeSH terms
- Child, Child, Preschool, Evoked Potentials, Female, Humans, Intelligence, Language Development, Male, Music, Neuropsychological Tests, Transfer, Psychology, Visual Perception, Wechsler Scales, Executive Function
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