Improved Digit Span in Children after a 6-Week Intervention of Playing a Musical Instrument: An Exploratory Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Previous studies have reported that music training not only improves children's musical skills, but also enhances their cognitive functions. However, there is a disagreement about what domain(s) might be affected. Moreover, effects of short-term (<several months) instrumental training have not been examined, although more basic studies have suggested neuroplasticity within several weeks. Consequently, the present exploratory pilot study investigated the effect of a six-week instrumental practice program (i.e., playing the keyboard harmonica) on children's cognitive functions using a randomized controlled trial. Forty children (aged 6–8 years) were randomly assigned to either the experimental group (n = 20), which received a 6-week (12-session) keyboard harmonica curriculum, or an untrained control group (n = 20). Different from traditional instrumental training, the curriculum did not use musical scores to emphasize creating association between sound (auditory modality) and finger movement (somato-motor system). Cognitive measurements included verbal ability, processing speed, working memory, and inhibitory control, which were administered before and after the curriculum in both groups. After the 6-week training, only the experimental group showed a significant improvement in the Digit Span test (especially in the Digit Span Backward) that measures working memory. However, no significant influences were found on the other cognitive tests. The result suggests that several weeks of instrumental music training may be beneficial to improving children's working memory. In addition, we used an inexpensive and portable keyboard harmonica; therefore, our instructional method is easy to apply in classrooms or other circumstances. If the method is applied to music lessons in schools or in the community, it may help improve children's working memory.

Music training with Démos program positively influences cognitive functions in children from low socio-economic backgrounds

“…It is also important to note that several cognitive functions tested in the present study did not benefit from music training (auditory attention, visuomotor precision). For instance, in contrast to the results of Guo and colleagues [26] showing significant improvement in backward Digit Span scores after only 6 weeks of musical training, we did not find similar improvements of working memory. While the reasons for such variability in the results are difficult to determine, the question of whether music training has a general impact on cognitive abilities or whether its influence is specific to cognitive functions that share common processes with music, such as language for instance, is still an open issue [19,20,59–61].…”

“…Moreover, results of cross-sectional studies in children have shown that music training is associated with better working and short-term memory as reflected by higher scores at the backward and forward versions of the Digit Span test (i.e., repeat back series of orally presented numbers) in musically-trained compared to untrained children [3,25]. Very recently, Guo and collaborators [26] provided evidence for a causal link between music training and working memory in an interventional study: children quasi-randomly assigned to six weeks of music training increased their backward digit span scores but the forward digit span scores did not differ between the music and control groups. Moreover, Degé and collaborators [27] used a longitudinal approach and showed that children trained in music for two years improved visual and auditory memory (recalling sequences of colors or sounds), while their non-trained counterparts did not.…”

“…Our general prediction was that, rather than showing the typical deterioration of cognitive abilities across the course of development [14–17] music training would increase the level of performance of children from low SES to the age-normed level. Specifically and based on the literature reviewed above, we hypothesized that classic music training would help children to improve their IQ scores [1–4] as well as their reading scores [14,15] and their backward digit span scores [26]. However, predictions were less clear-cut regarding the impact of music training on phonological awareness [15,19,20], auditory attention [22,28,30] and visual attention [22, 23] because contrastive results have been reported in the literature.…”

Music Training, Working Memory, and Neural Oscillations: A Review

“…For example, in a longitudinal study of 6-8-year-old children, half of the sample was randomly assigned to biweekly keyboard training for 6 weeks, while the other half received no training. Afterward, only the training group demonstrated a significant improvement in working memory capacity, measured with the backward digit span task (Guo et al, 2018). Advantages in working memory capacity have also been observed in school-aged children who received at least 6 months of music lessons (Degé and Schwarzer, 2017), as well as pre-schoolers who received 1 year of violin instruction (Fujioka et al, 2006).…”

“…Alternatively, music training may cause enhancement of cognitive abilities. Longitudinal studies in which participants were randomly assigned to music training or control conditions clearly indicate a causal effect of training on working memory capacity (Fujioka et al, 2006;Degé and Schwarzer, 2017;Guo et al, 2018). Furthermore, evidence for a dose-response relationship between musical practice and working memory supports the view that training, rather than any predisposition, produces changes in working memory capacity (Bergman Nutley et al, 2014).…”