Do older professional musicians have cognitive advantages?

The Association Between Multilingual Experience Factors and Cognitive Functioning in Older Adults: A Lifelines Study

OBJECTIVES

The complex life experience of speaking two or more languages has been suggested to preserve cognition in older adulthood. This study aimed to investigate this further by examining the relationship between multilingual experience variables and cognitive functioning in a large cohort of older adults in the diversely multilingual north of the Netherlands.

METHOD

A total of 11,332 older individuals participating in the Lifelines Cohort Study completed a language experience questionnaire. From this cohort, a subset was selected (n = 3,972, aged 59-86) for whom complete demographic and cognitive data were available and who had learned at least two languages to evaluate the association between multilingual experience variables and cognitive functioning. Cognitive functioning was assessed using the Cogstate Brief Battery, which measures processing speed, attention, working memory, and recognition memory.

RESULTS

A linear regression analysis revealed that a higher number of languages learned was related to better performance on all subtasks. In addition, a later onset of acquisition of the second language (L2) was associated with better attention. These effects were independent of demographic variables such as age, education level, income level, and country of birth.

DISCUSSION

The results demonstrate that in our cohort only the experience factors of the number of languages learned and L2 onset of acquisition related to cognitive functioning. Our evidence supports the idea that there is a positive relationship between multilingual experiences and cognitive functioning in older adulthood, but more longitudinal work is needed to establish whether learning multiple languages can potentially promote healthy aging.

The Influence of Music Reading on Spatial Working Memory and Self-Assessment Accuracy

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES

Previous research has suggested that Western musicians, who generally demonstrate proficiency in reading musical scores, exhibit superior performance in visuospatial working memory tasks compared to non-musicians. Evidence indicates brain activation in regions such as the left inferior parietal lobe and the right posterior fusiform gyrus during music reading, which are associated with visuospatial processing. This study aimed to explore how musical training influences spatial working memory and to examine the relationship between self-assessment accuracy and cognitive performance.

METHODS

A visuospatial working memory test, the Corsi block-tapping test (CBT), was administered to 70 participants, including 35 musicians with experience in music reading and 35 non-musicians. CBT performances were compared between groups, controlling for sex and age differences using analysis of covariance. Participants were also asked to self-assess their visuospatial capabilities.

RESULTS

Musicians performed significantly better than non-musicians in the CBT and demonstrated greater metacognitive accuracy in evaluating their visuospatial memory capacities. A total of 46.34% of musicians who claimed good performance on the CBT did in fact perform well, in comparison with 14.63% of non-musicians. Sex influenced the outcomes of spatial working memory, while age did not significantly affect performance.

CONCLUSIONS

This self-awareness of visuospatial capabilities reflects a form of metacompetence, encompassing reflective thinking and the ability to assess one's cognitive skills. Furthermore, while differences in spatial working memory between musicians and non-musicians appear to be related to executive functions associated with general music practice, further investigation is needed to explore other potential influences beyond musical experience.

Enhancing cognitive abilities in young adults with ADHD through instrumental music training: a comparative analysis of musicians and non-musicians

Extensive research highlights the multifaceted benefits of active musical engagement across all ages, from childhood to the elderly. The practice of a musical instrument activates numerous brain regions, enhancing a range of neurocognitive skills. Despite accumulating evidence from various clinical populations, research on the effects of musical training in individuals with ADHD is scarce, with virtually no studies focusing on adults. This study aims to fill the gap by evaluating the impact of long-term instrumental music training on cognitive abilities in young adults (18-35 years) diagnosed with ADHD. Cognitive abilities were compared across groups of 48 musicians (experienced guitar or piano players) and 46 matched non-musicians, all confirmed to have ADHD. The assessments covered cognitive domains such as sustained attention, visuospatial processing, processing speed, graphomotor speed, working memory, auditory recall, response inhibition, and executive function. Evaluation tools included the Digit-Symbol Coding Test, Digit Span Test, Symbol Search Test, Switching Task, and Continuous Performance Test (CPT). Collectively, the results indicated a notable enhancement in cognitive performance in the musician group compared to the non-musician group, including in functions central to the disorder, such as sustained attention and impulse control. Musicians scored higher on the Digit-Symbol Coding, Digit Span, and Symbol Search tests, showed lower error rates and greater consistency in reaction times in the Switching Task, and had fewer commission errors in the CPT. The findings support the integration of specialized musical training in therapeutic and support programs for ADHD, suggesting benefits that may extend into adulthood.

Attention, working memory, and inhibitory control in aging: Comparing amateur singers, instrumentalists, and active controls

Despite the ubiquity of musical activities, little is known about the specificity of their association with executive functions. In this cross-sectional study, we examined this relationship as a function of age. Our main hypotheses were that executive functions would decline in older age, that this relationship would be reduced in singers and instrumentalists compared to nonmusician active controls, and that the amount of musical experience would be more strongly associated with executive functions compared to the specific type of activity. A sample of 122 cognitively healthy adults aged 20-88 years was recruited, consisting of 39 amateur singers, 43 amateur instrumentalists, and 40 nonmusician controls. Tests of auditory processing speed, auditory selective attention, auditory and visual inhibitory control, and auditory working memory were administered. The results confirm a negative relationship between age and executive functions. While musicians' advantages were found in selective attention, inhibitory control, and auditory working memory, these advantages were specific rather than global. Furthermore, most of these advantages were independent of age and experience. Finally, there were only limited differences between instrumentalists and singers, suggesting that the relationship between music-making activities and executive functions may be, at least in part, general as opposed to activity-specific.

Age and familiarity effects on musical memory

BACKGROUND

A common complaint in older adults is trouble with their memory, especially for new information. Current knowledge about normal aging and changes in memory identify a divide between memory tasks that are unaffected by aging and those that are. Among the unaffected are recognition tasks. These memory tasks rely on accessing well-known information, often include environmental support, and tend to be automatic. Negative age effects on memory are often observed at both encoding and during recall. Older adults often have difficulty with recall tasks, particularly those that require effortful self-initiated processing, episodic memory, and retention of information about contextual cues. Research in memory for music in healthy aging suggests a skill-invariance hypothesis: that age effects dominate when general-purpose cognitive mechanisms are needed to perform the musical task at hand, while experience effects dominate when music-specific knowledge is needed to perform the task [1].

