Evidence That Musical Training = Boost Executive Brain Function

Evidence That Musical Training = Boost Executive Brain Function

New research provides more evidence that musical training enhances executive function (EF), especially in the areas of cognitive flexibility, working memory, and processing speed, and this may explain the link to academic achievement.

The finding makes sense as such training involves sustained attention, goal-directed behavior, and cognitive flexibility, researchers say, but their cross-sectional study can’t rule out the possibility that prior executive function promotes musical training and not the other way around.

“The most important part of the study is that it showed that musicians, both children and adults, had better executive functioning skills than nonmusicians, and that the brain of the child with musical training showed more activation and looked more mature in terms of executive functioning networks,” said study author Nadine Gaab, PhD, from the Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience at Boston Children’s Hospital in Massachusetts.

However, more longitudinal studies are needed to examine a possible causal relationship among musical training, EF skills, and academic achievement, said Dr. Gaab.

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