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• Music math bets software#

This recent research suggests that trained skills do not generalize well and the authors suggest that if we want to improve and excel at a particular skill, we need to practice that skill in particular.

This difference can create an enthusiasm gap or placebo effect which has the potential to affect cognitive measurements in a misleading way. This is problematic because it creates a difference between the two groups – with only some students getting additional attention or even just a break from the school day.

In these studies, participants in the experimental group were put into music lessons or a chess practice program, while those in the control group did nothing. One methodological shortcoming common among the poorly-designed studies, the researchers found, was a failure to include active control groups. Studies with more robust designs showed smaller effects, and the most rigorous studies showed small or no effects. When the researchers looked at the results of individual studies, they found that the results from poorly-designed studies showed the largest effects from random-assignment experiments. Initial results suggested that these activities do enhance cognitive processes, but closer inspection revealed no evidence to support far transfer. More recently, psychological scientists at the University of Liverpool found no support for far transfer in three meta-analyses covering different domains: music training, playing chess, and working-memory training. Some random-assignment experiments in the past have shown that kids assigned to play chess or take music lessons showed overall cognitive improvements, but others have shown little or no effects from similar practice. In order to conclude that chess playing or music causes changes in attention, intellect, or other cognitive skills, researchers must conduct controlled experiments, randomly assigning participants into an experimental group and one (or more) control group. A background in playing the clarinet is likely to help when you pick up the saxophone or oboe.īut research suggests that we shouldn’t expect either of those activities to help us on a math test. Getting really good at indoor volleyball, for example, means you will probably do well at sand volleyball. And researchers have found evidence that “near transfer,” in which skills gained in one practice apply to a related activity, can occur in some scenarios. Psychological scientists have even found patterns of higher cognitive abilities in chess players and musicians. It is easy to entertain this idea: Chess players may seem to be brainier than average and members of the orchestra may appear to be honor-roll regulars.

Music math bets software#

Teachers, parents, and even children seem to love the notion that developing skills in one domain or practice will help another, far-removed ability – a concept that psychological scientists call “far transfer.” A particularly exciting version of this idea is that some activities - playing music, learning chess, or using brain-training software - could help young people do better in school.