Music and arithmetic interventions in preschool learning - Different routes, same results?

Music and arithmetic interventions in preschool learning - Different routes, same results? | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Music and arithmetic interventions in preschool learning - Different routes, same results? Ingo Roden, Gunter Kreutz This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7550626/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Previous research suggests that musical and arithmetic skills are intertwined in child development. Here we address this assumption by means of an intervention study with kindergarteners. Children were randomized into three groups: music training, arithmetic training, and controls. Children in the two intervention groups, but not in the control group, participated in weekly sessions of 60 minutes over eight weeks. Groups did not differ in sex, age, IQ and music experiences at baseline. Pre-post intervention measurements revealed a significant group x time interaction, with children in both music and arithmetic groups significantly improving their fundamental arithmetic skills compared to children in the control group. Music children also improved in one of the working memory tests. These results confirm and extend previous findings to suggest similar learning improvements for arithmetic skills irrespective of training. More research is needed to identify the mechanisms that associate music learning with improved arithmetic skills. Biological sciences/Neuroscience Biological sciences/Psychology Social science/Psychology music math arithmetical skills visuospatial working memory pre-schoolers Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 1. Introduction The promotion of early childhood or preschool education is considered a worthy social investment in terms of the expected growth and development of children [1; 2]. Indeed, there is extensive and ongoing debate about the nature and efficiency of respective programs for young children [3; 4]. On the one hand, such programs must be adaptive and amenable with respect to the developmental stages of children [5]; on the other hand, they need to support learning and development in key areas including cognitive skills [6]. Specifically, there seems to be broad consensus of a fundamental role of arithmetic skills to facilitate successful learning in primary schools [7]. Here we report a controlled short-term intervention study to investigate arithmetic skill development in five-year-old kindergarteners. Individual differences in arithmetic and mathematical skill development are already evident at young ages [8]. Resnick [9] reasons that children first learn to discriminate numbers in terms of quantities of items [10]. Therefore, the initial processing stages which deal with numbers and quantities are regarded as (mathematical) precursor competencies [11]. However, stable arithmetic operations only emerge once a more complete understanding of the relations between numbers and quantities is reached, which may require a certain level of training [12]. It is of note that performing arithmetic operations engages at least three task-dependent systems, namely a non-verbal system, which analysis number and quantity relationship, a linguistic system to verbalize numbers, and finally a visual system, where numbers are decoded as Arabic numerals [13]. Therefore, it is likely that arithmetic skill training interacts with other, cognitive and non-cognitive domains of child development. Music has been considered as a domain that intersects with a range of goals in preschool education including cognitive functions [14], speech and language [15] and social-emotional development [16]. These findings have also sparked debates about best practices in early music education [17]. For example, music education in pre-schoolers has been shown to have similar effects as linguistic training with respect to phonological awareness [18;19]. In other words, it appears that music engagement activates perceptual and cognitive processes that overlap with the speech and language processing [20;21]. One possible interpretation of this finding is that synchronous clapping, singing, listening and moving to music, for example, simultaneously activates a range of cognitive resources at various levels of processing [22]. These may include motivation, emotion, and reward, thus facilitating learning, memorizing, and recognizing multimodal materials such as songs or dances [23]. Therefore, just as has been reasoned for arithmetic skill training, it is likely that early music training is associated with more general cognitive skill development. Previous empirical research on the potential associations of music learning in pre-schoolers seems to have been more focused on speech and language [24;25], but to a lesser extent on mathematical or arithmetic skills [26; 27]. In her review, Vaughn [28] ascribes moderate support for an association between musical and numerical skills in early cognitive development. Findings from individual studies were often inconsistent, and even incompatible with respect of the type of experimental designs, settings, learning programs, and outcome measures. Some authors express doubts of such a relationship at all [29]. A more recent review by Akin and co-workers [30] corroborated a positive association between musical and mathematical skill development, but also identified a range of potential moderators. It appeared that interventions based on integrated musical and mathematical content showed a large effect size, suggesting that a positive association was most reliable in combined mathematics and music interventions Importantly, the development status of the participants, whether of not they had developmental disabilities, were not identified as significant moderators. Several sets of meta-regression analyses showed, for example that the mean effect size for arithmetic skills was significantly greater than for spatial skills (β = −0.11, z = −2.15, p < 0.05), logical reasoning (β = −0.13, z = −2.37, p < 0.01), and problem-solving (β = −0.11, z = −2.17, p < 0.01). Further, the mean effect size for foundational mathematical content was significantly larger than for higher-level mathematical content (β = −0.12, z = −2.29, p < 0.01). Finally, musical interventions alone showed a small to moderate positive effect size (g = 0.23, p < 0.01), with a slight increase when instrumental music interventions were applied (g = 0.49, p < 0.01). However, the integration of music and mathematics interventions produced a still larger effect size (g = 0.61, p < 0.01), suggesting that interventions with a combination of music and mathematical content lead to higher positive effects on mathematical achievements [30]. In sum, research findings suggest a moderate association between musical and mathematical skills at preschool age are still. The heterogeneity of research designs and some studies showing no effects of music on mathematical skill development seem to prevent any firm conclusions. However, in our view, the initial evidence suffices to sustain the main assumption that both musical and mathematical interventions might interact with arithmetic skill development in pre-schoolers. Aims, research questions, and hypotheses The central aim of the present study was to investigate whether standardized group-based musical and mathematical interventions might independently be associated with short-term changes of arithmetic skill development in pre-schoolers. A subsidiary aim was to assess, whether these changes might extend to musical and visuospatial competencies. RQ1: show similar changes as compared to children who participate in either a) an arithmetic intervention, or b) no intervention (control group), in terms of their arithmetic skill development over an eight-week intervention period? H1: Based on our literature review, we assume that children undergoing both music or arithmetic training will significantly outperform the children in the control group. RQ2: Will preschool children who participate in either the music or arithmetic intervention show increases in visuospatial working memory performance? H2: We hypothesize that both music and arithmetic children will show significantly greater changes in their visuospatial skills in comparison to the control group. RQ3: Are there any associations between musical skill development and participation on either the music or arithmetic groups? H3: We assume that children both groups might achieve significantly greater gains in their musical skills as compared to the control group. 2. Methods 2.1 Participants A total of N = 60 children from three kindergartens that are located in a medium-sized city in Northern Lower Saxony, Germany, were recruited for this study. During the different stages of the study three children, who were initially allocated to the music group, one child allocated to the arithmetic group and four control children dropped out and were excluded from the analyses. Therefore, a total of N = 52 children (30 female, 22 male, average age = 5.61, SD = .39) participated. 2.2 Dependent measures 2.2.1 Arithmetic skills (ZAREKI-K) The kindergarten version of the neuropsychological test battery for number processing and arithmetic skills in children in German (ZAREKI-K) [ 31 ] was chosen as the main outcome for this study. The inventory enables a differentiated measuring of number and quantity processing as well as basic arithmetic skills. We were interested in the total score of the test only due to a very high internal consistency of the test (Cronbach-alpha = .93) and its relative performance and validation by comparison to related test inventories [ 32 ]. The test comprises counting tasks, the use of arithmetic symbols, the visualization and assessment of numerical quantities, and, finally, the reading and verbalization of numbers. A sub-task analysis was deemed beyond the scope of this research, which mainly focused on the overall arithmetic skill development. Such a detailed analysis was also prevented by the small sample size and, consequently the high probability of Type I errors. 2.2.2 Cognitive measures Cognitive performance was assessed by means of two sub-tests of the working memory test battery AGTB 5–12 [ 33 ], namely the Corsi Block Test, representing visuospatial memory and the Matrix Span Test, representing visual memory. In both tasks, children are situated in a sound-attenuated room and tested individually. They receive instructions from a computer monitor and perform their tasks by tapping on the monitor, from where the responses are recorded. Both tests are initiated by warm-up trials, allowing the children to ask questions and familiarize themselves with the test procedures. Both tests are adaptive by adjusting sequences of items depending on consecutive correct or incorrect responses. First, the Corsi Block Test measures the child’s ability to remember a series of spatial locations presented in sequences of different lengths. Children were asked to memorize and reproduce the path of a smiley, which appears at random locations within an array of nine squares depicted on the computer screen. If the reproduction was correct for two trials, the sequence of locations of the smiley was increased by one step, up to the maximum of nine.. If the recall failed for two trials, the movement was decreased by one, down to the minimum of two. Second, the Matrix Span Test reflects the memory for visual details without changing the spatial location of the information. In this test, a graphic pattern on a 4x4 matrix of squares is highlighted for four seconds and then disappears. The children were asked to recall the pattern by tagging the locations of highlighted squares on the touchscreen. The adaptive mechanism follows the same procedure as described above. The retest reliabilities for the Corsi-Block Test and the Matrix Span Test vary between r tt = .50 and r tt = .57. 2.2.3 Music audiation Edwin Gordon’ Primary Measures of Musical Audiation [ 34 ] assesses the children’s ability to discriminate rhythmic and tonal information by means of a test battery. No formal music achievement is required to answer the questions. The rhythm and tonal tasks are presented in blocks of 12 items each. The total test duration ranged between 10 to 12 minutes per child. Retest reliabilities from the manual showed a medium to high retest reliability for both subtests (rhythm: rtt = .60; tonal rtt = .73). 2.2 Independent variables The different intervention groups and the control group comprised one of the two independent measures. Children in the music group received a standardized music training program called “Hallo Musikkater“ (Hallo Music Cat) [ 35 ], whereas children in the mathematic group received a standardized math training program called “Mengen, Zählen, Zahlen” (Quantities, Counting, Numbers) [ 12 ]. Each session in both intervention groups lasted 60 minutes and was conducted on a weekly basis until eight sessions were completed. The nature and content of the interventions are explained in more detail in the supplement 1 (S1). The second independent variable is represented by the time points (T1 = baseline, pre-intervention) and T2 (= post-intervention). It was ensured that the assessments of the dependent measures occurred in temporal proximity to these time points. 