Does it really matter? Separating the effects of musical training on syntax acquisition
The possible transfer of musical expertise to the acquisition of syntactical structures in first and second language has emerged recently as an intriguing topic in the research of cognitive processes. However, it is unlikely that the benefits of musical training extend equally to the acquisition of...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2012-12-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00543/full |
| _version_ | 1831654706012749824 |
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| author | Garvin eBrod Garvin eBrod Bertram eOpitz Bertram eOpitz |
| author_facet | Garvin eBrod Garvin eBrod Bertram eOpitz Bertram eOpitz |
| author_sort | Garvin eBrod |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The possible transfer of musical expertise to the acquisition of syntactical structures in first and second language has emerged recently as an intriguing topic in the research of cognitive processes. However, it is unlikely that the benefits of musical training extend equally to the acquisition of all syntactical structures. As cognitive transfer presumably requires overlapping processing components and brain regions involved in these processing components, one can surmise that transfer between musical ability and syntax acquisition would be limited to structural elements that are shared between the two. We propose that musical expertise transfers only to the processing of recursive long-distance dependencies inherent in hierarchical syntactic structures. In this study, we taught fifty-six participants with widely varying degrees of musical expertise the artificial language BROCANTO, which allows the direct comparison of long-distance and local dependencies. We found that the quantity of musical training (measured in accumulated hours of practice and instruction) explained unique variance in performance in the long-distance dependency condition only. These data suggest that musical training facilitates the acquisition specifically of hierarchical syntactic structures. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T16:33:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-704b2c32ece44423a2c2c806aa5a71cd |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T16:33:13Z |
| publishDate | 2012-12-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-704b2c32ece44423a2c2c806aa5a71cd2022-12-21T20:14:05ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782012-12-01310.3389/fpsyg.2012.0054336488Does it really matter? Separating the effects of musical training on syntax acquisitionGarvin eBrod0Garvin eBrod1Bertram eOpitz2Bertram eOpitz3Max Planck Institute for Human DevelopmentSaarland UniversitySaarland UniversityUniversity of SurreyThe possible transfer of musical expertise to the acquisition of syntactical structures in first and second language has emerged recently as an intriguing topic in the research of cognitive processes. However, it is unlikely that the benefits of musical training extend equally to the acquisition of all syntactical structures. As cognitive transfer presumably requires overlapping processing components and brain regions involved in these processing components, one can surmise that transfer between musical ability and syntax acquisition would be limited to structural elements that are shared between the two. We propose that musical expertise transfers only to the processing of recursive long-distance dependencies inherent in hierarchical syntactic structures. In this study, we taught fifty-six participants with widely varying degrees of musical expertise the artificial language BROCANTO, which allows the direct comparison of long-distance and local dependencies. We found that the quantity of musical training (measured in accumulated hours of practice and instruction) explained unique variance in performance in the long-distance dependency condition only. These data suggest that musical training facilitates the acquisition specifically of hierarchical syntactic structures.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00543/fullmusical trainingtransfer effectsSyntax acquisitionhierarchical syntaxL2 learning |
| spellingShingle | Garvin eBrod Garvin eBrod Bertram eOpitz Bertram eOpitz Does it really matter? Separating the effects of musical training on syntax acquisition Frontiers in Psychology musical training transfer effects Syntax acquisition hierarchical syntax L2 learning |
| title | Does it really matter? Separating the effects of musical training on syntax acquisition |
| title_full | Does it really matter? Separating the effects of musical training on syntax acquisition |
| title_fullStr | Does it really matter? Separating the effects of musical training on syntax acquisition |
| title_full_unstemmed | Does it really matter? Separating the effects of musical training on syntax acquisition |
| title_short | Does it really matter? Separating the effects of musical training on syntax acquisition |
| title_sort | does it really matter separating the effects of musical training on syntax acquisition |
| topic | musical training transfer effects Syntax acquisition hierarchical syntax L2 learning |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00543/full |
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