AIMS

The goals of this pair of studies were to investigate the effects of age and familiarity on musical memory in the context of real pieces of music, and to compare a live concert experimental setting with a lab-based experimental setting.

METHOD

Participants' task was to click a button (or press the spacebar) when they heard the target theme in three pieces of music. One was Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and the others were original pieces commissioned for this study, one tonal and one atonal. Participants heard the relevant theme three times before listening to a piece of music. The music was performed by the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra; participants either attended the concert, or watched a recording of the concert in the lab. Participants also completed two short cognitive tests and filled out a questionnaire collecting demographic information and a hearing abilities self-assessment.

RESULTS

We find a significant effect of familiarity and setting but not of age or musical training on recognition performance as measured by d'. More specifically, performance is best for the familiar, tonal piece, moderate for the unfamiliar tonal piece and worst for the unfamiliar atonal piece. Performance was better in the live setting than the lab setting.

CONCLUSIONS

The absence of an age effect provides encouraging evidence that music's diverse cues may encourage cognitive scaffolding, in turn improving encoding and subsequent recognition. Better performance in an ecological versus lab setting supports the expansion of ecological studies in the field.

The impact of music making on neural efficiency & dual-task walking performance in healthy older adults

Music making is linked to improved cognition and related neuroanatomical changes in children and adults; however, this has been relatively under-studied in aging. The purpose of this study was to assess neural, cognitive, and physical correlates of music making in aging using a dual-task walking (DTW) paradigm. Study participants (N = 415) were healthy adults aged 65 years or older, including musicians (n = 70) who were identified by current weekly engagement in musical activity. A DTW paradigm consisting of single- and dual-task conditions, as well as portable neuroimaging (functional near-infrared spectroscopy), was administered. Outcome measures included neural activation in the prefrontal cortex assessed across task conditions by recording changes in oxygenated hemoglobin, cognitive performance, and gait velocity. Linear mixed effects models examined the impact of music making on outcome measures in addition to moderating their change between task conditions. Across participants (53.3% women; 76 ± 6.55 years), neural activation increased from single- to dual-task conditions (p < 0.001); however, musicians demonstrated attenuated activation between a single cognitive interference task and dual-task walking (p = 0.014). Musicians also displayed significantly smaller decline in behavioral performance (p < 0.001) from single- to dual-task conditions and faster gait overall (p = 0.014). Given evidence of lower prefrontal cortex activation in the context of similar or improved behavioral performance, results indicate the presence of enhanced neural efficiency in older adult musicians. Furthermore, improved dual-task performance in older adult musicians was observed. Results have important clinical implications for healthy aging, as executive functioning plays an essential role in maintaining functional ability in older adulthood.

Music training is related to late ERP modulation and enhanced performance during Simon task but not Stroop task

Increasing evidence suggests that music training correlates with better performance in tasks measuring executive function components including inhibitory control, working memory and selective attention. The Stroop and Simon tasks measure responses to congruent and incongruent information reflecting cognitive conflict resolution. However, there are more reports of a music-training advantage in the Simon than the Stroop task. Reports indicate that these tasks may differ in the timing of conflict resolution: the Stroop task might involve early sensory stage conflict resolution, while the Simon task may do so at a later motor output planning stage. We hypothesize that musical experience relates to conflict resolution at the late motor output stage rather than the early sensory stage. Behavioral responses, and event-related potentials (ERP) were measured in participants with varying musical experience during these tasks. It was hypothesized that musical experience correlates with better performance in the Simon but not the Stroop task, reflected in ERP components in the later stage of motor output processing in the Simon task. Participants were classified into high- and low-music training groups based on the Goldsmith Musical Sophistication Index. Electrical brain activity was recorded while they completed visual Stroop and Simon tasks. The high-music training group outperformed the low-music training group on the Simon, but not the Stroop task. Mean amplitude difference (incongruent-congruent trials) was greater for the high-music training group at N100 for midline central (Cz) and posterior (Pz) sites in the Simon task and midline central (Cz) and frontal (Fz) sites in the Stroop task, and at N450 at Cz and Pz in the Simon task. N450 difference peaks occurred earlier in the high-music training group at Pz. Differences between the groups at N100 indicate that music training may be related to better sensory discrimination. These differences were not related to better behavioral performance. Differences in N450 responses between the groups, particularly in regions encompassing the motor and parietal cortices, suggest a role of music training in action selection during response conflict situations. Overall, this supports the hypothesis that music training selectively enhances cognitive conflict resolution during late motor output planning stages.

Effects of musical expertise on line section and line extension

Background

This study investigated whether music training led to better length estimation and/or rightward bias by comparing the performance of musicians (pianists) and non-musicians on performance of line sections and line extensions.

Methods

One hundred and sixteen participants, among them 62 musicians and 54 non-musicians, participated in the present study, completed line section and line extension task under three conditions: 1/2, 1/3 and 2/3.

Results

The mixed repeated measures ANOVA analysis revealed a significant group × condition interaction, that the musicians were more accurate than non-musicians in all the line section tasks and showed no obvious pseudoneglect, while their overall performance on the line extension tasks was comparable to the non-musicians, and only performed more accurately in the 1/2 line extension condition.

Conclusion

These findings indicated that there was a dissociation between the effects of music training on line section and line extension. This dissociation does not support the view that music training has a general beneficial effect on line estimation, and provides insight into a potentially important limit on the effects of music training on spatial cognition.

Effects of a 10-week musical instrument training on cognitive function in healthy older adults: implications for desirable tests and period of training

Introduction

Previous studies have shown that musical instrument training programs of 16 or more weeks improve verbal memory (Logical Memory Test delayed recall), processing speed (Digit Symbol Coding Test), and executive function (Trail Making Test Part B) of musically untrained healthy older adults. However, it is unclear whether shorter-period instrument training can yield similar effects. We sought to (1) verify those results and (2) clarify if intervention effects could be detected using other measures such as reaction time.

Methods

Healthy older adults (mean age = 73.28 years) were pseudo-randomly assigned to an untrained control group (n = 30) or an intervention group (n = 30) that received a weekly 10-session musical instrument training program (using melodica). We conducted neuropsychological tests on which intervention effects or association with musical training were reported in previous studies. We newly included two reaction time tasks to assess verbal working memory (Sternberg task) and rhythm entrainment (timing task). Intervention effects were determined using a "group × time" analysis of variance (ANOVA).

