Syntes: Sala & Gobet (2020) — with active control groups, music training did not improve children's non-music cognition or school results

Källa: Sala, G.; Gobet, F. (2020). Cognitive and academic benefits of music training with children: A multilevel meta-analysis. Memory & Cognition 48(8), 1429–1441. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-020-01060-2

Verified content

• [abstract] N = 6,984, k = 254 effect sizes, m = 54 studies; once study-design quality is controlled for, the overall effect is about zero and consistent across studies.
• [full text] Overall g = 0.184 (SE 0.041); non-active controls g = 0.228; active controls g = 0.056 (95% CI −0.069 to 0.182, p = .350).
• [full text] Sensitivity analysis: active controls g = −0.021 (τ² = 0); randomised studies with non-active controls g = 0.064 (p = .381); non-randomised g = 0.246.
• [full text] No differences by outcome type (verbal, non-verbal, memory, speed), between cognitive and academic (literacy, maths) outcomes, by age or by training duration. Mean sample age 6.45 years; median training 30 hours.

Limits

• [full text] Most studies small; active controls vary (some are near-transfer trainings — the point disputed by Bigand & Tillmann 2022).

Why it is in the library

The main current evidence on whether a demanding skill (music) transfers to general thinking or school subjects; basis for candidate K49, and the far-transfer counterpart to C16's question of what practice buys.

Added 2026-10-18 by the project (weekly source sweep). [abstract] = from the published abstract; [full text] = read in the full text; [assessment] = the project's own assessment.