Franziska Degé

The Effect of a Music Program on Phonological Awareness in Preschoolers

The present experiment investigated the effect of a music program on phonological awareness in preschoolers. In particular, the effects of a music program and a phonological skills program on phonological awareness were compared. If language and music share basic processing mechanisms, the effect of both programs on enhancing phonological awareness should be similar. Forty-one preschoolers (22 boys) were randomly assigned to a phonological skills program, a music program, and a control group that received sports training (from which no effect was expected). Preschoolers were trained for 10 min on a daily basis over a period of 20 weeks. In a pretest, no differences were found between the three groups in regard to age, gender, intelligence, socioeconomic status, and phonological awareness. Children in the phonological skills group and the music group showed significant increases in phonological awareness from pre- to post-test. The children in the sports group did not show a significant increase from pre- to post-test. The enhancement of phonological awareness was basically driven by positive effects of the music program and the phonological skills program on phonological awareness for large phonological units. The data suggests that phonological awareness can be trained with a phonological skills program as well as a music program. These results can be interpreted as evidence of a shared sound category learning mechanism for language and music at preschool age.

The influence of two years of school music training in secondary school on visual and auditory memory

The present study tested the effect of an extended music curriculum (EMC) for two years in secondary school, consisting of musical instrument, auditory perception, and music theory training, on childrens visual and auditory memory. We tested 10-year-old children who had just started EMC and children without EMC (T0) in visual and auditory memory and retested the same children two years later (T1) to observe the effects of school music training. Confounding variables, like intelligence, socioeconomic status, extracurricular schooling, motivation to avoid work, and musical aptitude were controlled. Prior to the beginning of the music training no differences in the control variables and the memory variables between children with and without EMC were revealed. Children with EMC improved significantly from T0 to T1 in visual as well as in auditory memory. Such an improvement was not found for children without EMC. We conclude that extended school music training enhances childrens visual and auditory memory.

Music lessons and academic self-concept in 12- to 14-year-old children

Music lessons increase children’s performance on cognitive ability tests and promote academic achievement. The association between academic achievement and music lessons remains reliable even when IQ is held constant, which indicates that the association is more than a cognitive transfer effect. The question therefore arises of whether music lessons are associated with other variables that are related to academic achievement. The present study investigated whether the number of music lessons was associated with a child’s academic self-concept, which is related to academic achievement. The sample comprised 92 12- to 14-year-old children (45 girls) who varied in their musical background. Academic self-concept and IQ were measured. Parents also provided detailed demographic background information (including information concerning music education). A hierarchical multiple regression was used in which socioeconomic status (i.e., parents’ education), gender, nonmusical out-of-school activities, grade, and IQ were entered on the first step, and months of music lessons were added on the second step. This multiple regression analysis revealed that music lessons contributed significantly to the prediction of academic self-concept scores and significantly improved the fit of the model. Our data indicated a significant positive association between music lessons and academic self-concept, even when we controlled for confounding variables. These results support the idea that music lessons are associated with a personality variable (academic self-concept) that is related to academic achievement. However, the direction of causation still needs to be investigated because the present study is only correlational.

Can you hear a difference? Neuronal correlates of melodic deviance processing in children

Many studies investigating music processing in adult musicians and nonmusicians point towards pronounced behavioral and neurophysiological differences between the two groups. Recent studies indicate that these differences can already be found in early childhood. Further, electro-encephalography studies using musical discrimination tasks have demonstrated that differences in music processing become more pronounced when explicitly rather than implicitly trained musical abilities are required. Exploring the functional neuroanatomy underlying the processing of different expectation violations in children and its association with musical training, we investigated neural responses to different melodic deviances in musically trained and untrained children. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, children (aged 11-14 years) were examined while comparing pairs of short melodies that were either identical or differed with respect to four notes. The implemented deviances were either subtle (by inserting plausible in-key notes) or obvious (by inserting implausible out-of-key notes). Our results indicate a strong association between musical training and functional neuroanatomy of the brain. Similar to research on music processing in adults, the processing of obvious melodic deviances activated a network involving inferior frontal, premotor and anterior insula regions in musically trained and untrained children. By contrast, subtle deviances led to activation in the inferior frontal and premotor cortex, the anterior insula, the superior temporal gyrus, and the supramarginal gyrus in musically trained children only. Our work provides further insights into the functional neuroanatomy of melody processing and its association with musical training in children, providing the basis for further studies specifying distinct musical processes (e.g. contour and interval processing).

Associations between musical abilities and precursors of reading in preschool aged children

The association between music and language, in particular, the overlap in their processing results in the possibility to use one domain for the enhancement of the other. Especially in the preschool years music may be a valuable tool to train language abilities (e.g., precursors of reading). Therefore, detailed knowledge about associations between musical abilities and precursors of reading can be of great use for designing future music intervention studies that target language-related abilities. Hence, the present study investigated the association between music perception as well as music production and precursors of reading. Thereby, not only phonological awareness, the mostly studied precursor of reading, was investigated, but also other precursors were examined. We assessed musical abilities (production and perception) and precursors of reading (phonological awareness, working memory, and rapid retrieval from long-term memory) in 55 preschoolers (27 boys). Fluid intelligence was measured and controlled in the analyses. Results showed that phonological awareness, working memory, and rapid retrieval from long-term memory were related to music perception as well as to music production. Our data suggest that several precursors of reading were associated with music perception as well as music production.