Results

The intervention effects were detected on the reaction time in Sternberg task and phonological verbal fluency. Although intervention effects had been reported on Logical Memory test, Digit Symbol Coding Test and Trail Making Test in previous studies with longer training periods, the present study did not show such effects. Instead, the test-retest practice effect, indicated by significant improvement in the control group, was significant on these tests.

Discussion

The present results indicated the usefulness of working memory assessments (Verbal Fluency Test and Sternberg task) in detecting the effects of short-term melodica training in healthy older adults. The practice effect detected on those three tasks may be due to the shorter interval between pre- and post-intervention assessments and may have obscured intervention effects. Additionally, the findings suggested the requirement for an extended interval between pre- and post-tests to capture rigorous intervention effects, although this should be justified by a manipulation of training period.

Musical Expertise and Executive Functions in Experienced Musicians

Extensive music practice has been suggested to enhance the development of cognitive abilities over and above musical expertise. Executive functions (EFs) have been particularly investigated, given their generalizability across different domains and their crucial role in almost all aspects of cognition. However, the relationship between musical expertise and EFs is still not completely understood, as several studies have reported conflicting results. The present study aims to investigate the relationship between musical expertise and EFs, determining which facets-if any-of EFs might be particularly relevant to extensive music practice. Thirty-five student pianists completed a set of neuropsychological tasks which assessed EFs (the Trail Making Task, Design Fluency, Numerical Stroop, and the Tower of London). They also performed a short musical excerpt inspired by the piano literature. Musical expertise was assessed by considering three parameters, namely the highest academic degree in music, the lifetime amount of music practice, and the quality of the sample-based musical performance. The results indicate that postgraduate piano students did not show advantages in EFs compared to undergraduate piano students. More extensive lifetime practice in music was solely associated with faster visual reaction times on the Numerical Stroop task. The Trail Making and Design Fluency scores were significant predictors of the quality of the sample-based musical performance. In conclusion, the present data suggests that EFs and the amount of music practice do not seem to be correlated in student pianists. Nevertheless, some facets of EFs and the quality of musical performance may share substantial amounts of variance.

Is musical engagement enough to keep the brain young?

Music-making and engagement in music-related activities have shown procognitive benefits for healthy and pathological populations, suggesting reductions in brain aging. A previous brain aging study, using Brain Age Gap Estimation (BrainAGE), showed that professional and amateur-musicians had younger appearing brains than non-musicians. Our study sought to replicate those findings and analyze if musical training or active musical engagement was necessary to produce an age-decelerating effect in a cohort of healthy individuals. We scanned 125 healthy controls and investigated if musician status, and if musical behaviors, namely active engagement (AE) and musical training (MT) [as measured using the Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index (Gold-MSI)], had effects on brain aging. Our findings suggest that musician status is not related to BrainAGE score, although involvement in current physical activity is. Although neither MT nor AE subscales of the Gold-MSI are predictive for BrainAGE scores, dispositional resilience, namely the ability to deal with challenge, is related to both musical behaviors and sensitivity to musical pleasure. While the study failed to replicate the findings in a previous brain aging study, musical training and active musical engagement are related to the resilience factor of challenge. This finding may reveal how such musical behaviors can potentially strengthen the brain's resilience to age, which may tap into a type of neurocognitive reserve.

Auditory Electrophysiological and Perceptual Measures in Student Musicians with High Sound Exposure

This study aimed to determine (a) the influence of noise exposure background (NEB) on the peripheral and central auditory system functioning and (b) the influence of NEB on speech recognition in noise abilities in student musicians. Twenty non-musician students with self-reported low NEB and 18 student musicians with self-reported high NEB completed a battery of tests that consisted of physiological measures, including auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) at three different stimulus rates (11.3 Hz, 51.3 Hz, and 81.3 Hz), and P300, and behavioral measures including conventional and extended high-frequency audiometry, consonant-vowel nucleus-consonant (CNC) word test and AzBio sentence test for assessing speech perception in noise abilities at -9, -6, -3, 0, and +3 dB signal to noise ratios (SNRs). The NEB was negatively associated with performance on the CNC test at all five SNRs. A negative association was found between NEB and performance on the AzBio test at 0 dB SNR. No effect of NEB was found on the amplitude and latency of P300 and the ABR wave I amplitude. More investigations of larger datasets with different NEB and longitudinal measurements are needed to investigate the influence of NEB on word recognition in noise and to understand the specific cognitive processes contributing to the impact of NEB on word recognition in noise.

How musical rhythm training improves short-term memory for faces

Playing a musical instrument engages numerous cognitive abilities, including sensory perception, selective attention, and short-term memory. Mounting evidence indicates that engaging these cognitive functions during musical training will improve performance of these same functions. Yet, it remains unclear the extent these benefits may extend to nonmusical tasks, and what neural mechanisms may enable such transfer. Here, we conducted a preregistered randomized clinical trial where nonmusicians underwent 8 wk of either digital musical rhythm training or word search as control. Only musical rhythm training placed demands on short-term memory, as well as demands on visual perception and selective attention, which are known to facilitate short-term memory. As hypothesized, only the rhythm training group exhibited improved short-term memory on a face recognition task, thereby providing important evidence that musical rhythm training can benefit performance on a nonmusical task. Analysis of electroencephalography data showed that neural activity associated with sensory processing and selective attention were unchanged by training. Rather, rhythm training facilitated neural activity associated with short-term memory encoding, as indexed by an increased P3 of the event-related potential to face stimuli. Moreover, short-term memory maintenance was enhanced, as evidenced by increased two-class (face/scene) decoding accuracy. Activity from both the encoding and maintenance periods each highlight the right superior parietal lobule (SPL) as a source for training-related changes. Together, these results suggest musical rhythm training may improve memory for faces by facilitating activity within the SPL to promote how memories are encoded and maintained, which can be used in a domain-general manner to enhance performance on a nonmusical task.

Working-Memory, Alpha-Theta Oscillations and Musical Training in Older Age: Research Perspectives for Speech-on-speech Perception

During the normal course of aging, perception of speech-on-speech or “cocktail party” speech and use of working memory (WM) abilities change. Musical training, which is a complex activity that integrates multiple sensory modalities and higher-order cognitive functions, reportedly benefits both WM performance and speech-on-speech perception in older adults. This mini-review explores the relationship between musical training, WM and speech-on-speech perception in older age (> 65 years) through the lens of the Ease of Language Understanding (ELU) model. Linking neural-oscillation literature associating speech-on-speech perception and WM with alpha-theta oscillatory activity, we propose that two stages of speech-on-speech processing in the ELU are underpinned by WM-related alpha-theta oscillatory activity, and that effects of musical training on speech-on-speech perception may be reflected in these frequency bands among older adults.

