Functional Connectivity of the Prefrontal Cortex in Sequential Problem Solving and Learning of Audio and Visual Games

Abstract

Research Question

Music perception and production require the ability to process structured sequences: the ability to maintain information in working memory; the detection of patterns over time; and the time-dependent alteration of sequences in relation to those patterns (Patrick et al. 2023). These skills are also central to learning and problem solving in childhood. Such cognitive processes overlap with components commonly described within computational thinking, including decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction, and sequential reasoning (Wing 2006). Investigating how children process musical and non-musical sequences may provide insight into neural mechanisms involved in sequential processing. It may also clarify how these domains recruit executive networks during development and how musical engagement relates to broader learning processes. Despite growing interest in music’s role in learning, relatively little research has directly compared neural activity associated with musical and non-musical sequential problem-solving tasks in children.

Objectives

This study aims to:

1. Examine neural functional connectivity associated with sequential problem solving in musical and visual tasks.
2. Investigate how children engage working memory and executive processes when reorganizing musical versus visual sequences.
3. Explore whether musical sequencing tasks recruit executive networks differently from structurally analogous visual problem-solving tasks.

Method

Elementary school-aged children with typical development (n = 6; 5 males; age: 10 ± 1 years) participated in a pilot experiment using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to measure prefrontal cortex activity. Participants completed two sequential problem-solving tasks lasting five minutes each. The musical task required participants to reorganize diatonic notes represented by colored squares to reproduce a target melody. The visual task involved arranging colored blocks to create a pathway allowing a “runner” block to pass through wall segments. Task difficulty adapted dynamically based on performance across two analogous dimensions: horizontal complexity (number of blocks placed) and vertical complexity (pitch range or wall height). The tasks were designed to be structurally equivalent, isolating modality (auditory vs. visual) as the primary variable. Functional connectivity within the prefrontal cortex was analyzed using degree centrality metrics and visualized through graph analysis.

Results

Preliminary analyses indicate consistently higher functional connectivity within prefrontal regions during the visual sequencing task compared to the musical sequencing task across multiple threshold levels. These patterns suggest that visual tasks may place greater demands on executive coordination within the prefrontal cortex under the conditions tested. Data collection is ongoing, with a planned sample size of at least 20 participants.

Conclusions

Although preliminary, these findings contribute to emerging research on how children engage executive networks during musical and non-musical learning activities. Differences in neural connectivity across modalities may reflect distinct cognitive strategies used when processing musical versus visual sequences. By examining these processes during development, this work provides insight into how musical engagement interacts with executive function and learning mechanisms. Such knowledge may inform educational approaches that integrate musical activities in ways that support sequential reasoning and cognitive engagement in childhood.