preview

Verbal Intelligence And Executive Function

Decent Essays

children between the ages of four and six participated. The participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups; thirty-two (eighteen females and fourteen males) received visual-art education, thirty-two (twenty females and twelve males) received music education, and thirty-two were assigned to the control group. Musical curriculum was defined as training in rhythm, pitch, melody, voice, and basic musical concepts, while visual art curriculum was defined as development in visuospatial skills, such as shape, line, color, and perspective. Participants were asked to complete several tasks related to verbal intelligence and executive function, while listening to musical stimuli. The verbal intelligence and executive function tasks were tested with musical stimuli, as well as without any musical stimuli or other distractions or stimuli, which may have impeded one’s performance (citation). After only twenty days, the group of children given music curriculum showed vast improvement in both verbal intelligence, as well as executive function; a striking 90% of participants showed an improvement in both areas after just twenty days, compared to the control group. In addition, the music group performed significantly better then the visual-arts group in accuracy of the executive function tasks, while there were no differences in response time. Participants in this study were required to take the same test multiple times throughout the study, so practice effects could

Get Access