Music Training, and the Ability of Musicians to Harmonize, Are Associated With Enhanced Planning and Problem-Solving

Music training is associated with enhanced executive function but little is known about the extent to which harmonic aspects of musical training are associated with components of executive function. In the current study, an array of cognitive tests associated with one or more components of executive function, was administered to young adult musicians and non-musicians. To investigate how harmonic aspects of musical training relate to executive function, a test of the ability to compose a four-part harmony was developed and administered to musicians. We tested the working hypothesis that musicians would outperform non-musicians on measures of executive function, and that among musicians, the ability to harmonize would correlate positively with measures of executive function. Results indicate that musicians outperformed non-musicians on the Tower of London task, a measure of planning and problem-solving. Group differences were not detected on tasks more selective for inhibitory control, conflict resolution, or working memory. Among musicians, scores on the harmony assessment were positively correlated with performance of the Tower of London task. Taken together, the current results support a strong relationship between musicianship and planning and problem solving abilities, and indicate that the ability to harmonize is associated with components of executive function contributing to planning and problem solving.

Neural Advantages of Older Musicians Involve the Cerebellum: Implications for Healthy Aging Through Lifelong Musical Instrument Training

This study compared 30 older musicians and 30 age-matched non-musicians to investigate the association between lifelong musical instrument training and age-related cognitive decline and brain atrophy (musicians: mean age 70.8 years, musical experience 52.7 years; non-musicians: mean age 71.4 years, no or less than 3 years of musical experience). Although previous research has demonstrated that young musicians have larger gray matter volume (GMV) in the auditory-motor cortices and cerebellum than non-musicians, little is known about older musicians. Music imagery in young musicians is also known to share a neural underpinning [the supramarginal gyrus (SMG) and cerebellum] with music performance. Thus, we hypothesized that older musicians would show superiority to non-musicians in some of the abovementioned brain regions. Behavioral performance, GMV, and brain activity, including functional connectivity (FC) during melodic working memory (MWM) tasks, were evaluated in both groups. Behaviorally, musicians exhibited a much higher tapping speed than non-musicians, and tapping speed was correlated with executive function in musicians. Structural analyses revealed larger GMVs in both sides of the cerebellum of musicians, and importantly, this was maintained until very old age. Task-related FC analyses revealed that musicians possessed greater cerebellar-hippocampal FC, which was correlated with tapping speed. Furthermore, musicians showed higher activation in the SMG during MWM tasks; this was correlated with earlier commencement of instrumental training. These results indicate advantages or heightened coupling in brain regions associated with music performance and imagery in musicians. We suggest that lifelong instrumental training highly predicts the structural maintenance of the cerebellum and related cognitive maintenance in old age.

Brain Plasticity Induced by Musical Expertise on Proactive and Reactive Cognitive Functions

Proactive and reactive brain activities usually refer to processes occurring in anticipation or in response to perceptual and/or cognitive events. Previous studies found that, in auditory tasks, musical expertise improves performance mainly at the reactive stage of processing. In the present work, we aimed at acknowledging the effects of musical practice on proactive brain activities as a result of neuroplasticity processes occurring at the level of anticipatory motor/cognitive functions. Accordingly, performance and electroencephalographic recordings were compared between professional musicians and non-musicians during an auditory go/no-go task. Both proactive (pre-stimulus) and reactive (post-stimulus) event-related potentials (ERPs) were analyzed. Behavioral findings showed improved performance in musicians compared to non-musicians in terms of accuracy. For what concerns electrophysiological results, different ERP patterns of activity both before and after the presentation of the auditory stimulus emerged between groups. Specifically, musicians showed increased proactive cognitive activity in prefrontal scalp areas, previously localized in the prefrontal cortex, and reduced anticipatory excitability in frontal scalp areas, previously localized in the associative auditory cortices (reflected by the pN and aP components, respectively). In the reactive stage of processing (i.e., following stimulus presentation), musicians showed enhanced early (N1) and late (P3) components, in line with longstanding literature of enhanced auditory processing in this group. Crucially, we also found a significant correlation between the N1 component and years of musical practice. We interpreted these findings in terms of neural plasticity processes resulting from musical training, which lead musicians to high efficiency in auditory sensorial anticipation and more intense cognitive control and sound analysis.

The Impact of Music Training and Working Memory on Speech Recognition in Older Age

Purpose Music training has been proposed as a possible tool for auditory training in older adults, as it may improve both auditory and cognitive skills. However, the evidence to support such benefits is mixed. The goal of this study was to determine the differential effects of lifelong musical training and working memory on speech recognition in noise, in older adults. Method A total of 31 musicians and nonmusicians aged 65-78 years took part in this cross-sectional study. Participants had a normal pure-tone average, with most having high-frequency hearing loss. Working memory (memory capacity) was assessed with the backward Digit Span test, and speech recognition in noise was assessed with three clinical tests (Quick Speech in Noise, Hearing in Noise Test, and Revised Speech Perception in Noise). Results Findings from this sample of older adults indicate that neither music training nor working memory was associated with differences on the speech recognition in noise measures used in this study. Similarly, duration of music training was not associated with speech-in-noise recognition. Conclusions Results from this study do not support the hypothesis that lifelong music training benefits speech recognition in noise. Similarly, an effect of working memory (memory capacity) was not apparent. While these findings may be related to the relatively small sample size, results across previous studies that investigated these effects have also been mixed. Prospective randomized music training studies may be able to better control for variability in outcomes associated with pre-existing and music training factors, as well as to examine the differential impact of music training and working memory for speech-in-noise recognition in older adults.

Long-Known Music Exposure Effects on Brain Imaging and Cognition in Early-Stage Cognitive Decline: A Pilot Study

BACKGROUND

Repeated exposure to long-known music has been shown to have a beneficial effect on cognitive performance in patients with AD. However, the brain mechanisms underlying improvement in cognitive performance are not yet clear.

OBJECTIVE

In this pilot study we propose to examine the effect of repeated long-known music exposure on imaging indices and corresponding changes in cognitive function in patients with early-stage cognitive decline.

