Semester of Graduation
August 2018
Degree
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Psychology
Document Type
Thesis
Abstract
The relationship between musicality and cognitive abilities has been a popular topic in the media and among researchers over the last 25 years. Research has been inconsistent on whether musicality influences performance on non-musical complex tasks, such as measures of working memory and fluid intelligence. Inconsistencies regarding results between studies have arisen partly due to differences in sample and task selection, in addition to conflicting interpretations of results. Consequently, we conducted an individual differences investigation on the prediction of working memory (tonal, verbal, and visuospatial) and fluid intelligence by measures of musicality (formal years of musicality training, musical sophistication, melodic memory, and beat perception). Using correlational and regression approaches, the results showed that individual measures of musicality did not predict performance on each complex cognitive measure uniformly. These results suggest that relationships between musicality and cognitive abilities can be potentially influenced by measurement selection, and musical experiences and abilities underlie cognitive abilities differentially. Further exploration is needed to understand how and why these relationships occurred.
Date
6-27-2018
Recommended Citation
Ventura, Juan Alexander, "Predicting Working Memory and Fluid Intelligence from Measures of Musicality" (2018). LSU Master's Theses. 4755.
https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses/4755
Committee Chair
Elliott, Emily
DOI
10.31390/gradschool_theses.4755