Impact of Music Training on Cognition of Children

Music training has been found to improve cognitive abilities and executive functioning, as suggested by existing literature. The objectives of the present study were to find out whether there is any significant difference among children with formal training in instrumental music and children with no such training with respect to different aspects of cognitive abilities, namely, verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning, working memory and processing speed and also to determine whether there is any significant difference among children with formal training in instrumental music and children with no such training with respect to executive functioning. The sample comprised of thirty six children from Kolkata, a metropolitan city of India, who were school-goers, among whom twenty children had training in instrumental music and sixteen children with no training. The findings show that there was significant difference among children with formal training in instrumental music and children with no training with respect to verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning and working memory. Significant difference had been found in executive functioning whereby children with formal training in instrumental music have performed better than children with no such training.