Musical Activities, Prosocial Behaviors, and Executive Function Skills of Kindergarten Children

Ilari, Beatriz; Helfter, Susan; Huynh, Tina; Bowmer, Alice; Mason, Kathryn A.; Knight, Julian; Welch, Graham

doi:10.1177/20592043211054829

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 84 publications

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“…Three studies in preschoolers found statistically significant improvement in cognitive flexibility measured using the DCCS task. Ilari et al ( 2021 ) used a quasi-experimental design to allocate 51 preschoolers to a 5-week, in-school music classes and 52 children to a collective non-musical education program. They evaluated several EFs and identified significantly improved performance in the DCCS task in the music education group.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Three studies in preschoolers found statistically significant improvement in cognitive flexibility measured using the DCCS task. Ilari et al (2021) music intervention had a greater effect size on the highperformance children. Despite these positive results, several other studies did not find significant associations between music education and cognitive flexibility tests.…”

Section: Cognitive Flexibilitymentioning

confidence: 87%

“…However, non-musical interventions such as visual arts training and learning a second language outperformed music in the visuospatial and verbal WM subdomains (Janus et al, 2016;Frischen et al, 2021). The case for cognitive flexibility was similar: although some studies did identify significant improvement in sorting tasks, primarily among preschoolers, the larger studies in school-age children and adolescents found no associations (Zuk et al, 2014;Shen et al, 2019;Ilari et al, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Effects of music training in executive function performance in children: A systematic review

Rodríguez-Gomez

Talero-Gutiérrez

2022

Front. Psychol.

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Music training has traditionally been a fundamental component of children's education across several cultures. Moreover, music training has been hypothesized to enhance the development of executive functions and improve executive performance in children. In this systematic review, we analyze the available evidence of the effects of music training on executive function performance, evaluated using validated neuropsychologic batteries and classic tasks. To achieve this objective, we performed a systematic search in three databases (PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, and Scopus) and selected case-control or intervention studies conducted on children with neurotypical development. We analyzed 29 studies that met the inclusion criteria and observed significant heterogeneity among the music interventions and methods for assessing executive functions. The review of the available literature suggests a beneficial effect of music training in core executive function performance, primarily in inhibitory control, and to a lesser extent, in working memory and cognitive flexibility.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Cognitive Flexibilitymentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Effects of music training in executive function performance in children: A systematic review

Rodríguez-Gomez

Talero-Gutiérrez

2022

Front. Psychol.

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“…The practice of coordinating with fellow musicians and sustaining joint action in time (Keller et al, 2014) helps children to develop social and emotional skills such as turn-taking, cooperation, sharing, and social responsibility (Buren et al, 2021; Kirschner Sebastian & Tomasello, 2010) as well as pro-social skills (Ilari et al, 2021). Inhibition control is a crucial skill for extracting social and emotional cues in real-time from purely musical cues during musical performance.…”

Section: Music Training and Other Skill Transfersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Music Training Improve Inhibition Control in Children? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Jamey

Foster

Hyde

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Inhibition control is an essential executive function and the cornerstone of important skills during children's development, like self-regulation and the development of social and language abilities. Better inhibition control is associated with higher academic achievement (e.g., reasoning skills, mathematics, and science). Music training requires inhibition control when learning new motor skills of an instrument, synchronized group training, monitoring performance, and auditory stream prioritization. This meta-analysis examined for the first time whether music-based training improves inhibition control in children. A rigorous search of the literature from 1980 to 2022 yielded 2182 records (N = 1528). Twenty studies had longitudinal designs, of which eight were randomized-clinical trials (RCTs) with an active control condition. Inhibition control measures included the flanker, go/no-go, and Stroop tests or similar preschool adaptations. A random-effects meta-analysis of these studies showed a moderate-to-large effect size for improvement in inhibition control after music training compared to control programs in the eight RCTs (SMD = 0.63, CI = 0.41 to 0.85, p < .0001). The full set of twenty longitudinal studies that included quasi-experimental designs and passive control groups showed a small-to-moderate effect size (SMD = 0.36, CI = 0.21 to 0.50, p < .0001). These findings highlight that music training, probably owing to its time-bound multisensory and multimodal demands fostering brain plasticity, plays a privileged role in improving executive functioning in children, especially inhibition control. We recommend further validation of music training to complement education and as a therapeutic tool for clinical populations with inhibition control difficulties (e.g., Autism, ADHD).

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“…Amongst the evidence of wider benefits associated with socialization and music making are studies of young children experiencing shared music making activities. These may be found in the home, such as related to aspects of increased pro-social skills (Kirschner and Tomasello, 2010 ; Ilari et al, 2020 ), as well as in kindergarten (Shen et al, 2019 ; Ilari et al, 2021 ). In the Australian longitudinal study mentioned above, for example, parent-child activities in the early years included joint and supported singing, such as action songs, counting songs, nursery rhymes, other children's songs, and original songs to accompany routine activities, as well as dancing, playing basic instruments and listening to music on various electronic media.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Singing and Social Identity in Young Children

et al. 2022

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A range of studies suggest that singing activities with young children can have a beneficial impact on other aspects of their development. However, there is little research examining the relationship between young children's singing and their developing social identity. In the current study, data were captured of young children's singing and social identity as part of a larger-scale, longitudinal evaluation of the nationwide Sing Up programme in England. Participants were 720 children aged 5-8 years old. The assessment of young children's singing ability employed an established measure and was undertaken individually. With adult support, the children were also asked to complete a simple questionnaire that focused on selected aspects of their social identity, both in general terms and also related to singing. Key themes embraced their attitudes to singing (at home, in school and in informal settings), singer identity (emotional engagement with singing and self-concept), and perceptions of self (self-efficacy, self-esteem, social integration). Comparative data were collected from young children of a similar age outside the programme. Findings suggested that the programme had a positive impact on children's singing ability, both overall and including the youngest children. The data analyses suggest that children could be identified as either “pupils with positive singing identity” or “pupils with less positive, or still developing singing identity.” Overall, pupils with a more positive singer identity—irrespective of Sing Up-related experience—tended to report more positive attitudes toward singing at school and other settings, had higher perceived levels of self-esteem and social integration, as well as more positive evaluations of their singing ability. Furthermore, the research suggests that successful participation in high-quality singing activities is likely to have a positive impact on young children's singing ability and, by implication, such positive singing development will also be associated with aspects of self that are related to contexualised singer identity and their sense of social inclusion.

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Musical Activities, Prosocial Behaviors, and Executive Function Skills of Kindergarten Children

Cited by 7 publications

References 84 publications

Effects of music training in executive function performance in children: A systematic review

Effects of music training in executive function performance in children: A systematic review

Does Music Training Improve Inhibition Control in Children? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Singing and Social Identity in Young Children

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