Journal Article

Music Ensemble: a large dataset on musicianship, cognition, and personality in musicians and nonmusicians

Grahn, Jessica, Ritchie, Michaela, Schellenberg, E. Glenn, Whiteford, Kelly L., Fortier, Juliette, Kelo, Rosaliina, Fitzpatrick, Caitlin, Worschech, Florian, Plasse, Marie-Elisabeth, Rubinstein, Wanda, Serres, Nora R., Samson, Séverine, Laeng, Bruno, Moltrasio, Julieta, Strauch, Florian J., Harding, Eleanor E., Roncaglia, Paula, Toiviainen, Petri, Fiveash, Anna, Grassi, Massimo, Thompson, Rachel, Oxenham, Andrew J., Aryanto, Christ B., Sa’adullah, Farrah Y.-A., von Bastian, Claudia C., Gloggengießer, Stefanie, Villanueva, Jed, Wood, Emily A., Gambarota, Filippo, Habibi, Assal, Rodrigues Menezes, Italo R., Wilbiks, Jonathan, Martín Sánchez, Paulina d. C., Trainor, Laurel J., Tantengco, Nicholas, Hansen, Heidi M. U., Oliveira, Maria Gabriela M., Roccato, Marco, McEntyre, Langley, Overy, Katie, Gordon, Reyna L., Lima, César F., Platel, Herve, Michael, Jessica P., Cepero-Escribano, Victor, Jakubowski, Kelly, Rajappa, Neha, Slevc, L. Robert, Aguilar, Karla, Holma, Veikka P., Čerič, Antonia, Strauss, Hannah, Liu, Chengran K., Tillmann, Barbara, Sammler, Daniela, Daniel, Oscar, Ripolles, Pablo, Fialho, J

2026

Overview

The Music Ensemble dataset is a large-scale, cross-national database that provides detailed information about the musical, cognitive, personality, and demographic profiles of young adult musicians and nonmusicians. Data were collected from 1438 participants (aged 18–30) across thirty-five research sites in Europe, North America, South America, and Australia. Participants completed an in-person, in-lab battery of objective tests, including measures of verbal, visuospatial and musical short-term memory, executive functions (updating component), nonverbal reasoning, verbal comprehension, and music perception skills. The battery also included standardized and custom self-report questionnaires assessing music sophistication, music reward, personality traits, socioeconomic status, and demographic characteristics. Music Ensemble was preregistered, and the research protocol followed a standardized procedure across sites. The dataset also includes a large subsample of musicians and nonmusicians that are pair-matched for age, gender, and education (678 pairs). It enables well-powered investigations into the relationship between musical expertise and individual differences in cognition, personality, and demographic variables. It is also suitable for training in statistical and psychometric methods.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group,Nature Research,Nature Portfolio
• Subject: 631/477/2811 / 706/689 / Adolescent / Adult / Auditory perception / Cognition / Cognition & reasoning / Cognitive ability / Data collection / Data Descriptor / Datasets / Demographics / Demography / Education / Executive function / Female / Gender / Humanities and Social Sciences / Humans / Male / Memory / multidisciplinary / Music / Musical performances / Musicians & conductors / Neurosciences / Participation / Personality / Questionnaires / Research ethics / Review boards / Science / Science (multidisciplinary) / Socioeconomic factors / Spatial memory / Young Adult / Young adults