Peer-reviewed article
Development of semantic verbal fluency in children aged 2 to 5 and its relationship with participating in music activities.
Torppa R, Looi V, Henttonen P, Pekkala S ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how children aged 2 to 5 develop the ability to recall words in categories, such as naming animals or clothes. Researchers tested 79 Finnish children and asked their parents about music activities at home. The study found that verbal recall skills improved with age, and children who participated in more informal music activities showed better performance on these word-recall tasks.
Key points
- Semantic verbal fluency performance increased significantly with age across all measured aspects
- Children who participated in more informal music activities showed better verbal fluency performance
- The rate of development differed between age groups for different aspects of verbal fluency
- Maturation of verbal recall is evident from age 2 onwards
Limitations
As a cross-sectional study, it cannot establish causation between music participation and verbal fluency development; it cannot rule out that children with better verbal skills are more likely to participate in music activities, or identify other unmeasured factors that influence both outcomes.
Abstract
This cross-sectional study investigates the development of semantic verbal fluency performance (i.e., verbal recall) and the role of music participation in 79 normally-hearing Finnish children aged 2;0-5;11. The primary outcome measure was a semantic verbal fluency task where children listed as many animals or clothes as they could in 60 seconds. Additionally, parents filled in the "Role of Music in Families" questionnaire detailing their child's formal and informal music activities. Results showed that the number of correct words belonging to the given category, along with the number of semantic clusters, subcategories and switches between subcategories, increased significantly with age. The rate of development between age groups differed for different aspects of verbal fluency, and more informal music activities was associated with better performance. These results indicate maturation of verbal recall from age 2;00 onwards, and that informal music participation is associated with the rate of development.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Informal music activities participation
- Population
- 79 normally-hearing Finnish children aged 2;0-5;11
Key finding
More informal music activities were associated with better semantic verbal fluency performance