Cognitive inhibitory control in children following early childhood music education

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Eve Joret ◽  
Filip Germeys ◽  
Yori Gidron
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Simon Task ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
Significant Group ◽  
Music Training

The relationship between music training and executive functions has remained inconsistent in previous studies, possibly due to methodological limitations. This study aims to investigate cognitive inhibitory control in children (9–12 years old) with and without musical training, while carefully considering confounding variables. To assess executive functions, the Simon task was used, measuring reaction times (RTs) and error rates on congruent and incongruent trials. Information on important variables such as bilingualism, socio-economic status (SES), music pedagogy and amount of musical training was collected through a parental questionnaire. Furthermore, verbal and non-verbal intelligence were assessed with validated tests to consider their effects as well. The results showed that the samples did not significantly differ in background variables. The analysis of the RT data on the Simon task revealed a significant group × congruency interaction, such that musically trained children showed a reduced magnitude of the congruency effect (RTs on incongruent trials – RTs on congruent trials) compared to non-musicians. To conclude, music training seems to be associated with enhanced cognitive inhibitory control in well-matched samples.

scholarly journals Effects of age on inhibitory control are affected by task-specific features

2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (5) ◽  
pp. 1219-1233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela de Bruin ◽  
Sergio Della Sala
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Simon Task ◽  
Flanker Task ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Age Effects ◽  
Control Task ◽  
Younger Adults

Older adults have been argued to have impoverished inhibitory control compared to younger adults. However, these effects of age may depend on processing speed and their manifestation may furthermore depend on the type of inhibitory control task that is used. We present two experiments that examine age effects on inhibition across three tasks: a Simon arrow, static flanker and motion flanker task. The results showed overall slower reaction times (RTs) for older adults on all three tasks. However, effects of age on inhibition costs were only found for the Simon task, but not for the two flanker tasks. The motion flanker task furthermore showed an effect of baseline processing speed on the relation between age and inhibition costs. Older adults with slower baseline responses showed smaller inhibition costs, suggesting they were affected less by the flanker items than faster older adults. These findings suggest that effects of age on inhibition are task dependent and can be modulated by task-specific features such as the type of interference, type of stimuli and processing speed.

scholarly journals Hedonistic Approach in the Musical-Rhythmic Competence of Future Music and Choreography Teachers

2019 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 274-277
Author(s):  
Wang Yuansin
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Applied Research ◽  
Music Teachers ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Recent Decade ◽  
Important Goal ◽  
Music Training ◽  
Individual Approach ◽  
Active Attention

The article is dedicated to the analysis of hedonistic approach to music and rhythm competence of prospective Music and Choreography teachers. As hedonism became a focus of scholars’ active attention during the recent decade, hedonistic approach is being put forward in the article as the key one in music and rhythm competence of prospective Music and Choreography teachers. Under the current circumstances of the society’s development, the psychological follow-up of prospective Music and Choreography teachers is an important goal to attain for our country. Each personality requires individual approach; help in revealing his/her specific features; in shaping a wholesome, harmonious personality. The goal under consideration presupposes setting complicated issues for teachers and psychologists; these issues require structural, systemic and subsequent solution. The personality’s subjective welfare is not only an indicator of his/her psychic (emotional) stability, the transient (dis)adaptation states and pressure compliance resources, but also has crucial significance for perfecting the processes of a person’s overall and academic socialisation. This phenomenon requires conducting applied research as well as solving other issues. Thus, hedonistic approach to music and rhythm competence of prospective Music and Choreography teachers presupposes studying and explication. Applying a hedonistic approach to music-rhythmic competence, under appropriate pedagogical conditions, is transformed into a kind of educational and musical training, which is based on a person's need for pleasure, enjoyment and relying on a love of music education. In this way, the hedonistic approach in music education gives the process of teaching future music teachers and choreography a special appeal.Hedonistic approach to music and rhythm competence of prospective Music and Choreography teachers under the corresponding academic circumstances is being rearranged into a distinctive teaching and music training based on the prospective Music and Choreography teacher’s demand for enjoyment and delight relying on the love of music education.

