ReviewFrontiers in neuroscience2013
How musical training affects cognitive development: rhythm, reward and other modulating variables.
Review in Frontiers in neuroscience, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 81 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
81 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 307 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Systematic Review and Evidence Gap Map Evaluation of Rhythmic and/or Complex Movement Interventions and Child Cognitive Outcomes.Clinical child and family psychology review · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of music training on executive functions in preschool children aged 3-6 years: systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Pooled it
- Playing a musical instrument and the risk of dementia among older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies.BMC neurology · 2022Pooled it
- An ALE meta-analytic review of musical expertise.Scientific reports · 2022Pooled it
- Effect of Music Interventions on Cognitive Function in Older Adults With Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Systematic Review.Research in gerontological nursingPooled it
- Functional Neural Architecture of Working Memory in Musicians: An ALE Meta-Analysis and Review.Wiley interdisciplinary reviews. Cognitive sciencePooled it
- Can music activity training improve self-control among preschool children? Evidence from an 8-week intervention experiment.BMC psychology · 2026Trial
- A Randomized Proof-of-Concept Study of Gamified Rhythmic Training in Autistic Children.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2026Trial
- Cognitive enrichment through art: a randomized controlled trial on the effect of music or visual arts group practice on cognitive and brain development of young children.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2024Trial
- Vitamin D Status and Its Association with Multiple Intelligence among Arab Adolescents.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Trial
- Music improves social communication and auditory-motor connectivity in children with autism.Translational psychiatry · 2018Trial
- Intrinsic Rhythmicity Predicts Synchronization-Continuation Entrainment Performance.Scientific reports · 2018Trial
- Article
- Music-Based Interventions in Childhood Hearing Loss: A Comprehensive Narrative Review.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Can Music Therapy Improve Cognition in Dementia as Measured with Magnetoencephalography: A Hypothesis Study.Biomedicines · 2026Article
- The impact of musical training on reading ability in children: the mediating role of working memory.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Interindividual differences in auditory processing moderate the effect of auditory-motor coupling on paired-associate learning.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Applications and Challenges of Auditory Brain-Computer Interfaces in Objective Auditory Assessments for Pediatric Cochlear Implants.Exploration (Beijing, China) · 2025Review
- Improving executive functioning and reducing the risk of Alzheimer's disease with music therapy: A narrative review of potential neural mechanisms.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2025Review
- How Culture and Musical Engagement Shape Musical Reward Sensitivity in Danish Teens: A Validation Study of the Danish Barcelona Musical Reward Questionnaire With 4641 Adolescents.Scandinavian journal of psychology · 2025Article
21 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Musical training has recently gained additional interest in education as increasing neuroscientific research demonstrates its positive effects on brain development. Neuroimaging revealed plastic changes in the brains of adult musicians but it is still unclear to what extent they are the product of intensive music training rather than of other factors, such as preexisting biological markers of musicality. In this review, we synthesize a large body of studies demonstrating that benefits of musical training extend beyond the skills it directly aims to train and last well into adulthood. For example, children who undergo musical training have better verbal memory, second language pronunciation accuracy, reading ability and executive functions. 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.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.