2.3 Control variables 2.3.1 Fluid intelligence CFT 1-R and demographics The German adaptation of Cattell’s Culture Free Intelligence Test (CFT 1-R) [ 36 ] was administered to measure fluid intelligence using its six subtests: substitutions, mazes, similarities, series, classifications, and matrices. According to Weiß and Osterland, the CFT 1-R correlate highly with the ‘g’-factor of intelligence r = .66. Retest reliabilities for all subtests ranged from r tt = .63 to r tt = .86 [ 36 ]. Results were assessed by raw means for each of the six subtests and standardized IQ scores adapted for age (M = 100, SD = 15). Further independent variables included information about gender and age. It was also ensured that none of the children who took part in the study played a musical instrument. 2.4 Treatment fidelity Following recommendations by Wiens and Gordon [ 37 ], we sought confirmation of treatment fidelity in several ways. For example, the assistants who were trained in administering the interventions received a detailed teaching script of the different lessons for each group. Lessons were observed by trained staff who monitored the implementation and took detailed notes of every lesson. Later inspection of the notes showed that the teaching script was overall closely followed. Specifically, all groups completed the assigned exercises and tasks. Moreover, the assistants who ran the interventions were trained musicians and experienced in early music education. However, it was ensured that they also showed similar teaching skills in delivering the mathematic training by means of a preparatory supervised class. 2.4 Design The study entailed a 3 (groups) x 2 (time points) within-between-subjects ANOVA design to test the research hypotheses (H1-H3). Children in the music group were taught according to a program called "Hallo Musik Kater" [ 35 ]; children in the arithmetic group were taught according to standardized program "Mengen, Zählen, Zahlen" [21;38]. A third group of children served as controls (n = 16) and received no additional training. The interventions lasted eight weeks with 60 minutes of weekly lessons each. 2.5 Procedure After parental informed consent was obtained for each child to participate in the study, also the children were informed verbally about the study and their right to leave the study at any time without having to give any reason and without having to expect any consequences. It turned out that none of the participating children showed intentions to leave the study until it was completed. Children were randomly assigned to the two intervention groups (music or math training) and the control group until all groups comprised 20 children. At T1, all children were tested individually in their classrooms over one and a half hours. Assistants who were trained in administering the computerized test battery ran the data collection. The order of the test protocol was equal at both time points as follows: PMMA tonal, ZAREKI-K, PMMA rhythm, Matrix Span Test, and Corsi Block Test. Breaks were set individually, depending on the children’s needs. The children were asked to complete the IQ test, before the above materials, on a different day. The Ethics board of the Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg provided approval to conduct the study in accordance with the plan submitted to the committee (Ref.-No. 48/2016). We confirm that all experiments were performed in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations of the Ethics board. 2.6 Data analyses Descriptive and inferential statistical methods were applied. The latter included repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) models for hypothesis testing. Preconditions for the ANOVAs with repeated measurement (normality, Box’s M test of equality of covariance matrices and Levene’s test of equality of variance) were tested for all dependent variables separately and were met in all cases. A power analysis using G*Power [ 39 ] suggested that a sample size of N = 42 was needed to ascertain small to medium effects (f = 0.25) in a mixed within-between-subject design with repeated measures (α: 0.05, power (1-β): 0.80, correlations between repeated measures: r = 0.50). In addition, correlation coefficients were calculated on the basis of Pearson correlations. Probability level was set to p < .05. All analyses were conducted with SPSS version 29. 3. Results One-way between-group analyses of variance (ANOVA) confirmed that the groups were similar in fluid intelligence [IQ: F (2,51)= .07, p = .93] and age [ F (2,51) = .12, p = .89] at baseline (see Table 1). Moreover, gender was well balanced between groups [ χ2 = 1.16; df = 2; p = .56]. Table 1: Means (and SD) of the control variables IQ and Age for the music (MUG), math (MAG) and control groups (CG) at baseline. MUG MAG CG Measures M (SD) M (SD) M (SD) df f-value p IQ 27.71 (10.34) 27.63 (12.09) 26.44 (9.53) 49 .07 .93 Age 5,60 (.46) 5.65 (.39) 5.59 (.32) 49 .12 .89 Next, the ANOVAs were performed on the dependent measures. It was ensured, that preconditions were met by means of a test of normality, Box’s M test of equality of covariates, and Levene’s test of equality of variance. Follow-up post-hoc tests were applied for further comparison of means between groups at T1 and T2. Table 2 reports the mean values and standard deviations for the dependent variables of both the experimental and control groups. Table 2: Means (and SD) of the fundamental arithmetic skills (ZAREKI-K), the Corsi Block Test (CB), the Matrix Span Test (MS) and the Music Audiation Test (PMMA) for music (MUG), math (MAG) and control groups (CG) at both time points (T1-T2). MUG MAG CG Measures T1 T2 T1 T2 T1 T2 M (SD) M (SD) M (SD) M (SD) M (SD) M (SD) ZAREKI-K 11.69 (4.32) 15.00 (3.12) 11.74 (3.69) 15.11 (2.58) 10.19 (6.00) 10.51 (6.79) CB 2.60 (.89) 2.94 (.91) 2.80 (.87) 3.00 (.82) 2.25 (.75) 2.25 (.75) MS 2.65 (.613) 2,99 (.87) 2.63 (1.00) 3.25 (1.15) 2.22 (.59) 2.73 (1.09) PMMA-O 11.94 (3.28) 14.69 (3.20) 9.53 (4.97) 11.63 (3.59) 11.81 (3.27) 12.69 (2.73) PMMA-R 5.13 (1.31) 6.87 (1.41) 4.42 (2.17) 5.05 (1.81) 5.31 (1.20) 5.13 (1.31) PMMA-T 6.81 (2.14) 7.81 (2.04) 5.11 (2.96) 6.58 (2.14) 6.50 (2.45) 7.56 (1.86) Note: PMMA-O = Overall score; PMMA-R = Rhythm score; PMMA-T = Tonal score. Correlational analyses for dependent and independent measures for all groups and time points are reported in Table 3. Table 3 : Correlations (r) between variables at both time points (T1 and T2). 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 1. Age (T1) .224 .280* .333* .253 .204 .162 .259 .248 .180 .191 .149 .259 -176 2. IQ (T1) .636** .498** .501** .277* .409** .290* .613** .458** .535** .317* .596** .485** 3. ZA (T1) .814** .465** .445** .389** .337* .581** .467** .480** .329* .583** .490** 4. ZA(T2) ,462** .479** .417** .329* .389** .436** .280* .390** .419** .395** 5. CB (T1) .573** .471** .440** .313* .436** .183 .259 ,364** .502** 6. CB (T2) .503** .522** .266 .360** .184 .267 .291* .359** 7. MS (T1) .498** .550** .565** . 498** .502** .523** .513** 8. MS (T2) .234 .335* .172 .296* .250 .306* 9. P-O (T1) .685** .898** .572** .957** .652* 10. P-O (T2) .582** .878** .678** .916** 11. P-R (T1) .522** .731** .525** 12. P-R (T2) .543** .611** 13. P-T (T1) 14. P-T (T2) .664** - Note: ZA = ZAREKI-K Overall score; CB = Corsi Block Test; MS = Matrix Span Test; P-O = PMMA Overall score; P-R = PMMA Rhythm score; P-T = PMMA Tonal score; N = 52 ; * p < .05, ** p < .01. 3.1. Arithmetic skills Repeated measures analysis of variance for the ZAREKI-K revealed a main effect of time [ F (1,48) = 40,88, p < .001, η p ² = .46] and an interaction effect of time*group [ F (2,48) = 7.49, p < .001, η p ² = .24]. Post-hoc tests with pairwise comparisons showed that groups did not differ at T1 [ F (2,51) = .49, p = .61]. However, multiple t-tests for subsequent comparisons of means with an adjusted alpha level ( p = 0.05/3 = 0.016) showed that children in the music group [ t ( 15 ) = 4.87 , p < .001, d korr = .82] and in the math training group [ t (18) = 6.16, p < .001, d korr = .96] significantly improved their performances from T1 to T2, whereas children in the control group did not [ t (15) = .50, p = .62, d korr =.05 ]. Figure 1 depicts the group × time interaction for the fundamental arithmetic skill test (ZAREKI-K). Insert Figure 1 about here! 3.2. Cognitive measures A significant main effect of group was found for the Corsi Block Test [ F (2,49) = 3.73, p = .03, η p ² = .13] (see Figure 1). Post-hoc tests with pairwise comparisons showed that groups did not differ at T1 [ F (2,51) = 1.89, p > .38] . However, children form the music group ( M = 2.94, SD = .91) and the math group ( M = 3.00, SD = .82) scored higher than the children in the control group ( M = 2.25, SD = .75) at T2 [ F (2,51) = 4.19, p = .02, η p 2 =.15 ]. No interaction or main effects of time were observed. The results of the Matrix Span Test showed a significant effect of time, F (1, 49) = 13.62, p < .001, η p ² = .22 (see Figure 2). Subsequent comparisons of means indicate that children in the math [ t (18) = 2.73, p = .01, d korr = .57 ] and the control group [ t (15) = 2.52, p = .02, d korr = .50 ] significantly increased their performance from T1 to T2, whereas children in the music group did not [ t (16) = 1.34, p = .20, d korr = .45 ]. Finally, no interaction or group effects were observed for the visuospatial working memory performances. Insert Figure 2 about here! 3.3 Music Audiation Results of the PMMA showed a main effect of group [ F (2, 48) = 3.10, p = .05, η p 2 = .11] and time [ F (1, 48) = 20.61, p < .001, η p 2 = .30 ] with respect to the total score. Post-hoc tests with pairwise comparisons revealed that groups did not differ at T1 [ F (2,50) = 2.06, p = .14]. However, at T2 the children in the music group ( M = 14.69, SD = 3.20) improved their performance significantly in comparison to the arithmetic group [ F (2, 50) = 3.98, p = .03, η p 2 = .14]. There was no difference between the children arithmetic ( M = 11.63, SD = 3.59) and control groups ( M = 12.69, SD = 2.73). Subsequent comparisons of means showed that children in the music group [ t (15) = 5.75, p < .001, d korr = .85] and in the arithmetic group [ t (18) = 2.35, p = .30, d korr = .47] significantly improved their test scores from T1 to T2, whereas no such improvement was found for the children in the control group [ t (15) = 1.34, p = .20, d korr = .29]. Detailed analyses for the rhythm sub-score of the PMMA test revealed a significant main effect of time [ F (1,48) = 11,43, p = .001, η p ² = .19] and group [ F (2,48) = 3.33, p = .04, η p ² = .12], as well as a significant interaction effect [ F (2,48) = 6,39, p = .003, η p ²= .21 ]. Post-hoc tests with pairwise comparisons revealed that groups did not differ at T1, [ F (2,50 = 1.31, p = .20]. However, the performance for the children in the music group ( M = 6.71, SD = 1.53) differed significantly at T2, [ F (2, 50) = 6.03, p = .005, η p 2 = .20 ] , in comparison to the children of the arithmetic ( M = 5.05, SD = 1.81) and the control group ( M = 5.13, SD = 1.31). There was no difference between the children of the arithmetic group and the control group at T2. Subsequent comparisons of means showed that children in the music group, [ t (16) = 4-46, p < .001, d korr = 1.16], significantly improved their test scores from T1 to T2, whereas such improvements were found neither for the children in the arithmetic [ t (19) = 1.56, p = .14, d korr = .31 ] nor the control group [ t (16) = 0.64, p = .53, d korr = .15]. Results for the tonal sub-score of the PMMA test, however, only showed a significant main effect of time [ F (1,48) = 17.27, p < .001, η p ² = .27]. Subsequent comparisons of means showed that children in the music group [ t (16) = 4.90, p < .001, d korr = .50] and the arithmetic group [ t (19) = 2.50, p = .02, d korr = .56] significantly improved their test scores from T1 to T2, whereas children in the control group did not [ t (16) = 2.01, p < .06, d korr = .48]. The respective values for these tests are displayed in Figure 3 . Insert Figure 3 about here! 4. Discussion The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of standardized music and arithmetic interventions on arithmetic, visuospatial and musical skills in preschool children in a randomized pre-post design. To this end, we asked whether children in musical and arithmetic interventions might show similar improvements in arithmetic, visuospatial, and musical skills. With regard to our first hypothesis, we observe that children in both music and arithmetic training groups showed significant improvements in their fundamental arithmetic skills during the eight-week intervention period, thus outperforming the control group (H1). In