Attention and vigilance advantages related to formal musical training across childhood, adolescence and young adulthood

Abstract

Attention and vigilance are fundamental cognitive abilities that develop throughout childhood and adolescence and have been associated with cognitively demanding activities such as formal musical training. This cross-­ sectional study examined whether individuals engaged in long-­ term musical training show superior attention and vigilance compared with matched controls without such training. Participants (N = 268; ages 8–34 years) were drawn from two samples of children, adolescents and adults, with musicians and nonmusicians matched on a wide array of demographic and lifestyle variables using multivariate propensity-­ score matching. Attentional performance was assessed using the ANTI-­ Vea, a validated computerized task that measures two components of vigilance – executive and arousal vigilance. Moreover, we applied advanced behavioural modelling given their sensitivity to the complex developmental trajectories in vigilance. For many indices, musically trained participants outperformed nonmusicians at all ages, with overall faster responses, fewer attentional lapses, detecting more vigilance targets and lower variability in arousal vigilance trials. Other group differences became more pronounced with age, indicating a possible dosage effect. Crucially, these findings remained after extensive control for confounders. Although the advantages associated with musical training were modest and the correlational study design, they are consistent with the hypothesis that music practice may foster domain-­ general cognitive skills.