The Impact of Hungarian Barn Dance Intervention on Executive Functions in Children

Abstract

Executive functions are essential for adaptive daily functioning and are categorized into three core components: updating, shifting, and inhibition [1]. Inhibition involves suppressing irrelevant stimuli in favor of the focused goal; shifting refers to mental flexibility, and updating relates to working memory. Music and rhythm training have been found to benefit the  development of executive functions, especially during childhood, a sensitive period for training effects [2]. 

The aim of the study was to investigate the beneficial effects of music and rhythm training in a culturally embedded, rhythm-based movement intervention: the Hungarian Barn Dance method. The Hungarian Barn Dance is a cultural event featuring live music, Hungarian folk dance, circle dances, rhythm games, music creation, singing, and folk games. We were specifically interested in whether dance training can enhance executive functions in 8–11-year-old children. We hypothesized that participants in a four-month program would show greater improvement in inhibition, shifting, and updating than those in an active control group. The Hungarian Barn Dance method is appropriate for young children, and it builds from basic skills to creating and improvising dance [3]. 

A pretest-posttest design with an active control group was used. To guarantee the similarity of the groups, the experiment was conducted in the same school on two classes of the same grade. Executive functions were assessed with three tasks: Numerical Stroop (inhibition), Counting Span (updating), and Verbal Fluency (shifting). The Verbal Fluency task included three subtasks: phonetic and semantic fluency and a switching component, which required alternating between two semantic categories. The pre-test measures were followed by four months of intervention or active control, and immediately after, the post assessment. Without the outliers, the experimental group consisted of 13 girls and 17 boys (mean age = 8.98), and the control group included 14 girls and 15 boys (mean age = 8.92). 

Contrary to our expectations, most executive function measures showed no significant differences between the training and control groups. However, there was a significant difference between groups in the switching component of verbal fluency: the training group showed a better performance after the training, while the control group demonstrated no change. We theorize that this effect can be a result of the improvisation and rhythmic tasks during the intervention. In the future, it would be beneficial to see how the Hungarian Barn Dance intervention influences the development of atypically developing children, further clarifying the effect of rhythm based movement interventions in children. 

References

[1] A. Miyake, N. P. Friedman, M. J. Emerson, A. H. Witzki, A. Howerter, and T. D. Wager, “The Unity and Diversity of Executive Functions and Their Contributions to Complex 'Frontal Lobe' Tasks: A Latent Variable Analysis,” Cognitive Psychology, vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 49–100, 2000

[2] A. C. Jaschke, H. Honing, and E. J. A. Scherder, “Longitudinal Analysis of Music Education on Executive Functions in Primary School Children,” Frontiers in Neuroscience, vol. 12, no. 103, Feb. 2018. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2018.00103.

[3] I. Sándor and B. Ónodi, “Táncház-módszer a tanórai néptánc oktatásban,” EBSCOhost, Jan. 1, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.46819/TN.4.1.83-91.