addition, arithmetic skills of the children in the music group improved to the same extent in both groups. Second, we hypothesize that children in the music and in the math training groups show greater progress in cognitive performance tests in comparison to the control group (H2). Indeed, children in both intervention groups showed higher values in Corsi Block Test over time, whereas the control children showed no such differences. These findings indicate an advantage for the children in the intervention groups in terms of their visuospatial working memory. However, no effects were found for in the Matrix Span Test, which suggests that the visual memory remained unaffected by the intervention. This interpretation is supported by additional correlation analyses, which show higher correlations between the Corsi Block Test and arithmetic skills at both time points compared to the matrix span test (see Table 3 ). Finally, the third hypothesis, which held that children in the intervention groups outperform control group children with respect to musical skills, was again partially confirmed (H3). In fact, children from both groups (music and arithmetic) significantly increased their performances at the end if the interventions, whereas no such increase was found for the controls. However, the performance for the children in the music significantly differed at T2 in comparison to both the arithmetic and control group children. This finding suggests an asymmetrical transfer of skills, with music children benefitting in terms of arithmetic skills, but not vice versa. Taken together, these findings extend previous research on music and arithmetic skills in pre-schoolers. Indeed, young children can benefit in mathematical skills by participating in music interventions [40;41;26]. Moreover, Akin and colleagues [ 30 ] conclude from their meta-analysis that such improvements are subject to a wide range of moderators. Importantly, they also suggest that combined music and arithmetic interventions might be more efficient than independent interventions alone. In our study, we could not ascertain this observation. Therefore, whether or not the magnitude of gains in arithmetic skills in our intervention groups will be matched or even exceeded in a combined intervention should be subject to future studies. Why did visuospatial working memory performance improve in the intervention groups, but not visual working memory? This differentiation was somewhat unexpected, although some of the previous studies suggest that specific training in visuospatial memory could lead to improvements in the Corsi Block Test which might not transfer to other working memory tests [ 42 ]. Therefore, expanding the number and content of working memory tests in future intervention studies should shed more light on the possible specificity of transfer effects in this age group. Clearly, the children in the music group were more likely candidates of benefitting from the music intervention in comparison to the arithmetic group. Nevertheless, given the theories of a certain affinity between arithmetical/mathematical skills on the one hand, and musical skills on the other hand, a potential transfer of skills in both directions appears plausible. Indeed, this theory is supported by our findings which reveal significant improvements of musical skills also in the arithmetic group. However, music children still seemed to benefit to an even greater extent. In summary, the present research confirms and extends previous work on cognitive, arithmetic, and musical performance following structured interventions in preschool children. Our findings underscore the value of music interventions to stimulate cognitive processing in a domain which seems not directly addressed by the intervention itself, namely arithmetic skills. They provide an example of how creative and playful elements in education might influence of precursor skills that are required in general education. However, there remain many gaps in our knowledge of the mechanisms that drive such effects, the nature of best practices for the children’s benefit, and the long-term influences of early creative experiences on academic learning and development. The experimental design of the present study is, despite its randomized-controlled setting, subject to potential systematic biases at different levels. For example, the experimental setting entailed no single-blinding, which leaves the possibility that knowledge of each child’s allocation in experimental and control groups could have had subtle influences on evaluation procedures. Moreover, it could also be that individual inclinations, motivations, and interests were more prominent in the intervention groups as compared to the control group. However, such biases are unlikely to have undermined the overall findings, given the substantial effect sizes that we observed. Conclusion The findings of the present study support and extend previous findings of associations between eight weeks of music training on arithmetic skills in pre-schoolers. The magnitude of improvement was similar when another group of children received arithmetic training. In addition, music training also affected visuospatial, but not visual memory. These findings add to the literature which positively associates creative learning with academic skill development. Declarations Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests. Funding declaration This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. Author Contribution I.R. designed. conducted and analyzed the experimental data, visualized the results, and prepared the original draft with G.K. G.K. critically commented on the draft. Both authors reviewed the manuscript. Data Availability A minimal anonymized data set is included in the supplementary information. Authors and Affiliations Department of Educational Science, Educational Psychology, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, 26129 Oldenburg, Germany Ingo Roden Department of Music & Speech and Music Lab, School of Linguistics and Cultural Studies, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, 26129 Oldenburg, Germany Gunter Kreutz References Anderson, J. L. & Krasnozhon, L. A. 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A longitudinal study on children’s music training experience and academic development. Sci. Rep. 4 , 5854. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep05854 (2014). Yao, Y., Chen, X., Chen, F. & Zhu, J. Musical training enhances categorical perception of speech in preschoolers: Training duration and musical program matter. J. Speech Lang. Hear. Res. 65 , 4469–4484. https://doi.org/10.1044/2022_JSLHR-22-00216 (2022). Yoshikaw, H., Weiland, C. & Brooks-Gunn, J. When does preschool matter? Future Child. 26 , 21–35. https://doi.org/10.1353/foc.2016.0010 (2016). Zuanetti, P. A. et al. Development of language and arithmetic skills: Risk and protective factors. Sao Paulo Med. J. 139 , 210–217. https://doi.org/10.1590/1516-3180.2020.0280.r1.10122020 (2021). Author information. Authors and Affiliations. Department of Educational Science. Educational Psychology, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, 26129 Oldenburg, Germany. Ingo & Roden. Department of Music & Speech and & Lab, M. School of Linguistics and Cultural Studies, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, 26129 Oldenburg, Germany. Gunter & Kreutz. Contributions. I.R. designed. conducted and analyzed the experimental data, visualized the results, and prepared the original draft with G.K. G.K. critically commented on the draft. Both authors reviewed the manuscript. Corresponding author. Correspondence to Ingo Roden. Ethics declarations. Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files minimalanonymizeddataset.xlsx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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07:03:05","extension":"html","order_by":47,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":197435,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"earlyproof.html","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7550626/v1/6b6ad67d0065fc7de1076a02.html"},{"id":94681235,"identity":"ce13049a-0c67-4bb6-bd22-b3fb14c19b22","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-29 14:51:21","extension":"png","order_by":1,"title":"Figure 1","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":39552,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eMean scores of the fundamental arithmetic skills (ZAREKI-K) for the music group (MUG), the math group (MAG), and the control group (CG) at T1 and T2. Error flags indicate standard error of means (SEM).\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7550626/v1/b8d50f84ada74cec47a1e536.png"},{"id":94681243,"identity":"e3047220-9787-4654-83fe-fdde92c7d3a3","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-29 14:51:21","extension":"png","order_by":2,"title":"Figure 2","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":34645,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eMean scores of the Corsi Block Test (A) and the Matrix Span (B) for the music group (MUG), the math group (MAG), and the control group (CG) at T1 and T2. Error flags indicate standard error of means (SEM).\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"2.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7550626/v1/3c7085ee1ff6b7e89778dcd2.png"},{"id":94681237,"identity":"5d972245-46a7-4711-95e4-1ae499c800fd","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-29 14:51:21","extension":"png","order_by":3,"title":"Figure 3","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":34222,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eMean scores of the Music Audiation Test\u003cstrong\u003e \u003c/strong\u003e\u0026nbsp;(PMMA, overall, rhythm and tonal scores) for the music group (MUG), the math group (MAG), and the control group (CG) at T1 and T2. Error flags indicate standard error of means (SEM).\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"3.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7550626/v1/fd87151f417b937a24aeb009.png"},{"id":99791064,"identity":"bcff29c9-4875-4478-8a71-12023cade871","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-08 12:59:02","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1144230,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7550626/v1/7c146692-ae39-4954-867b-38b161ac47a3.pdf"},{"id":94727997,"identity":"9f64434e-45de-4df1-bcc4-e5b29c2bd4eb","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-30 07:02:43","extension":"xlsx","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":14709,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"minimalanonymizeddataset.xlsx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7550626/v1/1d39f2f4cc96b1225b4014a9.xlsx"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Music and arithmetic interventions in preschool learning - Different routes, same results?","fulltext":[{"header":"1. Introduction","content":"\u003cp\u003eThe promotion of early childhood or preschool education is considered a worthy social investment in terms of the expected growth and development of children [1; 2]. Indeed, there is extensive and ongoing debate about the nature and efficiency of respective programs for young children [3; 4]. On the one hand, such programs must be adaptive and amenable with respect to the developmental stages of children [5]; on the other hand, they need to support learning and development in key areas including cognitive skills [6]. Specifically, there seems to be broad consensus of a fundamental role of arithmetic skills to facilitate successful learning in primary schools [7]. Here we report a controlled short-term intervention study to investigate arithmetic skill development in five-year-old kindergarteners.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIndividual differences in arithmetic and mathematical skill development are already evident at young ages [8]. Resnick [9] reasons that children first learn to discriminate numbers in terms of quantities of items [10]. Therefore, the initial processing stages which deal with numbers and quantities are regarded as (mathematical) precursor competencies [11]. However, stable arithmetic operations only emerge once a more complete understanding of the relations between numbers and quantities is reached, which may require a certain level of training [12]. It is of note that performing arithmetic operations engages at least three task-dependent systems, namely a non-verbal system, which analysis number and quantity relationship, a linguistic system to verbalize numbers, and finally a visual system, where numbers are decoded as Arabic numerals [13]. Therefore, it is likely that arithmetic skill training interacts with other, cognitive and non-cognitive domains of child development.