Does learning a musical instrument make children smarter?

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1. 1

   Practicing a Musical Instrument in Childhood is Associated with Enhanced Verbal Ability and Nonverbal Reasoning

   PLoS ONE (Forgeard et al.)Published Oct 28, 2008Checked Sep 30, 2026

   “In this study we investigated the association between instrumental music training in childhood and outcomes closely related to music training as well as those more distantly related. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Children who received at least three years (M = 4.6 years) of instrumental music training outperformed their control counterparts on two outcomes closely related to music (auditory discrimination abilities and fine motor skills) and on two outcomes distantly related to music (vocabulary and nonverbal reasoning skills). Duration of training also predicted these outcomes. Contrary to previous research, instrumental music training was not associated with heightened spatial skills, phonemic awareness, or mathematical abilities. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: While these results are correlational only, the strong predictive effect of training duration suggests that instrumental music training may enhance auditory discrimination, fine motor skills, vocabulary, and nonverbal reasoning. Alternative explanations for these results are discussed.”

2. 2

   Measuring the impact of musical learning on cognitive, behavioural and socio-emotional wellbeing development in children

   Psychology of Music (Rose et al.)Published Dec 13, 2017Checked Sep 30, 2026

   “Pre- and post-test measures of intelligence, memory, socio-emotional behaviour, motor ability and visual-motor integration were compared in children who received either extra-curricular musical training (EMT: n = 19) or statutory school music group lessons (SSM: n = 19). Results showed a significant association between musical aptitude and intelligence overall. The EMT group showed a significant increase in IQ (7 points), in comparison to 4.3 points for the SSM group, suggesting an effect of musical learning on intelligence. No effects were found for memory, or for visual motor integration or socio-emotional behaviour. However, significant improvements in gross motor ability where revealed for the EMT group only, for the aiming and catching composite. With regard to the measure of fluid intelligence, these findings support previous studies. The novel use of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children provides evidence that musical learning may support development in a child’s ability to judge distance, consider velocity, focus and use their proprioceptive, interoceptive and exteroceptive nervous systems.”

3. 3

   Cognitive and academic benefits of music training with children: A multilevel meta-analysis

   Memory & Cognition (Sala & Gobet)Published Jul 29, 2020Checked Sep 30, 2026

   “Once the quality of study design is controlled for, the overall effect of music training programs is null ( $$ \overline{g} $$ g ¯ ≈ 0) and highly consistent across studies ( τ 2 ≈ 0). Results of Bayesian analyses employing distributional assumptions (informative priors) derived from previous research in cognitive training corroborate these conclusions. Small statistically significant overall effects are obtained only in those studies implementing no random allocation of participants and employing non-active controls ( $$ \overline{g} $$ g ¯ ≈ 0.200, p < .001). Interestingly, music training is ineffective regardless of the type of outcome measure (e.g., verbal, non-verbal, speed-related, etc.), participants’ age, and duration of training. Furthermore, we note that, beyond meta-analysis of experimental studies, a considerable amount of cross-sectional evidence indicates that engagement in music has no impact on people’s non-music cognitive skills or academic achievement. We conclude that researchers’ optimism about the benefits of music training is empirically unjustified and stems from misinterpretation of the empirical data and, possibly, confirmation bias.”

4. 4

   How musical training affects cognitive development: rhythm, reward and other modulating variables

   Frontiers in Neuroscience (Lombard & Trost)Published Jan 1, 2014Checked Sep 30, 2026

   “Learning to play an instrument as a child may even predict academic performance and IQ in young adulthood. The degree of observed structural and functional adaptation in the brain correlates with intensity and duration of practice. Importantly, the effects on cognitive development depend on the timing of musical initiation due to sensitive periods during development, as well as on several other modulating variables. Notably, we point to motivation, reward and social context of musical education, which are important yet neglected factors affecting the long-term benefits of musical training. Further, we introduce the notion of rhythmic entrainment and suggest that it may represent a mechanism supporting learning and development of executive functions. It also hones temporal processing and orienting of attention in time that may underlie enhancements observed in reading and verbal memory. We conclude that musical training uniquely engenders near and far transfer effects, preparing a foundation for a range of skills, and thus fostering cognitive development.”