METHODS

Participants with early-stage cognitive decline were assigned to three weeks of daily long-known music listening, lasting one hour in duration. A cognitive battery was administered, and brain activity was measured before and after intervention. Paired-measures tests evaluated the longitudinal changes in brain structure, function, and cognition associated with the intervention.

RESULTS

Fourteen participants completed the music-based intervention, including 6 musicians and 8 non-musicians. Post-baseline there was a reduction in brain activity in key nodes of a music-related network, including the bilateral basal ganglia and right inferior frontal gyrus, and declines in fronto-temporal functional connectivity and radial diffusivity of dorsal white matter. Musician status also significantly modified longitudinal changes in functional and structural brain measures. There was also a significant improvement in the memory subdomain of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment.

CONCLUSION

These preliminary results suggest that neuroplastic mechanisms may mediate improvements in cognitive functioning associated with exposure to long-known music listening and that these mechanisms may be different in musicians compared to non-musicians.

Music Engagement and Episodic Memory among Middle-Aged and Older Adults: A National Cross-Sectional Analysis

OBJECTIVES

To determine whether music engagement influences middle-aged and older adults' performance on episodic memory tasks.

METHODS

Secondary data analysis of a sample (N = 4,592) of cognitively healthy adults from the 2016 Health and Retirement Study were used for this study. Multivariable regression models were used to analyze the cross-sectional differences in performance on tasks of episodic memory between participants who listened to music (n= 3,659) or sang or played an instrument (n= 989).

RESULTS

On average, participants recalled 10.3 words out of a possible 20. Regression analyses showed that both music listening and singing or playing an instrument were independently associated with significantly better episodic memory.

DISCUSSION

The findings provide the first population-based evidence that music engagement is associated with better episodic memory among middle-aged and older adults. Future studies should examine whether the association is causal or has a dose response.

Task switching in old participants: A potential interplay between strategy and cognitive ability

Task-switching cost is highly reliable in old participants. However, in a Stroop-switching paradigm that compared old musicians with old non-musicians (Experiment 1A), task-switching costs were not consistent. For non-musicians, the task-switching costs were significant in the congruent and neutral trials, but not in the incongruent trials. For musicians, the task-switching costs disappeared completely. We suspected that besides following task rules, old participants might also apply a stimulus-based strategy called the target-first strategy. In Experiment 1B and 2, participants in Experiment 1A were invited again to perform two more Stroop-switching paradigms. To encourage the participants to use task rules, in Experiment 1B we removed the neutral trials but found the same results as in Experiment 1A. In Experiment 2, when inserting a cue-target interval in the Stroop-switching paradigm, both musicians and non-musicians produced reliable task-switching costs in all trial conditions. Note that younger participants had reliable task-switching costs in Experiment 1B and 2. We suggest that older participants preferred the target-first strategy to the task rules-based strategy because the former was easy to implant although it was less flexible. Besides task-switching costs, we found that old musicians had less interference effect than old non-musicians in Experiment 1B. In all three experiments, old musicians had shorter RTs than old non-musicians, which might be due to differences in strategies apart from cognitive abilities. We propose that without considering the strategy preference, some previous studies might misestimate the difference between old and young participants in terms of task-switching performance and interference control.

Do Musicians Have Better Mnemonic and Executive Performance Than Actors? Influence of Regular Musical or Theater Practice in Adults and in the Elderly

The effects of musical practice on cognition are well established yet rarely compared with other kinds of artistic training or expertise. This study aims to compare the possible effect of musical and theater regular practice on cognition across the lifespan. Both of these artistic activities require many hours of individual or collective training in order to reach an advanced level. This process requires the interaction between higher-order cognitive functions and several sensory modalities (auditory, verbal, visual and motor), as well as regular learning of new pieces. This study included participants with musical or theater practice, and healthy controls matched for age (18–84 years old) and education. The objective was to determine whether specific practice in these activities had an effect on cognition across the lifespan, and a protective influence against undesirable cognitive outcomes associated with aging. All participants underwent a battery of cognitive tasks that evaluated processing speed, executive function, fluency, working memory, verbal and visual long-term memories, and non-verbal reasoning abilities. Results showed that music and theater artistic practices were strongly associated with cognitive enhancements. Participants with musical practice were better in executive functioning, working memory and non-verbal reasoning, whereas participants with regular acting practice had better long-term verbal memory and fluency performance. Thus, taken together, results suggest a differential effect of these artistic practices on cognition across the lifespan. Advanced age did not seem to reduce the benefit, so future studies should focus on the hypothetical protective effects of artistic practice against cognitive decline.

Playing a musical instrument is associated with slower cognitive decline in community-dwelling older adults

BACKGROUND

Elucidating behavioral protective factors for cognitive decline and dementia can have a far-reaching impact.

AIMS

To describe the association of present and past musical instrument playing with cognitive function in cognitively intact older adults.

METHOD

A post hoc observational analysis of the Zurich Disability Prevention Trial. Past and present musical instrument playing was correlated with Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and EuroQol-Visual Analogue Scale (EQ-VAS) using linear regression at baseline and mixed-model linear regression over 1 year.

RESULTS

Two hundred community dwelling adults age 70 and older (mean age 77.7) were included. There were 48.5% (97/200) participants, who ever played a musical instrument; 35% (70/200) played in the past and 13.5% (27/200) played at present. At baseline, present players had a suggestively higher adjusted-MMSE than never players (28.9 vs. 28.5, p value 0.059). Over 12 months, compared to never players, ever players showed a significantly better improvement from baseline in adjusted-MMSE (0.29 vs. - 0.12, p value 0.007). The association remained significant even after restricting to participants without higher education (p value 0.03). Over time, no differences were observed for EQ-VAS (p value 0.45). However, past players had the largest decline in health-related quality of life at 12 months.

DISCUSSION

The support for a protective association in our observational study suggests the need for clinical trials to examine the effect of playing a musical instrument on cognitive function and decline. Both returning to play after an interruption and learning to play from the beginning should be examined.

CONCLUSIONS

Present and past musical instrument playing may assist in preserving cognitive function in community-dwelling older adults.

