The Effects of Multi-Limb Drumming on Adult Musicians

Abstract

Musical training has long been associated with enhanced cognitive abilities in vocalists or instrumentalists (Okada & Slevc, 2018; Schellenberg, 2004; Schlaug, 2015). However, these cognitive differences may vary between musicians due to the demands of different instruments. When looking specifically at rhythmic instrumentalists, their abilities are more enhanced towards executive functions that require inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility (Pellicano et al., 2010; Slater et al., 2017; Slater et al., 2018a). For example, drummers demonstrate high cognitive control in their approach to their instrument, which may stem from the coordination needed for multi-limb movement and continuous practice of rhythms and rhythmic accuracy. Prior research has shown that drummer musicians often outperform non-drummer musicians on reaction time tasks and present greater efficiency in executive functions such as inhibitory control (Schlaffke et al., 2020; Slater et al., 2018a) and cognitive flexibility (Slater et al., 2017). In music therapy, rhythmic interventions have been used to enhance executive functions (Siponkoski et al., 2020), cognition (Nam & Kwon, 2025), and emotional and social regulation (Perkins et al., 2016) in clinical populations. However, less is known about their effects on healthy adult populations. This pilot study examined whether an 8-week multi-limb drumming intervention would have an effect on adult musicians’ executive functions, specifically, inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. Although there were no significant differences for inhibitory control or working memory, participants demonstrated faster posttest reaction times for the go/no-go task. Accuracy across all tasks did not decrease but remained stable. The task-switching paradigm revealed significant positive trends in reaction times for the letter, number, and letter-number task, suggesting enhanced cognitive flexibility. These findings indicate that multi-limb drumming may promote aspects of executive function in healthy adults and may contribute to the further development of cognitive ability across the lifespan.