REVIEW article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Cognition
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1659927
This article is part of the Research TopicCognitive Mechanisms Underpinning Pro-Social Behavior Across CulturesView all 11 articles
Boosting Executive Function in Children Aged 3-12 Through Musical Training: A Three-Level Meta-Analysis
Provisionally accepted
- Hunan Normal University, Changsha, China
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For an extended period, musical training has been recognized as a key enhancer of children's development, particularly affecting executive functions. This three-level meta-analysis examines the influence of musical training on executive functions in children aged 3 to 12 and identifies key moderating factors. The study analyzed 46 original research articles, encompassing 192 effect sizes from a total of 3,530 participants. The results demonstrate that musical training significantly enhances children's executive function (g = 0.350, p < 0.001, 95% CI [0.247-0.453]). The longer the duration and cycle, the greater the impact of musical training on children's executive function. In collectivist countries, musical training is more effective. Among the sub-dimensions of executive function, inhibitory control showed the most significant improvement due to musical training. The discussion explores the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.
Keywords: musical training, Executive Function, Three-level meta-analysis, Children, culture
Received: 04 Jul 2025; Accepted: 20 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Cai, Kang and Xu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Dan Kang, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, China
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