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMusic has been considered as a domain that intersects with a range of goals in preschool education \u0026nbsp;including cognitive functions [14], speech and language [15] and social-emotional development [16]. These findings have also sparked debates about best practices in early music education [17]. For example, music education in pre-schoolers has been shown to have similar effects as linguistic training with respect to phonological awareness [18;19]. In other words, it appears that music engagement activates perceptual and cognitive processes that overlap with the speech and language processing [20;21]. One possible interpretation of this finding is that synchronous clapping, singing, listening and moving to music, for example, simultaneously activates a range of cognitive resources at various levels of processing [22]. These may include motivation, emotion, and reward, thus facilitating learning, memorizing, and recognizing multimodal materials such as songs or dances [23]. Therefore, just as has been reasoned for arithmetic skill training, it is likely that early music training is associated with more general cognitive skill development.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePrevious empirical research on the potential associations of music learning in pre-schoolers seems to have been more focused on speech and language [24;25], but to a lesser extent on mathematical or arithmetic skills [26; 27]. In her review, Vaughn [28] ascribes moderate support for an association between musical and numerical skills in early cognitive development. Findings from individual studies were often inconsistent, and even incompatible with respect of the type of experimental designs, settings, learning programs, and outcome measures. Some authors express doubts of such a relationship at all [29].\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA more recent review by Akin and co-workers [30] corroborated a positive association between musical and mathematical skill development, but also identified a range of potential moderators. It appeared that interventions based on integrated musical and mathematical content showed a large effect size, suggesting that a positive association was most reliable in combined mathematics and music interventions Importantly, the development status of the participants, whether of not they had developmental disabilities, were not identified as significant moderators. Several sets of meta-regression analyses showed, for example that the mean effect size for arithmetic skills was significantly greater than for spatial skills (\u0026beta; = \u0026minus;0.11, z = \u0026minus;2.15, p \u0026lt; 0.05), logical reasoning (\u0026beta; = \u0026minus;0.13, z = \u0026minus;2.37, p \u0026lt; 0.01), and problem-solving (\u0026beta; = \u0026minus;0.11, z = \u0026minus;2.17, p \u0026lt; 0.01). Further, the mean effect size for foundational mathematical content was significantly larger than for higher-level mathematical content (\u0026beta; = \u0026minus;0.12, z = \u0026minus;2.29, p \u0026lt; 0.01). Finally, musical interventions alone showed a small to moderate positive effect size (g = 0.23, p \u0026lt; 0.01), with a slight increase when instrumental music interventions were applied (g = 0.49, p \u0026lt; 0.01). However, the integration of music and mathematics interventions produced a still larger effect size (g = 0.61, p \u0026lt; 0.01), suggesting that interventions with a combination of music and mathematical content lead to higher positive effects on mathematical achievements [30].\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn sum, research findings suggest a moderate association between musical and mathematical skills at preschool age are still. The heterogeneity of research designs and some studies showing no effects of music on mathematical skill development seem to prevent any firm conclusions. However, in our view, the initial evidence suffices to sustain the main assumption that both musical and mathematical interventions might interact with arithmetic skill development in pre-schoolers.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eAims, research questions, and hypotheses\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe central aim of the present study was to investigate whether\u0026nbsp;standardized group-based musical and mathematical interventions might independently be associated with short-term changes of arithmetic skill development in pre-schoolers. A subsidiary aim was to assess, whether these changes might extend to musical and visuospatial competencies.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRQ1: show similar changes as compared to children who participate in either a) an arithmetic intervention, or b) no intervention (control group), in terms of their arithmetic skill development over an eight-week intervention period?\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eH1: Based on our literature review, we assume that children undergoing both music or arithmetic training will significantly outperform the children in the control group.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRQ2: Will preschool children who participate in either the music or arithmetic intervention show increases in visuospatial working memory performance?\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eH2: We hypothesize that both music and arithmetic children will show significantly greater changes in their visuospatial skills in comparison to the control group.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRQ3: Are there any associations between musical skill development and participation on either the music or arithmetic groups?\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eH3: We assume that children both groups might achieve significantly greater gains in their musical skills as compared to the control group.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"2. Methods","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec2\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e2.1 Participants\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eA total of \u003cem\u003eN\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;60 children from three kindergartens that are located in a medium-sized city in Northern Lower Saxony, Germany, were recruited for this study. During the different stages of the study three children, who were initially allocated to the music group, one child allocated to the arithmetic group and four control children dropped out and were excluded from the analyses. Therefore, a total of \u003cem\u003eN\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;52 children (30 female, 22 male, average age\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;5.61, \u003cem\u003eSD\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.39) participated.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec3\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e2.2 Dependent measures\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec4\" class=\"Section3\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e2.2.1 Arithmetic skills (ZAREKI-K)\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe kindergarten version of the neuropsychological test battery for number processing and arithmetic skills in children in German (ZAREKI-K) [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR31\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e31\u003c/span\u003e] was chosen as the main outcome for this study. The inventory enables a differentiated measuring of number and quantity processing as well as basic arithmetic skills. We were interested in the total score of the test only due to a very high internal consistency of the test (Cronbach-alpha\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.93) and its relative performance and validation by comparison to related test inventories [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR32\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e32\u003c/span\u003e]. The test comprises counting tasks, the use of arithmetic symbols, the visualization and assessment of numerical quantities, and, finally, the reading and verbalization of numbers. A sub-task analysis was deemed beyond the scope of this research, which mainly focused on the overall arithmetic skill development. Such a detailed analysis was also prevented by the small sample size and, consequently the high probability of Type I errors.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec5\" class=\"Section3\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e2.2.2 Cognitive measures\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eCognitive performance was assessed by means of two sub-tests of the working memory test battery AGTB 5\u0026ndash;12 [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR33\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e33\u003c/span\u003e], namely the Corsi Block Test, representing visuospatial memory and the Matrix Span Test, representing visual memory. In both tasks, children are situated in a sound-attenuated room and tested individually. They receive instructions from a computer monitor and perform their tasks by tapping on the monitor, from where the responses are recorded. Both tests are initiated by warm-up trials, allowing the children to ask questions and familiarize themselves with the test procedures. Both tests are adaptive by adjusting sequences of items depending on consecutive correct or incorrect responses.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFirst, the Corsi Block Test measures the child\u0026rsquo;s ability to remember a series of spatial locations presented in sequences of different lengths. Children were asked to memorize and reproduce the path of a smiley, which appears at random locations within an array of nine squares depicted on the computer screen. If the reproduction was correct for two trials, the sequence of locations of the smiley was increased by one step, up to the maximum of nine.. If the recall failed for two trials, the movement was decreased by one, down to the minimum of two.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSecond, the Matrix Span Test reflects the memory for visual details without changing the spatial location of the information. In this test, a graphic pattern on a 4x4 matrix of squares is highlighted for four seconds and then disappears. The children were asked to recall the pattern by tagging the locations of highlighted squares on the touchscreen. The adaptive mechanism follows the same procedure as described above. The retest reliabilities for the Corsi-Block Test and the Matrix Span Test vary between \u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003e\u003cem\u003ett\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/sub\u003e = .50 and \u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003e\u003cem\u003ett\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/sub\u003e = .57.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec6\" class=\"Section3\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e2.2.3 Music audiation\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eEdwin Gordon\u0026rsquo; Primary Measures of Musical Audiation [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR34\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e34\u003c/span\u003e] assesses the children\u0026rsquo;s ability to discriminate rhythmic and tonal information by means of a test battery. No formal music achievement is required to answer the questions. The rhythm and tonal tasks are presented in blocks of 12 items each. The total test duration ranged between 10 to 12 minutes per child. Retest reliabilities from the manual showed a medium to high retest reliability for both subtests (rhythm: rtt\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.60; tonal rtt\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.73).\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec7\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e2.2 Independent variables\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe different intervention groups and the control group comprised one of the two independent measures. Children in the music group received a standardized music training program called \u003cem\u003e\u0026ldquo;Hallo Musikkater\u0026ldquo; (Hallo Music Cat)\u003c/em\u003e [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR35\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e35\u003c/span\u003e], whereas children in the mathematic group received a standardized math training program called \u003cem\u003e\u0026ldquo;Mengen, Z\u0026auml;hlen, Zahlen\u0026rdquo; (Quantities, Counting, Numbers)\u003c/em\u003e [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR12\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e12\u003c/span\u003e]. Each session in both intervention groups lasted 60 minutes and was conducted on a weekly basis until eight sessions were completed. The nature and content of the interventions are explained in more detail in the supplement 1 (S1).