Study: Questioning the cognitive benefits of music classes

The ‘Mozart effect’ of having kids study music? It’s only a myth, researchers find (Washington Post): “Children get plenty of benefits from music lessons: Learning to play an instrument can be a great outlet for a child’s creativity, and the repeated practice can teach much-needed focus and discipline. What’s more, the payoff, whether it’s learning a new song or just mastering a new chord, is often a boost of self-esteem. But Harvard researchers now say that one oft-cited benefit — that studying music improves intelligence — is a myth…Though dozens of studies have explored whether and how music and cognitive skills might be connected, Mehr and colleagues found just five studies that used randomized trials. Only one showed an unambiguously positive effect, and it was so small that it was barely enough to be statistically significant.” Study: Two Randomized Trials Provide No Consistent Evidence for Nonmusical Cognitive Benefits of Brief Preschool Music Enrichment (PLOS) Abstract: Young children regularly engage in musical activities, but the effects of early music education on children’s cognitive development are unknown. While some studies have found associations between musical training in childhood and later nonmusical cognitive outcomes, few randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have been employed to assess causal effects of music lessons on child cognition and no clear pattern of results has emerged. We conducted two RCTs with preschool children i...
Source: SharpBrains - Category: Neurologists Authors: Tags: Cognitive Neuroscience Health & Wellness cognition cognitive-development Mozart-Effect music Source Type: blogs