We’re always interested in what will make us smarter, keep our brains running longer, or train our kids to think more critically or efficiently. Intelligence has long been at the head of what we think of as making a person useful or valuable. Aside from any discussion of social expectations and value, it’s certainly interesting to learn more about how we think and how to change how we think. Music, especially learning an instrument, is often suggested as a way to make our kids smarter or at least more intellectually effective.
Most studies that investigate the effect of learning music on the developing brain are limited by a number of factors. Firstly, there is the difficulty of necessarily short studies on children due to ethical concerns. Dividing kids into groups to adhere to one kind of extracurricular activity, or none at all, for most or all of their childhood would put a damper on things. Also, these studies tend to use the ubiquitous IQ test as their measurement of intelligence which we know by now is not particularly accurate. The IQ test does not take into account cultural or educational differences, potentially giving low scores to children who may be smart but simply lack knowledge that’s a prerequisite for success.
Many studies have been performed to better understand any links between music and IQ scores with conflicting results, likely because of the reasons listed above. A couple studies are currently being performed that follow large numbers of children for longer periods of time to see how long term musical training may affect them to try to combat the obfuscating factors plaguing this research. There are so many conflicting results from so many studies that do not fully combat bias that a new study was just published on the subject, essentially saying that researchers are so invested in announcing that learning music makes us smarter that they commit the cardinal sin of inferring causation from correlation.
I set out to discuss whether learning music actually makes us smarter as we’re often told but found a deep well of bad science instead. Schellenberg, from the references below, wrote the study on how music is studied in relation to intelligence as well as some of the actual studies on the topic. I’ve found his research to be more nuanced than in other studies. It’s difficult to pick apart whether music lessons make you smarter, or if a smart kid is more likely to want to play music, or if it’s just that having a high socioeconomic status affords you the advantages of both a high IQ score and enough time to learn an instrument for fun.
Corrigall, K. A., Schellenberg, E. G., & Misura, N. M. (2013). Music training, cognition, and personality. Frontiers in psychology, 4, 222.
Scarr, S., & Weinberg, R. A. (1976). IQ test performance of black children adopted by white families. American Psychologist, 31(10), 726.
Schellenberg, E. G. (2004). Music Lessons Enhance IQ. Psychological Science, 15(8), 511–514. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.00711.x
Schellenberg, E. G. (2019). Correlation= causation? Music training, psychology, and neuroscience. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts.
Great work Kelsey! I really enjoyed your critical analysis of the data that some of these researchers are pushing. This is a great example of how the public ought critically think about information they are presented instead of passively accepting results simply because they were published. It makes me nervous that, like you said, researchers are inferring causation rather than correlation in these studies. A few years ago, I know that a lot of companies used data produced from studies such as this to really market their products. One such company is Baby Einstein, which sells audio CDs that imply your baby will be smarter if you buy their product. This misinformation seemed to go as far as to impact policy. In 1993, Georgia governor Don Campbell proposed that every child born in his state get a free classical music CD. Is there harm in this misinformation? I think so, because you are diverting time and resources away from solutions that potentially have better outcomes. I think that from an ethical standpoint, the misinformation also presents problems in justice. I think that the marketing can have more detrimental outcomes in groups of people with lower education or socioeconomic backgrounds.
ReplyDeleteAnderson, J. (2016, March 2). The idea that Mozart makes your baby smarter is one of parenting’s most persistent myths.