2025 Hyper Recent •CC0 1.0 Universal

This work is dedicated to the public domain. No rights reserved.

Access Preprint From Server
April 1st, 2025
Version: 1
UNICOG, NeuroSpin, CEA Paris Saclay; Collège de France
neuroscience
biorxiv

Impact of education and music training on the development of early abstraction abilities

Morfoisse, T.Open in Google Scholar•Becuwe, S.Open in Google Scholar•Palu, M.Open in Google Scholar•Potier-Watkins, C.Open in Google Scholar•Dehaene-Lambertz, G.Open in Google Scholar•Dehaene, S.Open in Google Scholar

Plato\'s Republic, Einstein\'s Theory of relativity, Vilvadi\'s Four Seasons are all remarkable examples of humans\' unique ability to create and manipulate complex abstract structures, whether in language, mathematics or music. Yet the mechanisms by which children develop such abstract thinking, and the role of education and structured experiences such as musical practice in shaping these abilities remain unclear. To explore these questions, we conducted cross-sectional behavioral experiments with 566 children aged 4 to 8, spanning four educational grades, half of whom participated in a violin training program since the age of four. Two experiments examined how children encode, process and compress auditory sequences and visual patterns, while a third examined their sensitivity to geometric regularities. Our results reveal the emergence of symbolic reasoning as early as the start of formal schooling, yet with deeper abstraction as a function of grade. By first grade, children encoded complex auditory sequences within a Language of Thought (LoT) similar to adults. Additionally, when confronted with quadrilaterals, children showed increasing sensitivity to geometric regularities, suggesting a developmental transition from perceptual to symbolic reasoning. However, we did not observe significant impact of musical practice on abstraction abilities across any of the domains tested. We discuss whether and how the impact of education and extracurricular activities such as music could be enhanced.

Similar Papers

biorxiv
Wed Apr 02 2025
Alternative splicing generates a Ribosomal Protein S24 isoform induced by neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration
Neuroinflammation, particularly that involving reactive microglia, the brain\'s resident immune cells, is implicated in the pathogenesis of major neurodegenerative diseases. However, early markers of this process are in high demand. Multiple studies have reported changes in ribosomal protein (RP) expression during neurodegeneration, but the significance of these changes remains unclear. Ribosomes ...
Magadi, S. S.
•
Jonson, M.
•
Maqdissi, J. A.
•
Kaczmarczyk, L.
...•
Jackson, W. S.
biorxiv
Wed Apr 02 2025
Synergistic reinforcement learning by cooperation of the cerebellum and basal ganglia
The cerebral cortex, cerebellum and basal ganglia are essential for flexible learning in mammals. Although traditionally thought to operate under different learning rules, recent evidence suggests that both the basal ganglia and the cerebellum may employ reinforcement learning mechanisms. This raises the question of how these structures coordinate when a common reward prediction error mechanism is...
Yohida, T.
•
Sugino, H.
•
Yamamoto, H.
•
Tanno, S.
...•
Hira, R.
biorxiv
Wed Apr 02 2025
Substrate stiffness and shear stress collectively regulate the inflammatory phenotype in cultured human brain microvascular endothelial cells
Brain endothelial cells experience mechanical forces in the form of blood flow-mediated shear stress and underlying matrix stiffness, but intersectional contributions of these factors towards blood-brain barrier (BBB) impairment and neurovascular dysfunction have not been extensively studied. Here, we developed in vitro models to examine the sensitivity of primary human brain microvascular endothe...
Yates, A.
•
Murray, H.
•
Kjar, A.
•
Chavarria, D.
...•
Lippmann, E.
biorxiv
Wed Apr 02 2025
A novel critic signal in identified midbrain dopaminergic neurons of mice training in operant tasks
In the canonical interpretation of dopaminergic neuron activity during Pavlovian conditioning, initially cell firing is triggered by unexpected rewards. Upon learning, activation instead follows the reward-predictive conditioned stimulus, and when expected rewards are withheld, firing is inhibited. However, little is known about dopaminergic neuron activity during the actual learning process in op...
Matsumoto, J.
•
Oberto, V.
•
Pompili, M. N.
•
Todorova, R.
...•
Wiener, S. I.
biorxiv
Wed Apr 02 2025
Progressive multi-stage extrapolation of predictable motion in human visual cortex
Neural processing of sensory information takes time. Consequently, to estimate the current state of the world, the brain must rely on predictive processes - for example, extrapolating the motion of a ball to determine its probable present position. Some evidence implicates early (pre-cortical) processing in extrapolation, but it remains unclear whether extrapolation continues during later-stage (c...
Turner, W.
•
Sexton, C.
•
Johnson, P. A.
•
Wilson, E.
•
Hogendoorn, H.
biorxiv
Wed Apr 02 2025
Hierarchical Processing of Natural Scenes in the Human Pulvinar
The hierarchical organization of the ventral visual cortex has been the focus of theories and computational models characterizing high-level visual processing and object recognition, often overlooking potential contributions of subcortical structures. The pulvinar, through its extensive reciprocal connections with ventral visual cortex, is well-positioned to play a prominent role in high-level vis...
Guest, D. R.
•
Allen, E. J.
•
Kay, K. N.
•
Arcaro, M. J.
biorxiv
Wed Apr 02 2025
Ykt6 SNARE protein drives GluA1 insertion at synaptic spines during LTP
Long-Term Potentiation (LTP), a crucial form of synaptic plasticity essential for memory and learning, depends on protein synthesis and the upregulation of GluA1 at postsynaptic terminals. While extensive research has focused on the role of endosomal trafficking in GluA1 regulation, the contribution of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) trafficking pathways remains largely unexplored. A key opportunity to...
Takahashi, M.
•
Caraveo, G.
biorxiv
Wed Apr 02 2025
Released mitochondrial DNA and neurofilament light chain as Parkinson's disease phenotypes in patient-specific midbrain assembloids
Parkinson's Disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder worldwide, with growing numbers and considerable societal and economic concerns. Human cell culture systems are efficient models for neurodegenerative disorders and allow for personalized, non-invasive analysis of cellular and molecular disease mechanisms. Midbrain organoids and assembloids are advanced 3D culture systems tha...
Sabate-Soler, S.
•
Rosety, I.
•
Gomez-Giro, G.
•
Ghelfi, J.
...•
Jarazo, J.
biorxiv
Wed Apr 02 2025
Olfactory dysfunction in a novel model of prodromal Parkinson's disease in adult zebrafish
Olfactory dysfunction is a clinical marker of prodromal Parkinson\'s disease (PD), a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by severe motor impairments. Although common, the mechanisms linking PD and olfactory dysfunction remain unclear. To explore this relationship, we developed a model of olfactory dysfunction that recapitulates the prodromal stage of PD without affecting motor function. For t...
Vorhees, N. W.
•
Groenwold, S. L.
•
Williams, M. T.
•
Putt, L. S.
...•
Calvo-Ochoa, E.
biorxiv
Wed Apr 02 2025
On variability in local field potentials
Neuronal coding and decoding would be compromised if neuronal responses were highly variable. Intriguingly, neuronal spike counts (SCs) show a reduction in across-trial variance (ATV) in response to sensory stimulation, when SC variance is normalized by SC mean, that is, when using the Fano factor 1. Inspired by this seminal finding, ATV has also been studied in electroencephalography (EEG) signal...
Parto-Dezfouli, M.
•
Johnson, E. L.
•
Psarou, E.
•
Bosman, C. A.
...•
Fries, P.