Working Memory Correlates Musical Sensitivity in Children: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

A well-developed musical sensitivity requires a good working memory capacity in children. Primary aim of present study was to analyse the relationship between children's working memory and musical sensitivity. Children’s working memory consisted of phonological loop, visual spatial sketchpad, central executive function and long-term memory retrieval. In the study, children’s musical sensitivity was limited to their music perception skill and musical performance. Researcher was interested to know whether boys and girls differed or similar with respect to their working memory capacity, music perception skill and musical performance. The study was exploratory in nature and based on quantitative data. Investigator employed purposive sampling technique to select 20 girls and 20 boys of standard VII from a Bengali medium Government aided school in Howrah District, West Bengal, India. Several standardised tests were used to measure working memory capacity in children. ‘PROM-S’ tool was administered to examine children’s music perception skill. To measure children’s musical performance, investigator developed and standardized a musical performance test which was limited to singing songs mentioned in Bengali (L1) textbook prescribed by WBBSE, Kolkata. Pearson’s Product Moment correlation coefficients showed that there existed statistically significant positive correlations between children’s working memory, music perception skill and musical performance. Data analysis revealed that boys and girls did not differ in their working memory capacity, music perception skill and musical performance.