Music Making and Neuropsychological Aging: A Review

Aging is associated with a decline in social understanding and general cognition. Both are integral to wellbeing and rely on similar brain regions. Thus, as the population ages, there is a growing need for knowledge on the types of activities that maintain brain health in older adulthood. Active engagement in music making might be one such activity because it places a demand on brain networks tapping into multisensory integration, learning, reward, and cognition. It has been hypothesized that this demand may promote plasticity in the frontal and temporal lobes by taxing cognitive abilities and, hence, increase resistance to age-related neurodegeneration. We examine research relevant to this hypothesis and note that there is a lack of intervention studies with a well-matched control condition and random assignment. Thus, we discuss potential causal mechanisms underlying training-related neuropsychological changes, and provide suggestions for future research. It is argued that although music training might be a valuable tool for supporting healthy neuropsychological aging and mental wellbeing, well-controlled intervention studies are necessary to provide clear evidence.

Music Training, Working Memory, and Neural Oscillations: A Review

This review focuses on reports that link music training to working memory and neural oscillations. Music training is increasingly associated with improvement in working memory, which is strongly related to both localized and distributed patterns of neural oscillations. Importantly, there is a small but growing number of reports of relationships between music training, working memory, and neural oscillations in adults. Taken together, these studies make important contributions to our understanding of the neural mechanisms that support effects of music training on behavioral measures of executive functions. In addition, they reveal gaps in our knowledge that hold promise for further investigation. The current review is divided into the main sections that follow: (1) discussion of behavioral measures of working memory, and effects of music training on working memory in adults; (2) relationships between music training and neural oscillations during temporal stages of working memory; (3) relationships between music training and working memory in children; (4) relationships between music training and working memory in older adults; and (5) effects of entrainment of neural oscillations on cognitive processing. We conclude that the study of neural oscillations is proving useful in elucidating the neural mechanisms of relationships between music training and the temporal stages of working memory. Moreover, a lifespan approach to these studies will likely reveal strategies to improve and maintain executive function during development and aging.

Potential Cognitive Benefits From Playing Music Among Cognitively Intact Older Adults: A Scoping Review

The aging population is growing rapidly, raising rates of cognitive impairment, which makes strategies for protection against cognitive impairment increasingly important. There is little evidence indicating highly effective interventions preventing or slowing onset of cognitive impairment. Music playing influences brain and cognitive function, activating multiple brain areas and using cognitive and motor functions as well as multiple sensory systems, simultaneously. The purpose of this study was to review the current evidence related to playing a musical instrument being a potentially protective mechanism against cognitive decline among older adults. Using scoping review procedures, four databases were searched. Paired reviewers analyzed articles for content, design, and bias. Eleven studies met study criteria and were included in the review. All studies showed that music playing was correlated with positive outcomes on cognitive ability; more high-quality research is needed in this area to understand mechanisms behind potential cognitive protection of music.

New Perspectives on Music in Rehabilitation of Executive and Attention Functions

Modern music therapy, starting around the middle of the twentieth century was primarily conceived to promote emotional well-being and to facilitate social group association and integration. Therefore, it was rooted mostly in social science concepts. More recently, music as therapy began to move decidedly toward perspectives of neuroscience. This has been facilitated by the advent of neuroimaging techniques that help uncover the therapeutic mechanisms for non-musical goals in the brain processes underlying music perception, cognition, and production. In this paper, we focus on executive function (EF) and attentional processes (AP) that are central for cognitive rehabilitation efforts. To this end, we summarize existing behavioral as well as neuroimaging and neurophysiological studies in musicians, non-musicians, and clinical populations. Musical improvisation and instrumental playing may have some potential for EF/AP stimulation and neurorehabilitation. However, more neuroimaging studies are needed to investigate the neural mechanisms for the active musical performance. Furthermore, more randomized clinical trials combined with neuroimaging techniques are warranted to demonstrate the specific efficacy and neuroplasticity induced by music-based interventions.

Effects of Music Training on Inhibitory Control and Associated Neural Networks in School-Aged Children: A Longitudinal Study

Inhibitory control, the ability to suppress an immediate dominant response, has been shown to predict academic and career success, socioemotional wellbeing, wealth, and physical health. Learning to play a musical instrument engages various sensorimotor processes and draws on cognitive capacities including inhibition and task switching. While music training has been shown to benefit cognitive and language skills, its impact on inhibitory control remains inconclusive. As part of an ongoing 5-year longitudinal study, we investigated the effects of music training on the development of inhibitory control and its neural underpinnings with a population of children (starting at age 6) from underserved communities. Children involved in music were compared with children involved in sports and children not involved in any systematic after-school program. Inhibition was measured using a delayed gratification, flanker, and Color-Word Stroop task, which was performed both inside and outside of an MRI scanner. We established that there were no pre-existing differences in cognitive capacities among the groups at the onset. In the delayed gratification task, beginning after 3 years of training, children with music training chose a larger, delayed reward in place of a smaller, immediate reward compared to the control group. In the flanker task, children in the music group, significantly improved their accuracy after 3 and 4 years of training, whereas such improvement in the sport and control group did not reach significance. There were no differences among the groups on behavioral measures of Color-Word Stroop task at any time point. As for differences in brain function, we have previously reported that after 2 years, children with music training showed significantly greater bilateral activation in the pre-SMA/SMA, ACC, IFG, and insula during the Color-Word Stroop task compared to the control group, but not compared to the sports group (Sachs et al., 2017). However, after 4 years, we report here that differences in brain activity related to the Color-Word Stroop task between musicians and the other groups is only observed in the right IFG. The results suggest that systematic extracurricular programs, particularly music-based training, may accelerate development of inhibitory control and related brain networks earlier in childhood.

The Bidirectional in Bilingual: Cognitive, Social and Linguistic Effects of and on Third-Age Language Learning

Bilingualism has been put forward as a life experience that, similar to musical training or being physically active, may boost cognitive performance and slow down age-related cognitive decline. In more recent years, bilingualism has come to be acknowledged not as a trait but as a highly individual experience where the context of use strongly modulates any cognitive effect that ensues from it (cf. van den Noort et al., 2019). In addition, modulating factors have been shown to interact in intricate ways (Pot, Keijzer and de Bot, 2018). Adding to the complexity is the fact that control processes linked to bilingualism are bidirectional-just as language control can influence cognitive control, individual differences in cognitive functioning often predict language learning outcomes and control. Indeed, Hartsuiker (2015) posited the need for a better understanding of cognitive control, language control as well as the transfer process between them. In this paper, we aim to shed light on the bidirectional and individual cognitive, social and linguistic factors in relation to bilingualism and second language learning, with a special focus on older adulthood: (1) we first show the intricate clustering of modulating individual factors as deterministic of cognitive outcomes of bilingual experiences at the older end of the lifespan; (2) we then present a meta-study of work in the emergent field of third-age language learning, the results of which are related to lifelong bilingualism; (3) objectives (1) and (2) are then combined to result in a blueprint for future work relating cognitive and social individual differences to bilingual linguistic outcomes and vice versa in the context of third-age language learning.

