Does musical training improve school performance?

In a retrospective study, we compared school performance of 53 children practicing music (group1) with 67 controls not practicing music (group2). Overall average marks as well as average marks of all school subjects except sports were significantly higher in children who do (group1) than in those who do not practice music (group2). In a multiple regression analysis, musical training, parent's income, and educational level (grades) correlated significantly with overall average marks. A slight decrease of overall average marks over 4years from grades3 to 6 was found in the control group only. Musical training evidently correlates with children's better performance at school, but is obviously part of a multifactorial dependence. Continuous musical training appears to help achieve and maintain school performance at a high level over tim

Does musical training improve school performance?

In a retrospective study, we compared school performance of 53 children practicing music (group1) with 67 controls not practicing music (group2). Overall average marks as well as average marks of all school subjects except sports were significantly higher in children who do (group1) than in those who do not practice music (group2). In a multiple regression analysis, musical training, parent's income, and educational level (grades) correlated significantly with overall average marks. A slight decrease of overall average marks over 4years from grades3 to 6 was found in the control group only. Musical training evidently correlates with children's better performance at school, but is obviously part of a multifactorial dependence. Continuous musical training appears to help achieve and maintain school performance at a high level over tim

Open-Minded Midwifes, Literate Butchers, and Greedy Hooligans - The Independent Contributions of Stereotype Valence and Consistency on Evaluative Judgments

Do people evaluate an open-minded midwife less positively than a caring midwife? Both open-minded and caring are generally seen as positive attributes. However, consistency varies-the attribute caring is consistent with the midwife stereotype while open-minded is not. In general, both stimulus valence and consistency can influence evaluations. Six experiments investigated the respective influence of valence and consistency on evaluative judgments in the domain of stereotyping. In an impression formation paradigm, valence and consistency of stereotypic information about target persons were manipulated orthogonally and spontaneous evaluations of these target persons were measured. Valence reliably influenced evaluations. However, for strongly valenced stereotypes, no effect of consistency was observed. Parameters possibly preventing the occurrence of consistency effects were ruled out, specifically, valence of inconsistent attributes, processing priority of category information, and impression formation instructions. However, consistency had subtle effects on evaluative judgments if the information about a target person was not strongly valenced and experimental conditions were optimal. Concluding, in principle, both stereotype valence and consistency can play a role in evaluative judgments of stereotypic target persons. However, the more subtle influence of consistency does not seem to substantially influence evaluations of stereotyped target persons. Implications for fluency research and stereotype disconfirmation are discussed

Vorrichtung und Verfahren zur Pruefung der Gestalt einer Oberflaeche eines zu vermessenden Objektes

The description relates to a device for the topographical inspection of the surfaces of an object to be tested. The invention is characterized by the fact that it comprises the following components: - at least one light source, - at least one light-distributing surface, - at least one projection stage and - one detector for electromagnetic radiation

Does musical training improve school performance

Abstract In a retrospective study, we compared school performance of 53 children practicing music (group 1) with 67 controls not practicing music (group 2). Overall average marks as well as average marks of all school subjects except sports were significantly higher in children who do (group 1) than in those who do not practice music (group 2). In a multiple regression analysis, musical training, parent's income, and educational level (grades) correlated significantly with overall average marks. A slight decrease of overall average marks over 4 years from grades 3 to 6 was found in the control group only. Musical training evidently correlates with children's better performance at school, but is obviously part of a multifactorial dependence. Continuous musical training appears to help achieve and maintain school performance at a high level over time. Schlaug et al. 1995a, b). Two studies have suggested that this enlargement of cerebral structures might have implications on cognitive functions Keywords In a study which involved random assignment, Schellenberg (2004) even found a positive overall effect of musical training on IQ scores in school children. In 2006, the same author reported positive associations between the duration of music lessons and IQ scores as well as between music lessons and academic performance. These very general associations found in a Torontonian sample of volunteers mark the starting point for our study. We want to find out if (a) Schellenberg's findings can be validated with a representative sample of Bernese (Swiss) children; (b) if musical training is associated with better overall school performance in grades 3 to 6; (c) if this effect is domain-specific or if it is rather general and extending over several school subjects and (d) if the association of music and school performance disappears if socio-economic factors are taken into account as well. In order to provide an in-depth analysis of school performance and thus extending the findings by Schellenberg (2006), we evaluated average marks per school subject in addition to overall average marks. Data of four different grades were analyzed in order also to estimate the association between the duration of musical training and school performance. Method