Perceiving arousal and valence in facial expressions: Differences between children and adults

Abstract Arousal and valence have long been studied as the two primary dimensions for the perception of emotional stimuli such as facial expressions. Prior correlational studies that tested emotion perception along these dimensions found broad similarities between adults and children. However, few studies looked for direct differences between children and adults in these dimensions beyond correlation. We tested 9-year-old children and adults on rating positive and negative facial stimuli based on emotional arousal and valence. Despite high significant correlations between children’s and adults’ ratings, our findings also showed significant differences between children and adults in terms of rating values: Children rated all expressions as significantly more positive than adults in valence. Children also rated positive emotions as more arousing than adults. Our results show that although perception of facial emotions along arousal and valence follows similar patterns in children and adults, some differences in ratings persist, and vary by emotion type.

Associations between two measures of music aptitude: Are the IMMA and the AMMA significantly correlated in a sample of 9- to 13-year-old children?

The aim of this study was to correlate musical aptitude scores derived from two tests based on the same structural model for musical aptitude in a sample of 9- to 13-year-old children. We controlled for the influences of socioeconomic status (SES; measured by parents’ education), the amount of music lessons, and general cognitive abilities (i.e., IQ). The sample comprised 89 (46 girls) 9- to 13-year-old children. We applied two different tests by Edwin Gordon: Intermediate Measures of Music Audiation (IMMA) and Advanced Measures of Music Audiation (AMMA) to measure musical aptitude. As control variables, IQ, socioeconomic status, and amount of music training were assessed. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that the total score of the IMMA together with the control variables could not predict the total score of the AMMA. Furthermore, regression models for each of the subtests were also not significant. With respect to the control variables, we revealed an association between the IMMA and socioeconomic status as well as amount of music training. We conclude that even tests that are based on the same structural model of musical aptitude were not associated significantly. This might indicate problems of validity. Additionally, it seems to be difficult to assess musical aptitude independently of influences from music training and SES. Ultimately, this may support the notion that we still need valid musical aptitude tests for this particular age group.

The Effects of Training in Music and Phonological Skills on Phonological Awareness in 4- to 6-Year-Old Children of Immigrant Families

Children of immigrant families often have great difficulties with language and disadvantages in schooling. Phonological problems appear especially common. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine whether music training has a positive effect on the phonological awareness in these children. The effects of a music program were compared with an established phonological skills program and with a sports control group. Preschoolers of immigrants (19 boys, 20 girls) were randomly assigned to one of the three groups. All groups were trained three times a week for 20 min each, over a period of 14 weeks. Phonological awareness was tested prior to the beginning of the training and after the training phase. At the pre-test, no differences between the groups were found regarding phonological awareness and control variables (age, gender, intelligence, socioeconomic status, language background, music experience). At the post-test, the music group and the phonological skills group showed a significant increase in phonological awareness of large phonological units. The effect size of the music training was larger compared to the phonological skills program. In contrast, the sports control group showed no significant increase in phonological awareness. The current results indicate that a music program could be used as an additional opportunity to promote phonological skills in children of immigrant families.

Musik und kognitive Entwicklung

Musikunterricht wirkt sich im Sinne von Instrumental- oder Gesangsunterricht auf die Entwicklung kognitiver Fahigkeiten aus. Dabei belegen Langsschnittuntersuchungen positive Effekte von Musikunterricht auf den IQ, auf das verbale und visuelle Gedachtnis, auf visuell-raumliche und auf sprachliche Fahigkeiten, wie die Lesefahigkeit und die phonologische Bewusstheit. Musikunterricht ist auch mit Verbesserungen in schulischen Leistungen verbunden. Es kann angenommen werden, dass aufgrund der besprochenen Wirkungen eine allgemeine Steigerung des kindlichen Wohlbefindens verbunden ist.

Theorien der Wahrnehmungsentwicklung

Die Wahrnehmung stellt fur uns von Beginn an das Portal fur Informationen aus der Ausenwelt und fur Informationen uber uns selbst dar. Ist ein neugeborenes Kind wach, so scheint schon fur ein so junges Baby die Umwelt prasent sowie die eigene innere Befindlichkeit spurbar zu sein. Uber viele Jahrzehnte wurde geratselt, was ein Baby wohl sehen, horen, fuhlen, riechen und schmecken kann und wie es schlieslich zu der Wahrnehmung kommt, die unsere Wahrnehmung als Erwachsene kennzeichnet. Erst mit zunehmendem methodischen Fort schritt konnte die Entwicklung der Wahrnehmung, insbesondere ihr ontogenetischer Ursprung, immer besser verstanden werden. Die Triebfeder dieser Forschungsarbeiten war jedoch nicht nur das alleinige Wissen-Wollen, wie Kinder unterschiedlichen Alters die Welt wahrnehmen. Die Forschungsarbeiten sollten vielmehr dazu dienen, Belege fur verschiedene, zum Teil kontroverse theoretische Vorstellungen uber die Wahrnehmung des Menschen und deren Veranderungen zu liefern. Ziel des vorliegenden Kapitels ist es, dieses Zusammenspiel zwischen den theoretischen Auffassungen uber die Wahrnehmungsentwicklung des Menschen und ihre empirische Uberprufbarkeit in einer annahernd chronologischen Abfolge darzustellen.