Are Mathematical and Musical Abilities Related Beyond Intelligence?

TL;DR

This study explores whether math and music abilities are linked through shared cognitive mechanisms beyond general intelligence.

Contribution

The study systematically examines the relationship between mathematical and musical abilities while accounting for intelligence.

Findings

Mathematical and musical abilities show a moderate to strong positive association.

Intelligence explains a substantial proportion of the link between math and music abilities.

The relationship between math and music becomes nonsignificant when intelligence is considered.

Abstract

Numerous studies have aimed to improve mathematical achievement via musical interventions because it is argued that music and mathematics draw on related representations and similar skills. However, findings on their effectiveness are inconclusive. This might be because studies neglect to investigate the cognitive mechanisms that might link musical and mathematical abilities. Therefore, this study aimed to systematically investigate the relationships between facets of musical and mathematical ability while taking into account intelligence as a possible explanation for this link. Among 170 young adults with backgrounds in mathematics and/or music, as well as control subjects, we measured mathematical abilities using basic numerical abilities, arithmetic fluency, and higher mathematical competencies. Musical abilities were assessed using beat alignment, mistuning perception, and melodic discrimination. Intelligence was assessed using a verbal, figural, and numerical scale of an intelligence test. Using a latent variable model, we found a moderate to strong positive association between mathematical and musical abilities. However, after including intelligence as a predictor for both mathematical and musical abilities in our model, the relationship between mathematics and music became nonsignificant. These results imply that intelligence accounts for a substantial proportion of the association between mathematical and musical abilities.

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