Music training and executive functions in adults and children: what role do hot executive functions play?

Abstract

Executive functions (EFs) are a set of cognitive processes that enable us to control attention and regulate behaviour. Since music training involves these processes to a large extent, positive associations can be assumed. Previous research confirmed this assumption with some studies indicating even causal relationships. However, almost all the research focused on purely analytical processes, so-called cold EFs. By contrast, hot EFs involve processes influenced by emotion and motivation. Therefore, the aim of the present work is to investigate the relationship between music training and hot EFs and to compare these results with the better-studied cold EFs. We conducted two correlative studies with young adults (Study 1) and 9–12-year-old children (Study 2) and collected hot as well as cold executive functions in both age groups. Our results show no clear association between music training and hot EFs. However, we found an association between the age when participants started with music training and decision making. Regarding cold EFs our studies confirm previous research suggesting positive associations with music training. To better investigate the relationship between music training and hot EFs, further reliable and valid measures to capture hot EFs are needed.

Musical Expertise and Executive Functions in Experienced Musicians

“…Our results are also in conflict with findings from intervention studies on children and older people [ 1 , 25 ]. One possible explanation may be that the cognitive advantages due to music making do not generalize to high levels of musical expertise, due to ceiling effects in cognitive development.…”

Influence of rhythmic-movement activity intervention on hot executive function of 5- to 6-year-old children

“…One study explored the effect of rhythmic-movement activity on affective decisionmaking ability in young people and children, and collected the hot EF of the two age groups. The research results showed that there was no obvious correlation between rhythmic-movement activity and affective decision-making ability (Frischen et al, 2022). Another study compared the performance of three groups of participants (early, late, and no music training) on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) to examine whether rhythmic-movement activity was related to affective decision-making ability, and the results showed that early rhythmic-movement activity had a positive effect on affective decision-making ability (Hou et al, 2017), which was consistent with the results of our study.…”

Music Training and Nonmusical Abilities

“…A previous study of attention, again not controlled for IQ, found no differences in the alerting and orienting systems, although musicians were better at directing attention to relevant information in the presence of distractions (Medina & Barraza 2019). Inhibitory control, which is typically assessed with Stroop, go/no-go, flanker, or Simon tasks, can have positive associations with music training among children (e.g., Frischen et al 2022, Joret et al 2017, Saarikivi et al 2016, younger adults (e.g., Criscuolo et al 2019, Okada & Slevc 2018, and older adults (e.g., Moussard et al 2016, Strong & Mast 2019, although null results have also been reported (e.g., Boebinger et al 2015, Clayton et al 2016, Pentikäinen et al 2021, Slevc et al 2016.…”

“…Similarly inconsistent findings are observed on tasks that require task or set shifting, such as the Trail-Making Test or the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. For example, when Frischen et al (2022) assessed flexibility in adults and children with verbal and nonverbal set-shifting tasks, music training correlated with nonverbal but not with verbal set shifting for both age groups. Moradzadeh et al (2015) also found reduced task-switching costs and improved dual-task performance in adult musicians compared with nonmusicians, which could not be explained by nonverbal IQ, age, SES, or bilingualism.…”