Individual differences in musical training and executive functions: A latent variable approach

Learning and performing music draw on a host of cognitive abilities, and previous research has postulated that musicians might have advantages in related cognitive processes. One such aspect of cognition that may be related to musical training is executive functions (EFs), a set of top-down processes that regulate behavior and cognition according to task demands. Previous studies investigating the link between musical training and EFs have yielded mixed results and are difficult to compare. In part, this is because most studies have looked at only one specific cognitive process, and even studies looking at the same process have used different experimental tasks. Furthermore, most correlational studies have used different "musician" and "non-musician" categorizations for their comparisons, so generalizing the findings is difficult. The present study provides a more comprehensive assessment of how individual differences in musical training relate to latent measures of three separable aspects of EFs. We administered a well-validated EF battery containing multiple tasks tapping the EF components of inhibition, shifting, and working memory updating (Friedman et al. in Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 137, 201-225, 2008), as well as a comprehensive, continuous measure of musical training and sophistication (Müllensiefen et al., in PLoS ONE, 9, e89642, 2014). Musical training correlated with some individual EF tasks involving inhibition and working memory updating, but not with individual tasks involving shifting. However, musical training only predicted the latent variable of working memory updating, but not the latent variables of inhibition or shifting after controlling for IQ, socioeconomic status, and handedness. Although these data are correlational, they nonetheless suggest that musical experience places particularly strong demands specifically on working memory updating processes.

When I'm 64: A review of instrumental music-making and brain health in later life

According to the World Health Organization, global average life expectancy increased by 5.5 years between 2000 and 2016. This is the greatest increase in life expectancy since the 1960s. Identifying lifestyle choices which can be implemented in later life to support brain health are imperative given the increasing prevalence of age-related neurodegenerative diseases, such as dementia. Music-making, specifically instrumental music-making, has been suggested to support cognition function and emotional wellbeing in later life. This review will distinguish instrumental music-making from other musical activities (i.e. singing or listening to music), specifically focusing on its influence on cognitive function in later life and its contribution to the emotional wellbeing and quality of life. This review will also explore the viability of instrumental music-making as an intervention to support brain health in later life.

Rationale and protocol of the ENGAGE study: a double-blind randomized controlled preference trial using a comprehensive cohort design to measure the effect of a cognitive and leisure-based intervention in older adults with a memory complaint

BACKGROUND

Leisure activities can be both enjoyable and cognitively stimulating, and participation in such activities has been associated with reduced age-related cognitive decline. Thus, integrating stimulating leisure activities in cognitive training programs may represent a powerful and innovative approach to promote cognition in older adults at risk of dementia. The ENGAGE study is a randomized controlled, double-blind preference trial with a comprehensive cohort design that will test the efficacy and long-term impact of an intervention that combines cognitive training and cognitively stimulating leisure activities.

METHODS

One hundred and forty-four older adults with a memory complaint will be recruited in Montreal and Toronto. A particular effort will be made to reach persons with low cognitive reserve. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two conditions: cognitive + leisure training (ENGAGE-MUSIC/SPANISH) or active control (ENGAGE-DISCOVERY). The ENGAGE-MUSIC/SPANISH training will include teaching of mnemonic and attentional control strategies, casual videogames selected to train attention, and classes in music or Spanish as a second language. The ENGAGE-DISCOVERY condition will comprise psychoeducation on cognition and the brain, low-stimulating casual videogames and documentary viewing with discussions. To retain the leisure aspect of the activities, participants will be allowed to exclude either music or Spanish at study entry if they strongly dislike one of these activities. Participants randomized to ENGAGE-MUSIC/SPANISH who did not exclude any activity will be assigned to music or Spanish based on a second random assignment. Training will be provided in 24 2-h sessions over 4 months. Outcomes will be measured at baseline, at 4-month follow-up, and at 24-month follow-up. The primary outcome will be cognitive performance on a composite measure of episodic memory (delayed recall scores for words and face-name associations) measured at baseline and at the 4-month follow-up. Secondary outcomes will include a composite measure of attention (speed of processing, inhibition, dual tasking, and shifting), psychological health, activities of daily living, and brain structure and function and long-term maintenance measured at the 24-month follow-up. Information on cognitive reserve proxies (education and lifestyle questionnaires), sex and genotype (apolipoprotein (Apo)E4, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT)) will be collected and considered as moderators of training efficacy.

DISCUSSION

This study will test whether a program combining cognitive training with stimulating leisure activities can increase cognition and reduce cognitive decline in persons at risk of dementia.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

NCT03271190 . Registered on 5 September 2017.

Card playing enhances speech perception among aging adults: comparison with aging musicians

Speech perception and auditory processing have been shown to be enhanced among aging musicians as compared to non-musicians. In the present study, the aim was to test whether these functions are also enhanced among those who are engaged in a non-musical mentally challenging leisure activity (card playing). Three groups of 23 aging adults, aged 60-80 years, were recruited for the study: Musicians, Card players, and Controls. Participants were matched for age, gender, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III Matrix Reasoning, and Digit Span scores. Their performance was measured using auditory spectral and spatial temporal order judgment tests, and four tasks of speech perception in conditions of: no background noise, background noise of speech frequencies, background noise of white noise, and 60% compressed speech. Musicians were better in auditory and speech perception than the other two groups. Card players were similar to Controls in auditory perception tasks, but were better in the speech perception tasks. Non-musician aging adults may be able to improve their speech perception ability by engaging in leisure activity requiring cognitive effort.

