Prior research studying the relationship between music training (MT) and more general cognitive faculties, such as visuospatial working memory (VSWM), often fails to include tests of musical memory. This may result in causal pathways between MT and other such variables being misrepresented, potentially explaining certain ambiguous findings in the literature concerning the relationship between MT and executive functions. Here we address this problem using latent variable modeling and causal modeling to study a triplet of variables related to working memory: MT, musical working memory (MWM), and VSWM. The triplet framing allows for the potential application of d-separation (similar to mediation analysis) and V-structure search, which is particularly useful since, in the absence of expensive randomized control trials, it can test causal hypotheses using cross-sectional data. We collected data from 148 participants using a battery of MWM and VSWM tasks as well as a MT questionnaire. Our results suggest: 1) VSWM and MT are unrelated, conditional on MWM; and 2) by implication, there is no far transfer between MT and VSWM without near transfer. However, the data are unable to distinguish an unambiguous causal structure. We conclude by discussing the possibility of extending these models to incorporate more complex or cyclic effects.

中文翻译：

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音乐训练、音乐工作记忆和视觉空间工作记忆之间的关联

先前研究音乐训练 (MT) 与更一般的认知能力之间的关系，如视觉空间工作记忆 (VSWM)，通常未能包括音乐记忆测试。这可能会导致 MT 和其他此类变量之间的因果关系被误传，这可能解释了文献中关于 MT 与执行功能之间关系的某些模棱两可的发现。在这里，我们使用潜在变量建模和因果建模来研究与工作记忆相关的三组变量：MT、音乐工作记忆 (MWM) 和 VSWM。三元组框架允许 d 分离（类似于中介分析）和 V 结构搜索的潜在应用，这特别有用，因为在没有昂贵的随机对照试验的情况下，它可以使用横截面数据检验因果假设。我们使用一组 MWM 和 VSWM 任务以及 MT 问卷从 148 名参与者那里收集了数据。我们的结果表明：1）VSWM 和 MT 不相关，以 MWM 为条件；2) 隐含地，MT 和 VSWM 之间没有远距离传输而没有近传输。但是，数据无法区分明确的因果结构。最后，我们讨论了扩展这些模型以包含更复杂或循环效应的可能性。数据无法区分明确的因果结构。最后，我们讨论了扩展这些模型以包含更复杂或循环效应的可能性。数据无法区分明确的因果结构。最后，我们讨论了扩展这些模型以包含更复杂或循环效应的可能性。