Piano Learning Effects on Sequentially Presented Visuo-Spatial Stimuli

Abstract

Students of the Music Department and control subjects made memory matchings as to the sequentially displayed dot patterns in Experiment 1. The pianists experts performed better than the other subject groups by the aid of a special strategy (imaging a score). Experiment 2 showed that pianists experts employed this strategy spontaneously, but other subjects were unable to utilize this strategy when advised to employ it. Experiment 3 and 4 revealed that the visuo-spatial ability of the experts was comparable to the controls unless the employment of a special strategy was difficult. Based upon the results, the effects of intensive piano learning on cognitive ability are discussed.