The relationship between early musical training and executive functions: Validation of effects of the sensitive period

2021 ◽  
pp. 030573562097869
Author(s):  
Jiejia Chen ◽  
Meike Scheller ◽  
Chuanyu Wu ◽  
Biyu Hu ◽  
Rong Peng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Cognitive Flexibility ◽  
Response Inhibition ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Sensitive Period ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Music Training ◽  
Inhibition Response ◽  
The Relationship

Interest in the influence of musical training on executive functions (EFs) has been growing in recent years. However, the relationship between musical training and EFs remains unclear. By dividing EFs into inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility, this study systematically examined its association with musical training in children, and further verified whether there was a sensitive period for the influence of music training on EFs. In Experiment 1, musically trained and untrained children were asked to complete the Go/No-go, Stroop, Continuous Performance, and Switching tasks. Results showed that musically trained children had an advantage in attention inhibition, response inhibition, and working memory, but not in cognitive flexibility. Moreover, the level of musical training was positively correlated with response inhibition and working memory abilities. In Experiment 2, results showed that early-trained musicians performed better on measures of attention inhibition, response inhibition, and working memory than did the age-matched control group, but late-trained musicians only performed better in attention inhibition. Thus, our findings suggest that music training is associated with enhanced EF abilities and provide the first evidence that early childhood is a sensitive period when musical training has a more powerful effect on the development of EFs.

scholarly journals GABAergic Modulation of Response Inhibition and Interference Control

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaja Faßbender ◽  
Katharina Bey ◽  
Julia V. Lippold ◽  
rene hurlemann ◽  
Ulrich Ettinger
Keyword(s):  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Response Inhibition ◽  
Flanker Task ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
Interference Control ◽  
Drug Induced ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Delta Plots ◽  
Over Time

Background: Inhibitory control is a crucial executive function with high relevance to mental and physical wellbeing. However, there are still unanswered questions regarding its neural mechanisms, including the role of the major inhibitory neurotransmitter, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Aims: This study examined the effects of lorazepam (0.5 mg and 1 mg), a positive allosteric modulator at the GABAA receptor, on response inhibition and interference control. We also explored the heterogeneity of inhibitory control and calculated delta plots to explore whether lorazepam affects the gradual build-up of inhibition and activation over time. Method: A sample of N=50 healthy participants performed antisaccade, Eriksen flanker and Simon tasks in a within-subjects, placebo-controlled, double-blind randomised design. Results: Lorazepam increased mean reaction times (MRT) and error rates dose-dependently in all tasks (p≤.005). In the antisaccade and Simon tasks, lorazepam increased congruency effects for error rate (p≤.029) but not for MRT (p≥.587). In the Eriksen flanker task, both congruency effects were increased by the drug (p≤.031). Delta plots did not reflect any drug-induced changes in inhibition and activation over time. Delta plots for MRT in the Simon task were negative-going, as expected, whereas those for the antisaccade and flanker tasks were positive-going. Conclusions: This study provides clear evidence for GABAergic involvement in inhibitory control. Furthermore, our findings highlight the diversity of inhibitory control while also pointing out similarities between different inhibitory control tasks. In contrast to MRTs and error rates, the cognitive processes provided by delta plots appear not to be sensitive to GABAergic modulation.Draft version, 02.04.2020. This paper has not been peer reviewed. Please do not copy or cite without author's permission.

scholarly journals Computational dissociation of dopaminergic and cholinergic effects on action selection and inhibitory control

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduardo A. Aponte ◽  
Dario Schöbi ◽  
Klaas E. Stephan ◽  
Jakob Heinzle
Keyword(s):  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Action Selection ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
Antisaccade Task ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Dose Dependent Fashion ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Dose Dependent

