The impact of musical training on musical abilities inschool-aged children

Averil ParkerMarch 15th 2017

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Research QuestionDoes musical training impact different musical abilities uniformly, or differently?

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Melody discrimination (MD)

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Melody discrimination (MD)

4

`

`

Pitch

Melody discrimination (MD)

5

Contour

Melody discrimination (MD)

6

Intervals

7

Transposed melody discrimination (TMD)

8

Transposed melody discrimination (TMD)

Rt superior temporal gyrus

Rt inferior frontal lobe

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MD

Rt superior temporal gyrus

Rt inferior frontal lobe

10Intraparietal sulcus

(IPS)

MDTMD

MD TMD

MusiciansNon-musicians

11Foster & Zatorre, 2010

MDLongitudinal study

Children age 6-7

With training > without training(partialη2 =0.33)

Hyde et al., 2009 12

Adolescents (age 14.5)

Perform at adult levels (56.7% correct)

Non-musicians

13Sutherland, Paus & Zatorre, 2013

TMD

RationaleTwo musical abilities

Musicians > Non-musicians

Objective

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Hypotheses1. Musicians > non-musicians

2. MD > TMD

3. Difference depends on task

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16

Age Musicians Non-musicians

7 years old 11 15

8 years old 17 14

9 years old 22 15

Total (N = 94) 50 44

MethodCross-sectional design

Tasks: MD, TMD

Child-friendly version

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Melody discrimination

? ?

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Transposed melody discrimination

? ?

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Data Integrity

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Data entry errors

Outliers

Missing data

Internal consistency

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Task KR-20MD .67TMD .53

Power calculation

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N Power94 .75

2 × 2 × 3 ANOVABS Factor 1: Group

WS Factor 2 : Task

BS Factor 3 : Age

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Assumptions✔ Independence

✔ Normality

⚠ Homogeneity of variance

✔ Sphericity24

η2 = .28p < .001

26.0

.2

.4

.6

.8

Musician Non-Musician

Prop

ortio

n co

rrect

η2 = .34p < .001

25.0

.2

.4

.6

.8

MD TMD

Prop

ortio

n co

rrect

27

η2 = .02p = .54

MD

TMD

.0

.2

.4

.6

.8

Musician Non-musician

Prop

ortio

n co

rrect

η2 = .05p = .04

28

Musicians

Non-Musicians

.0

.2

.4

.6

.8

7 8 9

Prop

ortio

n co

rrect

Age in years

*

z-scores

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Like IQ

Non-musicians reference

z-score = 3.1

r = .27p = .033*

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MD

z-s

core

s

Lessons z-scores

*one-tailed

r = .25p = .045*

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TMD

z-s

core

s

Lessons z-scores

*one-tailed

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SummaryMusicians > non-musicians

MD > TMD

No group by task interaction

Discussion✘ Group by task

Too similar

Melody vs rhythm

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Discussion✔ Age by group

Increased training

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Discussion

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✔ Age by group

Brain development

Pre-existing differences

Future directionsLongitudinal

Random Assignment

Active control

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LimitationsConfound

Selection bias

Reliability

37

ImplicationsMusic education

z-scores

Identify high/low ability

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Conclusions

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AcknowledgementsDr. Virginia Penhune, supervisor

Kierla Ireland, PhD candidate

Thanya Iyer and Genvieve Salendres, lab members

Laboratory for motor learning and neuroplasticity

National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada

Sacha Engelhardt, moral support40