5. 5

   Music education (Wikipedia)

   WikipediaPublished Sep 29, 2026Checked Sep 30, 2026

   “Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do original research on ways of teaching and learning music. Music education scholars publish their findings in peer-reviewed journals, and teach undergraduate and graduate education students at university education or music schools, who are training to become music teachers. Music education touches on all learning domains, including the domain (the development of skills), the cognitive domain (the acquisition of knowledge), and, in particular and the affective domain (the learner's willingness to receive, internalize, and share what is learned), including music appreciation and sensitivity. Many music education curriculums incorporate the usage of mathematical skills as well fluid usage and understanding of a secondary language or culture. The consistency of practicing these skills has been shown to benefit students in a multitude of other academic areas as well as improving performance on standardized tests such as the ACT and SAT.”

6. 6

   Musical training is associated with cognitive outcomes and white matter microstructure in middle childhood.

   Developmental cognitive neuroscience (Lopez et al.)Published Sep 6, 2026Checked Oct 4, 2026

   “Using a combination of behavioral assessments and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in a sample of 76 preadolescents (38 with musical training and 38 without musical training) between 7 and 9 years old, cognitive abilities were tested using the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Abilities (WJ III) and the Operation Span Task (OSPAN), while academic achievement was assessed using the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement (KTEA II). Behavioral results revealed that participants with musical training had higher cognitive scores (F(5, 70) = 2.89, p = .02) and greater academic achievement (F(5, 70) = 4.09, p = .003) compared to those without musical training. DTI results revealed that musical training was associated with higher mode (F(1, 48) = 5.82, p = 0.02) in the right PCG to STGp tract of the arcuate fasciculus (AF), although the relationship was marginally significant following Benjamini-Hochberg correction. Together, these results provide both behavioral and neural evidence for the relationship between musical training and cognition in a sample of preadolescents.”

7. 7

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

   Frontiers in psychology (Rodriguez-Gomez & Talero-Gutiérrez)Published Aug 8, 2022Checked Oct 4, 2026

   “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.”

8. 8

   Music participation, global cortical morphometry, and later language outcomes in the ABCD study.

   Frontiers in psychology (Wang et al.)Published Aug 5, 2026Checked Oct 4, 2026

   “Global cortical surface area and volume, but not cortical thickness or sulcal depth, statistically accounted for 4.1%-8.1% of these associations. Each 1-standard-deviation increase in practice intensity was associated with slightly higher crystallized cognition and picture vocabulary scores, with adjusted standardized differences ranging from 0.04 to 0.06 standard deviation units, but was not associated with oral reading recognition. For the two significant outcomes, global cortical surface area and volume statistically accounted for 4.6%-6.5% of the observed associations. In the twin subsample, sustained music participation remained positively associated with all three language outcomes, whereas practice intensity was not significantly associated with any language outcome.DiscussionThese findings provide longitudinal, population-based evidence that real-world music participation may be a relevant environmental correlate of language development in late childhood and that global cortical morphometry may statistically account for a small but measurable proportion of these associations.”

9. 9

   The impact of musical training on reading ability in children: the mediating role of working memory.

   Frontiers in psychology (Yang et al.)Published Jul 7, 2026Checked Oct 4, 2026

   “Study 2 implemented a 12-week music-based rhythmic movement training program consisting of 20 sessions among lower-grade children without prior musical training.ResultsIn Study 1, children with musical training performed better than children without musical training in musical ability, working memory, and some reading tasks. Working memory partially mediated the relationship between musical ability and antonym judgment and fully mediated the relationship between musical ability and sentence proposition judgment. In Study 2, children in the music intervention group showed improvements in musical ability, working memory accuracy, antonym judgment, and sentence proposition judgment.DiscussionThese findings provide evidence from both an associational pathway and an intervention context, suggesting that working memory may represent a possible cognitive pathway linking musical training to the development of some reading-related abilities. Music-based rhythmic movement training may provide a feasible approach for supporting reading-related development among children from multilingual backgrounds in frontier regions.”