How Playing Music Improves Children's Focus and Cognitive Health

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Children can improve their inhibition control by learning to play a musical instrument. It is the ability to focus on a task, not get distracted, and automatic reactions ().

A new meta-analysis done at Universit� de Montr�al and published in the November issue of the journal Cognition, supervised by psychology professor Simone Dalla Bella, doctoral student Kevin Jamey reviewed 22 studies from nine countries published between 1980 and 2023 involving 1,734 children aged 3 to 11.

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Music Training Improves Focus in Kids

Eight studies were randomized controlled trials (RCTs), the gold standard in research, and 14 were longitudinal studies. They found that music training has a moderate to large positive effect on inhibition control.

The RCTs had an effect size of 0.4 and an average of 0.60. The longitudinal studies, which followed groups of children over time, showed a more modest but still significant effect size of 0.36. Music training has shown more effectiveness than other cognitive training methods like video games.

Children showed positive effects regardless of their age. The meta-analysis included different music-learning formats from private to group lessons. One-on-one lessons outside a school setting, seemed to have the strongest impact since there are fewer distractions for both student and teacher," said Jamey.

The data also indicated that a total of 300 minutes of music training is enough to see an improvement in inhibition control. It therefore appears that even a moderate amount of music practice can be beneficial.

Music Helps Kids with Autism and ADHD

While music is not a miracle solution, it benefits certain cognitive functions. Specific types of music training could benefit children with autism spectrum disorder or attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity.

More randomized control trials are needed to prove the effectiveness. Jamey plans to pursue this research when he joins a four-year research project as a postdoctoral fellow at the Brain and Creativity Institute at USC Dornsife in Los Angeles.

Dalla Bella and Jamey also support reintroducing music education in primary schools. "We are very close to being able to make a formal recommendation," they said. "The potential benefits are too great to ignore."

Reference:

1. How musical training affects cognitive development: rhythm, reward and other modulating variables - (https:pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3957486/)

Source: Medindia