Maturation of Musical Abilities in Children and its Correlation with Auditory Working Memory

The development of musical abilities matures and becomes adult-like, just like othersensory processes. The study aims to explore the maturation process and unfold its contribution by auditory working memory (AWM), a prime predictor of musical abilities. The abbreviated version of the Montreal Battery for Evaluation of Musical Abilities (MBEMA) was used to evaluate musical abilities in 215 children aged 8 to 13. These participants were divided into six groups based on their age. The AWM of children was assessed using the forward digit span test, backward digit span test and N-back test. One-way ANOVA determined that the melody, rhythm, and total scores of MBEMA had a significant effect on age (F (5,209) = 3.71, p=0.003; F (5,209) = 2.97, p=0.013; F (5,209) = 3.84, p=0.002 respectively). Among the three AWM measures, the backward digit span test had a significant age effect (F (5,209) = 4.12, p=0.001). A Tuckey post hoc analysis revealed that children aged 13 significantly performed better than their younger peers in the musical abilities and backward digit span tests (p<0.05). Pearson correlation analysis of melody and total scores of MBEMA with backward digit span test showed a significantly high correlation in children aged 13 years (r (25) = 0.627, p=.001; r (25) = 0.539, p= 0.005 respectively). Meanwhile, a mild to moderate correlation was seen in children of younger ages, although it did not reach statistical significance. The maturation of musical abilities continues to improve without any musical training till the age of 12 and matures around 13 years.