Near and far transfer: Is music special?

Far transfer rarely occurs, and a recent meta-analysis suggests that music is no exception. The overall effect of musical training on cognition was claimed to be null when considering studies with active control groups or implemented randomization procedures (Sala & Gobet, Memory & Cognition...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Memory & cognition Vol. 50; no. 2; pp. 339 - 347
Main Authors: Bigand, E., Tillmann, B.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: New York Springer US 01.02.2022
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Brain research
Cognition
Cognition & reasoning
Cognitive Psychology
Correlational studies
Humans
Memory
Meta-analysis
Music
Psychology
Skills
Statistical analysis
Training
Meta-analyses
Music training
Near and far transfer
Music cognition
ISSN:0090-502X, 1532-5946, 1532-5946
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Far transfer rarely occurs, and a recent meta-analysis suggests that music is no exception. The overall effect of musical training on cognition was claimed to be null when considering studies with active control groups or implemented randomization procedures (Sala & Gobet, Memory & Cognition , 48: 1429–1441, 2020). Using the authors’ data file and program ( https://osf.io/rquye ), we did not confirm the effect of randomization, and we demonstrated that their conclusion is based in part on the failure to differentiate near and far transfer, with near transfer effect sizes being selectively excluded for the musical training group studies, but not for the active control group studies. Reanalyzing their data file resulted in a significant effect size ( g = .234), and also provided new evidence that far-transfer effects of musical training can challenge near-transfer effects of linguistic training. Music is a recreational activity that may be special in allowing for small but statistically significant far-transfer effects.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
content type line 23
ISSN:0090-502X
1532-5946
1532-5946
DOI:10.3758/s13421-021-01226-6