In a recent post, Deric Bownds reviewed a study of the cognitive effects of early music education. The study found:
“overall, children provided with music classes performed no better than those with visual arts or no classes on any assessment.”
It is rare that a single study settles an issue in psychology. This was, however, a rigorous randomized experiment and, according to the principles of Bayesian reasoning, I have adjusted my belief in the cognitive benefits of musical training downwards.
In the language of educational psychology, the effect that one type of training has on other cognitive skills is called “transfer.” For example, the claim that learning Latin will help your math skills, would be a claim for strong positive transfer.
The existence of transfer effects is still controversial in psychology. I believe that there is some evidence for transfer, but I also think that some claims go beyond the evidence.
In addition, I am saddened when we feel that subjects, such as art, literature, and music, must be justified by their effects on math scores. These subjects are valuable, in and of themselves, and have a justified place in the school curriculum even if they do not affect test performance.
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Tags: Cognition, Educational psychology, Experiment, Music education, Music lesson
