Early Childhood Musical Abilities: Associations with Developing Cognitive and Academic Performance and Socioeconomic Status

• In Event: Longitudinal, Experimental, and Population-Based Studies on the Impact of Arts Engagement on Child Development

Abstract

One of the most highly replicated findings in the field of psychology is the empirical observation that individual differences in cognitive abilities tend to be positively correlated with one another, a phenomenon often referred to as the positive manifold (Deary, 2012; Kievet et al., 2017, Spearman, 1927; Van Der Maas et al., 2006). This phenomenon has been shown to be present even in school-age and early childhood (Akshoomoff et al., 2018; Kane and Brand, 2007; Kievet et al., 2019). Although there have been many studies establishing such intercorrelations among traditionally measured cognitive and academic skills (e.g., measures of early literacy, numeracy, attention, memory, language, and intellectual abilities), few have examined relationships between these kinds of measures and “alternative” areas of cognitive processing and skill in early childhood, such as developing musical abilities. Further characterizations of developing music-related abilities at these ages are needed to provide a more complete picture of psychological development in early childhood and to better test competing theoretical mechanisms behind the positive manifold in cognitive development. In this study, we examined interrelations among early childhood cognitive, academic, and musical abilities, including measures of both singing and rhythmic skills, measured longitudinally. We also examined the interrelationships of these abilities with measures of family socioeconomic status (SES). Sixty-five four-to-five-year-old children in transitional kindergarten (TK) classrooms were tested using five subtests from the Woodcock Johnson IV Tests of Early Cognitive and Academic Development (ECAD) and newly developed measures of vocal pitch and rhythmic recognition and production. Tasks were measured at three time points across one academic year to look at potential developmental changes in task relationships. Correlations were computed among tasks, and the effects of maternal education and household income on relationships among the measures were also examined. Overall, traditionally tested cognitive and academic abilities showed moderate to strong intercorrelations (r = 0.34 to 0.92), replicating widely observed findings from previous studies in older children. In contrast, accuracy in vocal pitch production and rhythmic skill at all time points showed only weak to no significant linear associations with standardized measures. SES showed statistically significant effects on cognitive and academic skill measures (p=0.001 to 0.04), which were not evident for the measures of musical abilities. In general, these relationships (and lacks thereof) remained consistent across the three longitudinal time points. Despite high correlations among “school skills” in early childhood, these abilities may show relative independence from developing musical competencies, such as singing and rhythmic abilities, which also show less association with SES at these young ages. Our results suggest the existence of early differences in “alternative” cognitive abilities likely related to social and cultural experience. If uncovered early in development, these unconventional areas of cognitive strength may be useful for lifting the academic trajectories of underperforming children via cognitive, neural, or motivational mechanisms, preventing widening achievement gaps. Our study spanned school closures due to COVID-19, and we will discuss how we adapted as well as report on changes in arts activities during the school closures.

Authors

• John Iversen, University of California - San Diego
  Presenting Author

• Tim T Brown, University of California - San Diego
  Non-Presenting Author

• Naomi T Lin, University of California - San Diego
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sarah Dowling, University of California, San Diego
  Non-Presenting Author

• Hilda Parra, University of California - San Diego
  Non-Presenting Author