Does music training improve emotion recognition and cognitive abilities? Longitudinal and correlational evidence from children

Abstract

Music training is widely claimed to enhance nonmusical abilities, yet causal evidence remains inconclusive. Moreover, research tends to focus on cognitive over socioemotional outcomes. In two studies, we investigated whether music training improves emotion recognition in voices and faces among school-aged children. We also examined music-training effects on musical abilities, motor skills (fine and gross), broader socioemotional functioning, and cognitive abilities including nonverbal reasoning, executive functions, and auditory memory (short-term and working memory). Study 1 (N = 110) was a 2-year longitudinal intervention conducted in a naturalistic school setting, comparing music training to basketball training (active control) and no training (passive control). Music training improved fine-motor skills and auditory memory relative to controls, but it had no effect on emotion recognition or other cognitive and socioemotional abilities. Both music and basketball training improved gross-motor skills. Study 2 (N = 192) compared children without music training to peers attending a music school. Although music training correlated with better emotion recognition in speech prosody (tone of voice), this association disappeared after controlling for socioeconomic status, musical abilities, or short-term memory. In contrast, musical abilities correlated with emotion recognition in both prosody and faces, independently of training or other confounding variables. These findings suggest that music training enhances fine-motor skills and auditory memory, but it does not causally improve emotion recognition, other cognitive abilities, or socioemotional functioning. Observed advantages in emotion recognition likely stem from preexisting musical abilities and other confounding factors such as socioeconomic status.