AbstractBackgroundPatients with schizophrenia make more errors than healthy subjects on the antisaccade task. In this paradigm, participants are required to inhibit a reflexive saccade to a target and to select the correct action (a saccade in the opposite direction). While the precise origin of this deficit is not clear, it has been connected to aberrant dopaminergic and cholinergic neuromodulation.MethodsTo study the impact of dopamine and acetylcholine on inhibitory control and action selection, we administered two selective drugs (levodopa 200mg/galantamine 8mg) to healthy volunteers (N=100) performing the antisaccade task. A computational model (SERIA) was employed to separate the contribution of inhibitory control and action selection to empirical reaction times and error rates.ResultsModeling suggested that levodopa improved action selection (at the cost of increased reaction times) but did not have a significant effect on inhibitory control. By contrast, according to our model, galantamine affected inhibitory control in a dose dependent fashion, reducing inhibition failures at low doses and increasing them at higher levels. These effects were sufficiently specific that the computational analysis allowed for identifying the drug administered to an individual with 70% accuracy.ConclusionsOur results do not support the hypothesis that elevated tonic dopamine strongly impairs inhibitory control. Rather levodopa improved the ability to select correct actions. Instead, inhibitory control was modulated by cholinergic drugs. This approach may provide a starting point for future computational assays that differentiate neuromodulatory abnormalities in heterogeneous diseases like schizophrenia.

scholarly journals Cognitive Control and Bilingualism: The Bilingual Advantage Through the Lens of Dimensional Overlap

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melodie Bellegarda ◽  
Pedro Macizo
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Picture Naming ◽  
Simon Task ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Incorrect Response ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Naming Task ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
Superior Performance ◽  
Response Level

Past research shows that the bilingual experience may enhance cognitive executive function. In this experiment, we evaluated cognitive control in bilinguals relative to monolinguals by using a dimensional overlap model to predict performance in a task composed of Stroop and Simon stimuli. A group of 24 Spanish monolinguals and 24 bilinguals with differing first languages and all having Spanish as a second language (L2) did a picture naming task and a task composed of Stroop and Simon stimuli, where the effect of different overlap conditions (spatial/color) between stimuli and responses were examined. The tasks were performed in Spanish for both groups and performance was indexed with behavioral and electrophysiological measures. We hypothesized that the bilinguals’ daily language practice in L2 reflected overlap conditions similar to the Simon task. Both naming a picture in L2 and the Simon task would involve conflict at the response level. L2 picture naming entails interference between two potential oral responses, to name in L2 vs. L1 (correct vs. incorrect responses, respectively). Similarly, incongruent stimuli in the Simon task produce interference because the irrelevant dimension (spatial location) overlap with an incorrect response. In contrast, the manual Stroop task involves a different type of conflict between two overlapping stimulus dimensions (the ink color and the color meaning). We predicted for these reasons a superior performance in Simon tasks over Stroop tasks for bilinguals, while monolinguals were expected to have a similar performance in both tasks. We also expected to see a correlation between the performance on the picture naming task and the Simon task in bilinguals. However, the behavioral results did not confirm these hypotheses. In fact, both groups had similar congruency effects as measured by reaction times and error rates, and there was no correlation between the picture naming and Simon task in bilinguals. Despite this, the electrophysiological data suggested a relationship between the picture naming task and the P300 congruency effect in bilinguals. Our findings provide insights into the neurocognitive bases of language and serve as a research avenue for language behaviors in bilinguals.

scholarly journals Dissociable Effects of Dopamine on the Initial Capture and the Reactive Inhibition of Impulsive Actions in Parkinson's Disease

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 710-723 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nelleke C. van Wouwe ◽  
Kristen E. Kanoff ◽  
Daniel O. Claassen ◽  
Charis A. Spears ◽  
Joseph Neimat ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Simon Task ◽  
Action Control ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Performance Curve ◽  
Dopamine Depletion ◽  
Control Task ◽  
Control Processes ◽  
Initial Capture

