Description
Longitudinal studies can provide very valuable insights into the development of musical skills and cognitive resources. Nonetheless, quantitative longitudinal studies on musical and cognitive development are very rare.
The aim of this paper is to present novel empirical evidence for the inter-relations between musical and cognitive development during adolescence.
The dataset comprises data from 4,333 students (mean age 11.8, SD 1.7; 57% female) from 13 secondary schools in the UK and Germany. Results are based on data collected at annual intervals from three tests of musical perception abilities (melodic discrimination test, a beat alignment, mistuning perception) as well as tests of working memory capacity and fluid intelligence. In addition, students self-reported on recent musical activities and training background.
The analysis followed a modelling approach for longitudinal data established by McArdle and Nesselroade which is organised in five steps. Results of the first step show that musical and cognitive skills grow with rates between 11% and 26% of a standard deviation per year, with fluid intelligence and beat perception ability showing the largest growth rates. The second analysis shows that individual differences in developmental growth on all performance variables are significantly associated with the degree of the students’ musical training background. The third step demonstrates that the growth rate of intelligence is significantly higher than the growth rate of general musical ability. In the fourth step, concurrent musical activity emerges as a significant catalyst for the development of musical and cognitive abilities with an effect size between 0.04 and 0.12 ΔR2, across different cognitive and musical abilities. In the final analytical step using latent class analysis, we identify three groups of students that differ in absolute musical ability levels as well as in their growth rates over time. Within each of these three groups, concurrent musical activity has a positive impact on musical development. In addition, the different musical development trajectories are significantly associated with intelligence, working memory capacity, and greater musical training background at study entry.
The results of this study show that adolescents’ musical and cognitive development are positively associated. However, there is a differentiated picture of differing developmental growth rates and effect sizes with respect to the impact of musical training. Results show that students with either rather low or high ability levels benefit most from musical instruction and activities.
| Names, affilations and contact information | Daniel Mullensiefen, Goldsmiths, University of London; Klaus Frieler, Max-Planck-Institute of Empirical Aesthetics |
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| Bio | Daniel Müllensiefen is an emeritus professor of psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London. His scholarly work comprises many areas of music psychology, including computer models of music perception, the development of musicality, and the behavioural economics of music. Since 2015 he has been directing LongGold, a longitudinal study on the development of musical abilities during adolescence. From April 2025 he will be a professor of systematic musicology at the University of Hamburg, Germany.; Klaus Frieler is the Method Specialist at the Max-Planck-Institue of Empirical Aesthetics. He has got a background in theoretical physics and systematic musicology and is doing research at the interface of music psychology and music informatics. |