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe second independent variable is represented by the time points (T1\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;baseline, pre-intervention) and T2 (=\u0026thinsp;post-intervention). It was ensured that the assessments of the dependent measures occurred in temporal proximity to these time points.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec8\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e2.3 Control variables\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec9\" class=\"Section3\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e2.3.1 Fluid intelligence CFT 1-R and demographics\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe German adaptation of Cattell\u0026rsquo;s Culture Free Intelligence Test (CFT 1-R) [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR36\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e36\u003c/span\u003e] was administered to measure fluid intelligence using its six subtests: substitutions, mazes, similarities, series, classifications, and matrices. According to Wei\u0026szlig; and Osterland, the CFT 1-R correlate highly with the \u0026lsquo;g\u0026rsquo;-factor of intelligence r\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.66. Retest reliabilities for all subtests ranged from \u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003e\u003cem\u003ett\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/sub\u003e = .63 to \u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e\u003csub\u003e\u003cem\u003ett\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/sub\u003e = .86 [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR36\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e36\u003c/span\u003e]. Results were assessed by raw means for each of the six subtests and standardized IQ scores adapted for age (M\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;100, SD\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;15). Further independent variables included information about gender and age. It was also ensured that none of the children who took part in the study played a musical instrument.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec10\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e2.4 Treatment fidelity\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eFollowing recommendations by Wiens and Gordon [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR37\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e37\u003c/span\u003e], we sought confirmation of treatment fidelity in several ways. For example, the assistants who were trained in administering the interventions received a detailed teaching script of the different lessons for each group. Lessons were observed by trained staff who monitored the implementation and took detailed notes of every lesson. Later inspection of the notes showed that the teaching script was overall closely followed. Specifically, all groups completed the assigned exercises and tasks. Moreover, the assistants who ran the interventions were trained musicians and experienced in early music education. However, it was ensured that they also showed similar teaching skills in delivering the mathematic training by means of a preparatory supervised class.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec11\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e2.4 Design\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe study entailed a 3 (groups) x 2 (time points) within-between-subjects ANOVA design to test the research hypotheses (H1-H3). Children in the music group were taught according to a program called \"Hallo Musik Kater\" [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR35\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e35\u003c/span\u003e]; children in the arithmetic group were taught according to standardized program \"Mengen, Z\u0026auml;hlen, Zahlen\" [21;38]. A third group of children served as controls (n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;16) and received no additional training. The interventions lasted eight weeks with 60 minutes of weekly lessons each.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec12\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e2.5 Procedure\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003e After parental informed consent was obtained for each child to participate in the study, also the children were informed verbally about the study and their right to leave the study at any time without having to give any reason and without having to expect any consequences. It turned out that none of the participating children showed intentions to leave the study until it was completed.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eChildren were randomly assigned to the two intervention groups (music or math training) and the control group until all groups comprised 20 children. At T1, all children were tested individually in their classrooms over one and a half hours. Assistants who were trained in administering the computerized test battery ran the data collection. The order of the test protocol was equal at both time points as follows: PMMA tonal, ZAREKI-K, PMMA rhythm, Matrix Span Test, and Corsi Block Test. Breaks were set individually, depending on the children\u0026rsquo;s needs. The children were asked to complete the IQ test, before the above materials, on a different day.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e The Ethics board of the Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg provided approval to conduct the study in accordance with the plan submitted to the committee (Ref.-No. 48/2016). We confirm that all experiments were performed in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations of the Ethics board.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec13\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e2.6 Data analyses\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eDescriptive and inferential statistical methods were applied. The latter included repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) models for hypothesis testing. Preconditions for the ANOVAs with repeated measurement (normality, Box\u0026rsquo;s M test of equality of covariance matrices and Levene\u0026rsquo;s test of equality of variance) were tested for all dependent variables separately and were met in all cases. A power analysis using G*Power [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR39\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e39\u003c/span\u003e] suggested that a sample size of N\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;42 was needed to ascertain small to medium effects (f\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.25) in a mixed within-between-subject design with repeated measures (α: 0.05, power (1-β): 0.80, correlations between repeated measures: r\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.50).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn addition, correlation coefficients were calculated on the basis of Pearson correlations. Probability level was set to p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.05. All analyses were conducted with SPSS version 29.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"3. Results","content":"\u003cp\u003eOne-way between-group analyses of variance (ANOVA) confirmed that the groups were similar in fluid intelligence [IQ: \u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e(2,51)= .07, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e = .93] and age [\u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e(2,51) = .12, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e = .89] at baseline (see Table 1). Moreover, gender was well balanced between groups [\u003cem\u003e\u0026chi;2\u003c/em\u003e = 1.16; df = 2; p = .56].\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eTable 1: Means (and SD) of the control variables IQ and Age for the music (MUG), math (MAG) and control groups (CG) at baseline.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ctable border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" width=\"605\"\u003e\n \u003ctbody\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 75px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 16px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMUG\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 23px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 94px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMAG\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 19px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 95px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCG\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 28px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 34px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 66px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 57px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 75px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eMeasures\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 16px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eM (SD)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 23px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 94px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eM (SD)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 19px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 95px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eM (SD)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 28px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 34px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003edf\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 66px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ef-value\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 57px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 75px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eIQ\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 16px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e27.71 (10.34)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 23px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 94px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e27.63 (12.09)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 19px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 95px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e26.44 (9.53)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 28px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 34px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e49\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 66px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.07\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 57px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.93\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 75px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eAge\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 16px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 98px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5,60 (.46)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 23px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 94px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.65 (.39)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 19px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 95px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.59 (.32)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 28px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 34px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e49\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 66px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.12\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 57px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.89\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/tbody\u003e\n\u003c/table\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNext, the ANOVAs were performed on the dependent measures. It was ensured, that preconditions were met by means of a test of normality, Box\u0026rsquo;s M test of equality of covariates, and Levene\u0026rsquo;s test of equality of variance. Follow-up post-hoc tests were applied for further comparison of means between groups at T1 and T2. \u003cem\u003eTable 2\u003c/em\u003e reports the mean values and standard deviations for the dependent variables of both the experimental and control groups.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eTable 2: Means (and SD) of the fundamental arithmetic skills (ZAREKI-K), the Corsi Block Test (CB), the Matrix Span Test (MS) and the Music Audiation Test (PMMA) for music (MUG), math (MAG) and control groups (CG) at both time points (T1-T2).