7/28/2019 Music Training Improves Verbal Intelligence in Children.pdf

1/1

FREE Report: 12 Stocks to Sell Now Help|Connect|Sign up|Log in

Most Read on

Forbes

TECH | 10/06/2011 @ 1:51AM | 2,348 views

Music Training Improves VerbalIntelligence in

Children

(Image by tim geers via Flickr)

A new study to be published in the journal

Psychological Science shows a simple, yet

extraordinarily effective way to improve the

verbal intelligence of 4-6 year olds: train them

using music. The study focused on 48 4-6 year

olds who were divided into two groups. One

group was taught the basic fundamentals of

music, including pitch, rhythm, melody and

other concepts. (You can see an example here.)The other group was taught visual art training in the basics such as shapes,

colors, lines, and other concepts.

The two groups were taught these lessons twice a day, for one hour session

apiece, over the course of 20 days. Prior to the entering the program, the

students were tested for their spatial and verbal intelligence. The students

were then given the same test again after the program, and here are the

results:

To me, thats astonishing. That is a very significant improvement.

On the other hand, maybe its not so surprising. After all, our language

faculties are very much intertwined with our music faculties. Before the era of

mass printing, knowledge was passed down verbally, and the most important

and sacred stories were often sung or rendered as poetry. The rhythm and

rhyme helped aid the memories of those who passed along the stories, a

process that also gave us the beautiful imagery in the Iliad, The Odyssey,

Beowulf, the Vedas, the Bible, The Epic of Gilgamesh, and many others.

When you look at it that way, maybe the astonishing thing is that weve

forgotten that heritage in our modern education and are only re-discovering it

now.

When children were retested five to 20 days post-program, researchers found no significant

increases in verbal intelligence or brain changes for the children who completed the visual

art training module. However, they found quite a different result in the children who took

the music-based training: 90 percent of those children exhibited intelligence improvements five times larger than the other group on a measure of vocabulary knowledge, as well as

increased accuracy and reaction time.

NEWS People Places Companies

Alex Knapp

Forbes Staff

Follow (687)

Follow (687)

Alex Knapp, Forbes Staff

I write about the future of science, technology, and culture.

+ show more

Same Car, Different Brand, Hugely

Higher Price: Why Pay An Extra

$30,000 For Fake Prestige? +397,857 views

Jay-Z'sAlbum Just Leaked--And Gave

Him The Best First Week Sales Of His

Career +60,136 views

World's Largest Offshore Wind Farm

Goes Live +37,198 views

9 Job Mistakes That Could Stall Your

Entire Career +35,605 views

A Drug Recall That Should Frighten Us

All About The FDA +23,764 views

2 comments, 2 called-out Comment Now Follow Comments

New Posts Most Popular

Celeb 100: Newcomers

Lists

Most Powerful Celebriti

Video

Country Cash KingsSearch companies, people

Page 1 of 1Music Training Improves Verbal Intelligence in Children - Forbes

2013/07/05http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2011/10/06/music-training-improves-verbal-intelli...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2011/10/06/musichttp://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2011/10/06/music