Dopamine plays a key role in a range of action control processes. Here, we investigate how dopamine depletion caused by Parkinson disease (PD) and how dopamine restoring medication modulate the expression and suppression of unintended action impulses. Fifty-five PD patients and 56 healthy controls (HCs) performed an action control task (Simon task). PD patients completed the task twice, once withdrawn from dopamine medications and once while taking their medications. PD patients experienced similar susceptibility to making fast errors in conflict trials as HCs, but PD patients were less proficient compared with HCs at suppressing incorrect responses. Administration of dopaminergic medications had no effect on impulsive error rates but significantly improved the proficiency of inhibitory control in PD patients. We found no evidence that dopamine precursors and agonists affected action control in PD differently. Additionally, there was no clear evidence that individual differences in baseline action control (off dopamine medications) differentially responded to dopamine medications (i.e., no evidence for an inverted U-shaped performance curve). Together, these results indicate that dopamine depletion and restoration therapies directly modulate the reactive inhibitory control processes engaged to suppress interference from the spontaneously activated response impulses but exert no effect on an individual's susceptibility to act on impulses.

Long-Term Musical Training Alters Tactile Temporal-Order Judgment

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 373-389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon P. Landry ◽  
François Champoux
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Order ◽  
Temporal Order Judgment ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
Training Environment ◽  
Temporal Order Judgement ◽  
The Impact

Long-term musical training is an enriched multisensory training environment that can alter uni- and multisensory substrates and abilities. Amongst these altered abilities are faster reaction times for simple and complex sensory tasks. The crossed arm temporal-order judgement (TOJ) task is a complex tactile task in which TOJ error rate increases when arms are crossed. Reaction times (RTs) for this task are typically proportionate to the difficulty of the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) and increase more when the arms are crossed than when uncrossed. The objective of this study was to study the impact of musical training on RTs and accuracy for the crossed arm TOJ task. Seventeen musicians and 20 controls were tested. Musicians had significantly faster RTs for all crossed arm conditions and half of the uncrossed conditions. However, musicians had significantly more TOJ errors for the crossed posture. We speculate that faster musician TOJ RTs leave little time to consolidate conflicting internal and external task-related information when crossing the arms, leading to increased incorrect responses. These results provide novel insights on the potential mechanisms underlying the increased TOJ error rates when arms are crossed. Moreover, they add to the growing literature of altered sensory ability in musicians and propose an unexpected consequence of faster reaction times.

The impact of a music education program on meta-musical awareness, logical-mathematical, and notational skills in preschoolers

2021 ◽  
pp. 025576142110272
Author(s):  
Oriana Incognito ◽  
Laura Scaccioni ◽  
Giuliana Pinto
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Education Program ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Transfer Of Knowledge ◽  
General Domain ◽  
Music Program ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Impact

A number of studies suggest a link between musical training and both specific and general cognitive abilities, but despite some positive results, there is disagreement about which abilities are improved. This study aims to investigate the effects of a music education program both on a domain-specific competence (meta-musical awareness), and on general domain competences, that is, cognitive abilities (logical-mathematical) and symbolic-linguistic abilities (notational). Twenty 4- to 6-year-old children participated in the research, divided into two groups (experimental and control) and the measures were administered at two different times, before and after a 6-month music program (for the experimental group) and after a sports training program (for the control group). Children performed meta-musical awareness tasks, logical-mathematical tasks, and emergent-alphabetization tasks. Non-parametric statistics show that a music program significantly improves the development of notational skills and meta-musical awareness while not the development of logical-mathematical skills. These results show that a musical program increases children’s meta-musical awareness, and their ability to acquire the notational ability involved in the invented writing of words and numbers. On the contrary, it does not affect the development of logical skills. The results are discussed in terms of transfer of knowledge processes and of specific versus general domain effects of a musical program.

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