\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ctable border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" width=\"652\"\u003e\n \u003ctbody\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd colspan=\"2\" style=\"width: 174px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMUG\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 16px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cu\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/u\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd colspan=\"2\" valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 174px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMAG\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 22px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd colspan=\"2\" style=\"width: 182px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCG\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eMeasures\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eT1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eT2\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 16px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eT1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eT2\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 22px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 94px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eT1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 88px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eT2\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eM (SD)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eM (SD)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 16px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eM (SD)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eM (SD)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 22px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 94px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eM (SD)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 88px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eM (SD)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eZAREKI-K\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e11.69 (4.32)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e15.00 (3.12)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 16px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e11.74 (3.69)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e15.11 (2.58)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 22px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 94px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e10.19 (6.00)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 88px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e10.51 (6.79)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eCB\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e2.60 (.89)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e2.94 (.91)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 16px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e2.80 (.87)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.00 (.82)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 22px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 94px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e2.25 (.75)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 88px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e2.25 (.75)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eMS\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e2.65 (.613)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e2,99 (.87)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 16px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e2.63 (1.00)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.25 (1.15)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 22px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 94px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e2.22 (.59)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 88px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e2.73 (1.09)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003ePMMA-O\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e11.94 (3.28)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e14.69 (3.20)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 16px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e9.53 (4.97)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e11.63 (3.59)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 22px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 94px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e11.81 (3.27)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 88px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e12.69 (2.73)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003ePMMA-R\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.13 (1.31)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e6.87 (1.41)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 16px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4.42 (2.17)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.05 (1.81)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 22px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 94px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.31 (1.20)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 88px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.13 (1.31)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 85px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003ePMMA-T\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e6.81 (2.14)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e7.81 (2.04)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 16px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.11 (2.96)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 87px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e6.58 (2.14)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 22px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 94px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e6.50 (2.45)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd style=\"width: 88px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e7.56 (1.86)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/tbody\u003e\n\u003c/table\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eNote: PMMA-O = Overall score; PMMA-R = Rhythm score; PMMA-T = Tonal score.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCorrelational analyses for dependent and independent measures for all groups and time points are reported in Table 3.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eTable 3\u003c/em\u003e: Correlations \u003cem\u003e(r)\u003c/em\u003e between variables at both time points (T1 and T2).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ctable border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" align=\"\" width=\"738\"\u003e\n \u003ctbody\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 38px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e2.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e6.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e7.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e8.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e9.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e10.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e11.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e12.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e13.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e14.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1. Age (T1)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 38px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.224\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.280*\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.333*\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.253\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.204\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.162\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.259\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.248\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.180\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.191\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.149\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.259\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e-176\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e2. IQ (T1)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 38px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.636**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.498**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.501**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.277*\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.409**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.290*\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.613**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.458**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.535**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.317*\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.596**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.485**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3. ZA (T1)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 38px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.814**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.465**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.445**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.389**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.337*\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.581**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.467**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.480**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.329*\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.583**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.490**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4. ZA(T2)\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 38px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e,462**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.479**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.417**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.329*\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.389**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.436**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.280*\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.390**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.419**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.395**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5. CB (T1)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 38px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.573**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.471**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.440**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.313*\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.436**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.183\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.259\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e,364**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.502**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e6. CB (T2)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 38px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.503**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.522**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.266\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.360**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.184\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.267\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.291*\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.359**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e7. MS (T1)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 38px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.498**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.550**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.565**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.