Orchestra in Class, a Novel Booster for Executive Functions and Brain Development in Young Primary School Children

NCT ID: NCT05912270

Last Updated: 2023-12-18

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

RECRUITING

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

150 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2023-12-18

Study Completion Date

2027-04-30

Brief Summary

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How to optimally stimulate the developing brain is still unclear. Executive functions (EF) exhibited substantially stronger far transfer effects in children who learned to play a musical instrument than in children who acquired other arts.

What is crucially lacking is a large-scale, long-term genuine randomized controlled trial (RCT) in cognitive neuroscience, comparing musical instrumental training (MIP) to another art form and a control group. Collected data of this proposal will allow, using machine learning, to build a data-driven multivariate model of children's interconnected brain and EF development over the first 2 years of their academic curriculum (6-8 years), with or without music or other art training.

Detailed Description

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This cognitive neuroscience study, employing a randomized controlled trial (RCT), aims to investigate the potential cognitive and brain development benefits in young school children from two-year interventions: Orchestra in Class (OC, music practice, experimental group) compared with Visual Arts (VA, second experimental group) versus Standard Education (active control group (CG)). The CG will be offered six cultural outings per year (concerts, museums, theatres, etc.). Both nonverbal art interventions will be given weekly interventions for 1 hour and 30 minutes in school class sized groups. The VA groups serve to control for the influences of regular stimulating group interventions and homework, and also to compare specific effects in visual mode with the auditory mode in OC. The CG controls for overall child development and test-retest effects.

We plan to recruit 150 children aged 6-8 years from public elementary schools, ensuring a random and therefore equal distribution among the three groups. Data collection will involve annual comprehensive psychometric testing (baseline, after 1 year, after 2 years) of executive functions, i.e., far transfer and near transfer, musicality, drawing, academic achievement, and multimodal structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), including fMRI with auditory and visual domain working memory tasks.

By utilizing multivariate analyses and integrating behavioral and brain data through machine learning, we aim to create a data-driven model of the development of executive functions at the behavioral and brain levels in young children at the beginning of their school careers (6 to 8 years old), both without and with an enriched environment (musical practice versus visual arts)

Conditions

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Development, Child Executive Functions Interventions Music Arts Brain Plasticity Behavior Brain Imaging Magnetic Resonance Imaging Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Structural Brain Connectivity

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

The study is a 1) block-randomized, 2) 3-arm, 3) open, 4) monocentric (primary schools in Geneva) 5) national (Switzerland) 6) intervention study.
Primary Study Purpose

OTHER

Blinding Strategy

SINGLE

Participants
Orchestra in Class is the first Experimental Condition, compared to Visual Arts (second Experimental Condition) and an active Control Group that will receive 6 cultural outings per year. We will present the study to the participants as a comparison between the two art interventions and a cultural intervention.

Study Groups

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Orchestra in Class

Children will receive music practice lessons in groups, "Orchestra in Class" (4 different string instruments, violin, viola, cello, double bass) in school class size groups over 2 full years. Interventions, given by 2 professional teachers per class, take place for 1 hour and 30 minutes per week, completed by daily homework (20-30 minutes).

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Orchestra in Class

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

See arm/group descriptions

Visual Arts

Children will receive visual arts lessons in school class size groups over 2 full years. Interventions, given by 2 professional teachers per class, take place for 1 hour and 30 minutes per week, completed by daily homework (20-30 minutes).

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Orchestra in Class

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

See arm/group descriptions

Culture

The children will receive six cultural outings per year (museums, concerts, theatre, etc.) and pass all measurements

Group Type PLACEBO_COMPARATOR

Orchestra in Class

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

See arm/group descriptions

Interventions

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Orchestra in Class

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Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Other Intervention Names

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Visual Arts

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* School grade 3P/4P (3rd and 4th year of elementary school (6-8-year-old children)
* Right-handedness
* Sufficient Mastery of the French Language
* Able to give oral informed consent (child)
* Able to give written informed consent (parent)

Exclusion Criteria

* Non-consent (children and or parents)
* Repeated or skipped a class with respect to standard curriculum
* Not corrected/severe hearing deficits
* Not corrected/severe vision deficits
* Severe neurodevelopmental disorders (eg. severe dyslexia, severe ADHD)
* Older than 7 at the beginning of the school year if 3P
* Older than 8 at the beginning of the school year if 4P
* Protocolled music instrumental practice in the preceding year
* Protocolled visual arts courses in the preceding year
* MRI incompatibility (physical or psychological)
* Psychometric battery incompatibility (psychological)
Minimum Eligible Age

6 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

8 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

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University of Geneva, Switzerland

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

University of Lausanne Hospitals

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

School of Health Sciences Geneva

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Clara E James

Full Professor HES-SO

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

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Clara James, PhD

Role: STUDY_DIRECTOR

HES-SO University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland

Locations

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Haute école de santé de Genève HES-SO

Geneva, , Switzerland

Site Status RECRUITING

Countries

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Switzerland

Central Contacts

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Clara E James, PhD

Role: CONTACT

Phone: +41225585419

Email: [email protected]

Yohan Van De Looij, PhD

Role: CONTACT

Phone: +41225586779

Email: [email protected]

Facility Contacts

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Clara James, PhD

Role: primary

Maxim Tingaud, MSc

Role: backup

References

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James CE, Tingaud M, Laera G, Guedj C, Zuber S, Diambrini Palazzi R, Vukovic S, Richiardi J, Kliegel M, Marie D. Cognitive enrichment through art: a randomized controlled trial on the effect of music or visual arts group practice on cognitive and brain development of young children. BMC Complement Med Ther. 2024 Apr 4;24(1):141. doi: 10.1186/s12906-024-04433-1.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 38575952 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

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126645

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id