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© 2014. This work is licensed under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

Practicing a musical instrument is associated with cognitive benefits and structural brain changes in correlational and interventional trials; however the effect of musical training on cognition during childhood is still unclear. In this longitudinal study of child development we analyzed the association between musical practice and performance on reasoning, processing speed and working memory (WM) during development. Subjects (n = 352) between the ages of 6 and 25 years participated in neuropsychological assessments and neuroimaging investigations (n = 64) on two or three occasions, two years apart. Mixed model regression showed that musical practice had an overall positive association with WM capacity (visuo-spatial WM, F = 4.59, p = 0.033, Verbal WM, F = 9.69, p = 0.002), processing speed, (F = 4.91, p = 0.027) and reasoning (Raven's progressive matrices, F = 28.34, p < 0.001) across all three time points, after correcting for the effect of parental education and other after school activities Music players also had larger gray matter volume in the temporo-occipital and insular cortex (p = 0.008), areas previously reported to be related to musical notation reading. The change in WM between the time points was proportional to the weekly hours spent on music practice for both WM tests (VSWM, β = 0.351, p = 0.003, Verbal WM, β = 0.261, p = 0.006) but this was not significant for reasoning ability (β = 0.021, p = 0.090). These effects remained when controlling for parental education and other afterschool activites. In conclusion, these results indicates that music practice positively affects WM development and support the importance of practice for the development of WM during childhood and adolescence.

Details

Title
Music practice is associated with development of working memory during childhood and adolescence
Author
Bergman Nutley, Sissela; Darki, Fahimeh; Klingberg, Torkel
Section
Original Research ARTICLE
Publication year
2014
Publication date
Jan 7, 2014
Publisher
Frontiers Research Foundation
e-ISSN
16625161
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2292207725
Copyright
© 2014. This work is licensed under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.