Music Lessons & IQ

Taking music lessons has been correlated with improvements in children's general intelligence scores and with specific cognitive abilities such as literacy (Anvari, Trainor, Woodside & Levy 2002; Lamb & Gregory 1993; Lynn, Wilson & Gault 1989). However, the effects of music lessons on intelligence and cognitive skills might not be due to the content of the lessons but to ancillary factors including a disciplined environment or family background. In the current study, Schellenberg (2004) randomly assigned children into four different groups. Two of the four groups received music lessons, one standard keyboard and the other Kodaly voice lessons. The two control groups included one assigned to drama lessons and one to no extracurricular activities at all. Based on prior research of a presumed "transfer effect" of music lessons on intelligence, Schellenberg (2004) predicted that the children who received either type of music lesson would score better on intelligence and cognitive tests. Independent variables included the type of lessons the children received and dependent variables included scores on a variety of tests such as the Wechsler Intelligence Scale and a social functioning test. Schellenberg (2004) controlled for confounding variables in the current study by assigning one of the control groups to drama lessons to rule out universal benefits of structured creative learning and also controlled for the possibility that one type of music lesson might be more effective than another in improving intelligence test scores. However, Schellenberg (2004) did not control for possible instances in which the children are exposed to music at home regularly by their parents or children who had taken music lessons in the past.

Results showed a small but significant increase in intelligence scores for the children who took either type of music lesson. Schellenberg (2004) purposely chose the Wechsler Intelligence Scale because of its ability to measure a greater variety of cognitive abilities than the Intelligence Quotient test. Although the results of the current study are promising, they cannot offer conclusive evidence that music lessons impact any type of intelligence not measured by the Wechsler scale.

Reference

Wechsler, E.G. (2004). Music lessons enhance IQ. American Psychological Society. 15(8).