\u003cstrong\u003e498**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.502**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.523**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.513**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e8. MS (T2)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 38px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.234\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.335*\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.172\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.296*\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.250\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.306*\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e9. P-O (T1)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 38px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.685**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.898**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.572**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.957**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.652*\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e10. P-O (T2)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 38px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.582**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.878**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.678**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.916**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e11. P-R (T1)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 38px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.522**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.731**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.525**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e12. P-R (T2)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 38px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.543**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.611**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 83px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e13. P-T (T1)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e14. P-T (T2)\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 38px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 52px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd valign=\"top\" style=\"width: 51px;\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e.664**\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;-\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/tbody\u003e\n\u003c/table\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eNote:\u003c/em\u003e ZA = ZAREKI-K Overall score; CB = Corsi Block Test; MS = Matrix Span Test; P-O = PMMA Overall score; P-R = PMMA Rhythm score; P-T = PMMA Tonal score; \u003cem\u003eN\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e= 52\u003cem\u003e; * p \u0026lt; .05, ** p \u0026lt; .01.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e3.1. Arithmetic skills\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRepeated measures analysis of variance for the ZAREKI-K revealed a main effect of time [\u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e(1,48) = 40,88,\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;p\u003c/em\u003e \u0026lt; .001, \u003cem\u003e\u0026eta;\u003csub\u003ep\u003c/sub\u003e\u0026sup2;\u003c/em\u003e = .46] and an interaction effect of time*group [\u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e(2,48) = 7.49, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e \u0026lt; .001, \u003cem\u003e\u0026eta;\u003csub\u003ep\u003c/sub\u003e\u0026sup2;\u003c/em\u003e = .24]. Post-hoc tests with pairwise comparisons showed that groups did not differ at T1 [\u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e(2,51) = .49, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e = .61]. However, multiple t-tests for subsequent comparisons of means with an adjusted alpha level (\u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e = 0.05/3 = 0.016) showed that children in the music group [\u003cem\u003et (\u003c/em\u003e\u003cem\u003e15\u003c/em\u003e\u003cem\u003e) = 4.87\u003c/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e \u0026lt; .001, \u003cem\u003ed\u003csub\u003ekorr\u003c/sub\u003e = .82]\u003c/em\u003e and in the math training group [\u003cem\u003et\u003c/em\u003e(18) = 6.16, \u003cem\u003ep\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u0026lt; .001, \u003cem\u003ed\u003csub\u003ekorr\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/em\u003e = .96] significantly improved their performances from T1 to T2, whereas children in the control group did not [\u003cem\u003et\u003c/em\u003e(15) = .50, p = .62, \u003cem\u003ed\u003csub\u003ekorr\u003c/sub\u003e =.05\u003c/em\u003e]. Figure 1 depicts the group \u0026times; time interaction for the fundamental arithmetic skill test (ZAREKI-K).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eInsert Figure 1 about here!\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e3.2. Cognitive measures\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA significant main effect of group was found for the Corsi Block Test [\u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e(2,49) = 3.73, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e = .03, \u003cem\u003e\u0026eta;\u003csub\u003ep\u003c/sub\u003e\u0026sup2;\u003c/em\u003e = .13] (see Figure 1). Post-hoc tests with pairwise comparisons showed that groups did not differ at T1 [\u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e(2,51)\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;=\u003c/em\u003e 1.89, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e \u0026gt; .38] . However, children form the music group \u0026nbsp;(\u003cem\u003eM\u003c/em\u003e = 2.94, \u003cem\u003eSD\u003c/em\u003e = .91) and the math group (\u003cem\u003eM\u003c/em\u003e = 3.00, \u003cem\u003eSD\u003c/em\u003e = .82) scored higher than the children in the control group (\u003cem\u003eM\u003c/em\u003e = 2.25, \u003cem\u003eSD\u003c/em\u003e = .75) at T2 [\u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e(2,51) = 4.19, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e = .02, \u003cem\u003e\u0026eta;\u003csub\u003ep\u003c/sub\u003e\u003csup\u003e2\u0026nbsp;\u003c/sup\u003e=.15\u003c/em\u003e]. No interaction or main effects of time were observed.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; The results of the Matrix Span Test showed a significant effect of time, \u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e(1, 49) = 13.62, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e \u0026lt; .001, \u003cem\u003e\u0026eta;\u003csub\u003ep\u003c/sub\u003e\u0026sup2;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e= .22 (see Figure 2).\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003eSubsequent comparisons of means indicate that children in the math [\u003cem\u003et\u003c/em\u003e(18) = 2.73, \u003cem\u003ep\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e= .01, \u003cem\u003ed\u003csub\u003ekorr\u003c/sub\u003e = .57\u003c/em\u003e] and the control group [\u003cem\u003et\u003c/em\u003e(15) = 2.52, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e = .02, \u003cem\u003ed\u003csub\u003ekorr\u003c/sub\u003e = .50\u003c/em\u003e] significantly increased their performance from T1 to T2, whereas children in the music group did not [\u003cem\u003et\u003c/em\u003e(16) = 1.34, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e = .20, \u003cem\u003ed\u003csub\u003ekorr\u003c/sub\u003e = .45\u003c/em\u003e].\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFinally, no interaction or group effects were observed for the visuospatial working memory performances. \u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eInsert Figure 2 about here!\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e3.3 Music Audiation\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eResults of the PMMA showed a main effect of group [\u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e(2, 48) = 3.10, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e = .05, \u003cem\u003e\u0026eta;\u003csub\u003ep\u003c/sub\u003e\u003csup\u003e2\u0026nbsp;\u003c/sup\u003e= .11]\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003eand time [\u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e(1, 48) = 20.61, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e \u0026lt; .001, \u003cem\u003e\u0026eta;\u003csub\u003ep\u003c/sub\u003e\u003csup\u003e2\u0026nbsp;\u003c/sup\u003e= .30\u003c/em\u003e] with respect to the total score. Post-hoc tests with pairwise comparisons revealed that groups did not differ at T1 [\u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e(2,50) = 2.06, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e = .14]. However, at T2 the children in the music group (\u003cem\u003eM\u003c/em\u003e = 14.69, \u003cem\u003eSD\u003c/em\u003e = 3.20) improved their performance significantly in comparison to the arithmetic group [\u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e(2, 50) = 3.98, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e = .03, \u003cem\u003e\u0026eta;\u003csub\u003ep\u003c/sub\u003e\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/em\u003e = .14]. There was no difference between the children arithmetic (\u003cem\u003eM\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e= 11.63, \u003cem\u003eSD\u003c/em\u003e = 3.59) and control groups (\u003cem\u003eM\u003c/em\u003e = 12.69, \u003cem\u003eSD\u003c/em\u003e = 2.73).\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSubsequent comparisons of means showed that children in the music group [\u003cem\u003et\u003c/em\u003e(15) = 5.75, \u003cem\u003ep\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u0026lt; .001, \u003cem\u003ed\u003csub\u003ekorr\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/em\u003e = .85] and in the arithmetic group [\u003cem\u003et\u003c/em\u003e(18) = 2.35,\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;p\u003c/em\u003e = .30, \u003cem\u003ed\u003csub\u003ekorr\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/em\u003e = .47] significantly improved their test scores from T1 to T2, whereas no such improvement was found for the children in the control group [\u003cem\u003et\u003c/em\u003e(15) = 1.34, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e = .20, \u003cem\u003ed\u003csub\u003ekorr\u003c/sub\u003e =\u003csub\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/em\u003e.29].\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDetailed analyses for the rhythm sub-score of the PMMA test revealed a significant main effect of time [\u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e(1,48) = 11,43, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e = .001, \u003cem\u003e\u0026eta;\u003csub\u003ep\u003c/sub\u003e\u0026sup2;\u003c/em\u003e = .19] and group [\u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e(2,48) = 3.33, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e = .04, \u003cem\u003e\u0026eta;\u003csub\u003ep\u003c/sub\u003e\u0026sup2;\u003c/em\u003e = .12], as well as a significant interaction effect [\u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e(2,48) = 6,39, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e = .003, \u003cem\u003e\u0026eta;\u003csub\u003ep\u003c/sub\u003e\u0026sup2;= .21\u003c/em\u003e]. Post-hoc tests with pairwise comparisons revealed that groups did not differ at T1, [\u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e(2,50 = 1.31, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e = .20]. However, the performance for the children in the music group (\u003cem\u003eM\u003c/em\u003e = 6.71, \u003cem\u003eSD\u003c/em\u003e = 1.53) differed significantly at T2, [\u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e(2, 50) = 6.03, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e = .005, \u003cem\u003e\u0026eta;\u003csub\u003ep\u003c/sub\u003e\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/em\u003e = .20\u003cem\u003e]\u003c/em\u003e, in comparison to the children of the arithmetic (\u003cem\u003eM\u003c/em\u003e = 5.05, \u003cem\u003eSD\u003c/em\u003e = 1.81) and the control group (\u003cem\u003eM\u003c/em\u003e = 5.13, \u003cem\u003eSD\u003c/em\u003e = 1.31). There was no difference between the children of the arithmetic group and the control group at T2. Subsequent comparisons of means showed that children in the music group, [\u003cem\u003et\u003c/em\u003e(16) = 4-46, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e \u0026lt; .001, \u003cem\u003ed\u003csub\u003ekorr\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/em\u003e = 1.16], significantly improved their test scores from T1 to T2, whereas such improvements were found neither for the children in the arithmetic [\u003cem\u003et\u003c/em\u003e(19) = 1.56, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e = .14, \u003cem\u003ed\u003csub\u003ekorr\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/em\u003e = .31 ] nor the control group [\u003cem\u003et\u003c/em\u003e(16) = 0.64, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e = .53, \u003cem\u003ed\u003csub\u003ekorr\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/em\u003e = .15].\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eResults for the tonal sub-score of the PMMA test, however, only showed a significant main effect of time [\u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e(1,48) = 17.27, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e \u0026lt; .001, \u003cem\u003e\u0026eta;\u003csub\u003ep\u003c/sub\u003e\u0026sup2;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e= .27].