Does Music Training Improve Inhibition Control in Children? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Inhibition control is an essential executive function and the cornerstone of important skills during children’s development, like self-regulation and the development of social and language abilities. Better inhibition control is associated with higher academic achievement (e.g., reasoning skills, mathematics, and science). Music training requires inhibition control when learning new motor skills of an instrument, synchronized group training, monitoring performance, and auditory stream prioritization. This meta-analysis examined for the first time whether music-based training improves inhibition control in children. A rigorous search of the literature from 1980 to 2022 yielded 2182 records (N = 1528). Twenty studies had longitudinal designs, of which eight were randomized-clinical trials (RCTs) with an active control condition. Inhibition control measures included the flanker, go/no-go, and Stroop tests or similar preschool adaptations. A random-effects meta-analysis of these studies showed a moderate-to-large effect size for improvement in inhibition control after music training compared to control programs in the eight RCTs (SMD = 0.63, CI= 0.41 to 0.85, p < .0001). The full set of twenty longitudinal studies that included quasi-experimental designs and passive control groups showed a small-to-moderate effect size (SMD = 0.36, CI = 0.21 to 0.50, p < .0001). These findings highlight that music training, probably owing to its time-bound multisensory and multimodal demands fostering brain plasticity, plays a privileged role in improving executive functioning in children, especially inhibition control. We recommend further validation of music training to complement education and as a therapeutic tool for clinical populations with inhibition control difficulties (e.g., Autism, ADHD).