\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003eSubsequent comparisons of means showed that children in the music group [\u003cem\u003et\u003c/em\u003e(16) = 4.90, \u003cem\u003ep\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u0026lt; .001, \u003cem\u003ed\u003csub\u003ekorr\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/em\u003e = .50] and the arithmetic group [\u003cem\u003et\u003c/em\u003e(19) = 2.50, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e = .02, \u003cem\u003ed\u003csub\u003ekorr\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/em\u003e = .56] significantly improved their test scores from T1 to T2, whereas children in the control group did not [\u003cem\u003et\u003c/em\u003e(16) = 2.01, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e \u0026lt; .06, \u003cem\u003ed\u003csub\u003ekorr\u003c/sub\u003e\u003c/em\u003e = .48]. The respective values for these tests are displayed in \u003cem\u003eFigure 3\u003c/em\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eInsert Figure 3 about here!\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"4. Discussion","content":"\u003cp\u003eThe aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of standardized music and arithmetic interventions on arithmetic, visuospatial and musical skills in preschool children in a randomized pre-post design. To this end, we asked whether children in musical and arithmetic interventions might show similar improvements in arithmetic, visuospatial, and musical skills.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith regard to our first hypothesis, we observe that children in both music and arithmetic training groups showed significant improvements in their fundamental arithmetic skills during the eight-week intervention period, thus outperforming the control group (H1). In addition, arithmetic skills of the children in the music group improved to the same extent in both groups.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSecond, we hypothesize that children in the music and in the math training groups show greater progress in cognitive performance tests in comparison to the control group (H2). Indeed, children in both intervention groups showed higher values in Corsi Block Test over time, whereas the control children showed no such differences. These findings indicate an advantage for the children in the intervention groups in terms of their visuospatial working memory. However, no effects were found for in the Matrix Span Test, which suggests that the visual memory remained unaffected by the intervention. This interpretation is supported by additional correlation analyses, which show higher correlations between the Corsi Block Test and arithmetic skills at both time points compared to the matrix span test (see Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFinally, the third hypothesis, which held that children in the intervention groups outperform control group children with respect to musical skills, was again partially confirmed (H3). In fact, children from both groups (music and arithmetic) significantly increased their performances at the end if the interventions, whereas no such increase was found for the controls. However, the performance for the children in the music significantly differed at T2 in comparison to both the arithmetic and control group children. This finding suggests an asymmetrical transfer of skills, with music children benefitting in terms of arithmetic skills, but not vice versa.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTaken together, these findings extend previous research on music and arithmetic skills in pre-schoolers. Indeed, young children can benefit in mathematical skills by participating in music interventions [40;41;26]. Moreover, Akin and colleagues [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR30\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e30\u003c/span\u003e] conclude from their meta-analysis that such improvements are subject to a wide range of moderators. Importantly, they also suggest that combined music and arithmetic interventions might be more efficient than independent interventions alone. In our study, we could not ascertain this observation. Therefore, whether or not the magnitude of gains in arithmetic skills in our intervention groups will be matched or even exceeded in a combined intervention should be subject to future studies.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhy did visuospatial working memory performance improve in the intervention groups, but not visual working memory? This differentiation was somewhat unexpected, although some of the previous studies suggest that specific training in visuospatial memory could lead to improvements in the Corsi Block Test which might not transfer to other working memory tests [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR42\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e42\u003c/span\u003e]. Therefore, expanding the number and content of working memory tests in future intervention studies should shed more light on the possible specificity of transfer effects in this age group.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eClearly, the children in the music group were more likely candidates of benefitting from the music intervention in comparison to the arithmetic group. Nevertheless, given the theories of a certain affinity between arithmetical/mathematical skills on the one hand, and musical skills on the other hand, a potential transfer of skills in both directions appears plausible. Indeed, this theory is supported by our findings which reveal significant improvements of musical skills also in the arithmetic group. However, music children still seemed to benefit to an even greater extent.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn summary, the present research confirms and extends previous work on cognitive, arithmetic, and musical performance following structured interventions in preschool children. Our findings underscore the value of music interventions to stimulate cognitive processing in a domain which seems not directly addressed by the intervention itself, namely arithmetic skills. They provide an example of how creative and playful elements in education might influence of precursor skills that are required in general education. However, there remain many gaps in our knowledge of the mechanisms that drive such effects, the nature of best practices for the children\u0026rsquo;s benefit, and the long-term influences of early creative experiences on academic learning and development.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe experimental design of the present study is, despite its randomized-controlled setting, subject to potential systematic biases at different levels. For example, the experimental setting entailed no single-blinding, which leaves the possibility that knowledge of each child\u0026rsquo;s allocation in experimental and control groups could have had subtle influences on evaluation procedures. Moreover, it could also be that individual inclinations, motivations, and interests were more prominent in the intervention groups as compared to the control group. However, such biases are unlikely to have undermined the overall findings, given the substantial effect sizes that we observed.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Conclusion","content":"\u003cp\u003eThe findings of the present study support and extend previous findings of associations between eight weeks of music training on arithmetic skills in pre-schoolers. The magnitude of improvement was similar when another group of children received arithmetic training. In addition, music training also affected visuospatial, but not visual memory. These findings add to the literature which positively associates creative learning with academic skill development.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003ch2\u003eCompeting interests\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe authors declare no competing interests.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eFunding declaration\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eAuthor Contribution\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI.R. designed. conducted and analyzed the experimental data, visualized the results, and prepared the original draft with G.K. G.K. critically commented on the draft. Both authors reviewed the manuscript.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eData Availability\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA minimal anonymized data set is included in the supplementary information.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eAuthors and Affiliations\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eDepartment of Educational Science, Educational Psychology, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, 26129 Oldenburg, Germany\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIngo Roden\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eDepartment of Music \u0026amp; Speech and Music Lab, School of Linguistics and Cultural Studies, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, 26129 Oldenburg, Germany\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eGunter Kreutz\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnderson, J. L. \u0026amp; Krasnozhon, L. A. 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J.\u003c/em\u003e \u003cb\u003e139\u003c/b\u003e, 210\u0026ndash;217. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://doi.org/10.1590/1516-3180.2020.0280.r1.10122020\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"10.1590/1516-3180.2020.0280.r1.10122020\" targettype=\"DOI\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e (2021).\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAuthor information.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAuthors and Affiliations.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDepartment of Educational Science. Educational Psychology, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, 26129 Oldenburg, Germany.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIngo \u0026amp; Roden.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDepartment of Music \u0026amp; Speech and \u0026amp; Lab, M. School of Linguistics and Cultural Studies, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, 26129 Oldenburg, Germany.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGunter \u0026amp; Kreutz.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eContributions.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eI.R. designed. conducted and analyzed the experimental data, visualized the results, and prepared the original draft with G.K. G.K. critically commented on the draft. Both authors reviewed the manuscript.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eCorresponding author.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eCorrespondence to Ingo Roden.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEthics declarations.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/ol\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"music, math, arithmetical skills, visuospatial working memory, pre-schoolers","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7550626/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7550626/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003ePrevious research suggests that musical and arithmetic skills are intertwined in child development. Here we address this assumption by means of an intervention study with kindergarteners. Children were randomized into three groups: music training, arithmetic training, and controls. Children in the two intervention groups, but not in the control group, participated in weekly sessions of 60 minutes over eight weeks. Groups did not differ in sex, age, IQ and music experiences at baseline. Pre-post intervention measurements revealed a significant group x time interaction, with children in both music and arithmetic groups significantly improving their fundamental arithmetic skills compared to children in the control group. Music children also improved in one of the working memory tests. These results confirm and extend previous findings to suggest similar learning improvements for arithmetic skills irrespective of training. More research is needed to identify the mechanisms that associate music learning with improved arithmetic skills.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Music and arithmetic interventions in preschool learning - Different routes, same results?","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-10-29 14:51:16","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7550626/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"d9e36567-cd19-4f10-9744-d5b8be1d721e","owner":[],"postedDate":"October 29th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":56756848,"name":"Biological sciences/Neuroscience"},{"id":56756849,"name":"Biological sciences/Psychology"},{"id":56756850,"name":"Social science/Psychology"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-01-05T11:09:45+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-10-29 14:51:16","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7550626","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7550626","identity":"rs-7550626","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}