Short-Term Orchestral Music Training Modulates Hyperactivity and Inhibitory Control in School-Age Children: A Longitudinal Behavioural Study

Survey studies have shown that participating in music groups produces several benefits, such as discipline, cooperation and responsibility. Accordingly, recent longitudinal studies showed that orchestral music training has a positive impact on inhibitory control in school-age children. However, most of these studies examined long periods of training not always feasible for all families and institutions and focused on children’s measures ignoring the viewpoint of the teachers. Considering the crucial role of inhibitory control on hyperactivity, inattention and impulsivity, we wanted to explore if short orchestral music training would promote a reduction of these impulsive behaviors in children. This study involved 113 Italian children from 8 to 10 years of age. 55 of them attended 3 months of orchestral music training. The training included a 2-hour lesson per week at school and a final concert. The 58 children in the control group did not have any orchestral music training. All children were administered tests and questionnaires measuring inhibitory control and hyperactivity near the beginning and end of the 3-month training period. We also collected information regarding the levels of hyperactivity of the children as perceived by the teachers at both time points. Children in the music group showed a significant improvement in inhibitory control. Moreover, in the second measurement the control group showed an increase in self-reported hyperactivity that was not found in the group undergoing the music training program. This change was not noticed by the teachers, implying a discrepancy between self-reported and observed behavior at school. Our results suggest that even an intense and brief period of orchestral music training is sufficient to facilitate the development of inhibitory control by modulating the levels of self-reported hyperactivity. This research has implications for music pedagogy and education especially in children with high hyperactivity. Future investigations will test whether the findings can be extended to children diagnosed with ADHD.

Cognitive Benefits From a Musical Activity in Older Adults

The aging population is growing rapidly. Proposing interventions that enhance the cognitive functions or strategies that delay the onset of disabilities associated with age is a topic of capital interest for the biopsychosocial health of our species. In this work, we employed musical improvisation as a focal environmental activity to explore its ability to improve memory in older adults. We present two studies: the first one evaluated neutral memory using the Rey Complex Figure (RCF) and the second one evaluated emotional memory using International Affective Picture System (IAPS). A group of 132 volunteers, between the ages of 60 and 90, participated in this investigation. Fifty-one of them were musicians with more than 5 years of formal musical training. After acquisition of neutral (Study 1) or emotional (Study 2) information, the groups of older adults were exposed to music improvisation (experimental intervention) or music imitation (control intervention) for 3 min. We then evaluated memory through two tasks (free recall and recognition), by means of immediate and deferred measures (after a week). We found a significant improvement in memory among participants involved in music improvisation, who remembered more items of the RCF and images from IAPS than the imitation group, both in the immediate and deferred evaluation. On the other hand, participants who had musical knowledge had a better performance in neutral visual memory than non-musicians. Our results suggest that a focal musical activity can be a useful intervention in older adults to promote an enhancement in memory.

The Music-In-Noise Task (MINT): A Tool for Dissecting Complex Auditory Perception

The ability to segregate target sounds in noisy backgrounds is relevant both to neuroscience and to clinical applications. Recent research suggests that hearing-in-noise (HIN) problems are solved using combinations of sub-skills that are applied according to task demand and information availability. While evidence is accumulating for a musician advantage in HIN, the exact nature of the reported training effect is not fully understood. Existing HIN tests focus on tasks requiring understanding of speech in the presence of competing sound. Because visual, spatial and predictive cues are not systematically considered in these tasks, few tools exist to investigate the most relevant components of cognitive processes involved in stream segregation. We present the Music-In-Noise Task (MINT) as a flexible tool to expand HIN measures beyond speech perception, and for addressing research questions pertaining to the relative contributions of HIN sub-skills, inter-individual differences in their use, and their neural correlates. The MINT uses a match-mismatch trial design: in four conditions (Baseline, Rhythm, Spatial, and Visual) subjects first hear a short instrumental musical excerpt embedded in an informational masker of "multi-music" noise, followed by either a matching or scrambled repetition of the target musical excerpt presented in silence; the four conditions differ according to the presence or absence of additional cues. In a fifth condition (Prediction), subjects hear the excerpt in silence as a target first, which helps to anticipate incoming information when the target is embedded in masking sound. Data from samples of young adults show that the MINT has good reliability and internal consistency, and demonstrate selective benefits of musicianship in the Prediction, Rhythm, and Visual subtasks. We also report a performance benefit of multilingualism that is separable from that of musicianship. Average MINT scores were correlated with scores on a sentence-in-noise perception task, but only accounted for a relatively small percentage of the variance, indicating that the MINT is sensitive to additional factors and can provide a complement and extension of speech-based tests for studying stream segregation. A customizable version of the MINT is made available for use and extension by the scientific community.

Music and Visual Art Training Modulate Brain Activity in Older Adults

Cognitive decline is an unavoidable aspect of aging that impacts important behavioral and cognitive skills. Training programs can improve cognition, yet precise characterization of the psychological and neural underpinnings supporting different training programs is lacking. Here, we assessed the effect and maintenance (3-month follow-up) of 3-month music and visual art training programs on neuroelectric brain activity in older adults using a partially randomized intervention design. During the pre-, post-, and follow-up test sessions, participants completed a brief neuropsychological assessment. High-density EEG was measured while participants were presented with auditory oddball paradigms (piano tones, vowels) and during a visual GoNoGo task. Neither training program significantly impacted psychometric measures, compared to a non-active control group. However, participants enrolled in the music and visual art training programs showed enhancement of auditory evoked responses to piano tones that persisted for up to 3 months after training ended, suggesting robust and long-lasting neuroplastic effects. Both music and visual art training also modulated visual processing during the GoNoGo task, although these training effects were relatively short-lived and disappeared by the 3-month follow-up. Notably, participants enrolled in the visual art training showed greater changes in visual evoked response (i.e., N1 wave) amplitude distribution than those from the music or control group. Conversely, those enrolled in music showed greater response associated with inhibitory control over the right frontal scalp areas than those in the visual art group. Our findings reveal a causal relationship between art training (music and visual art) and neuroplastic changes in sensory systems, with some of the neuroplastic changes being specific to the training regimen.

Musical practice as an enhancer of cognitive function in healthy aging - A systematic review and meta-analysis

Aging is accompanied by cognitive decline, although recent research indicates that the rate of decline depends on multiple lifestyle factors. One of such factors is musical practice, an activity that involves several sensory and motor systems and a wide range of high-level cognitive processes. This paper describes the first systematic review and meta-analysis, to our knowledge, of the impact of musical practice on healthy neurocognitive aging. The inclusion criteria for the review required that studies were empirical works in English or Spanish that they explored the effects of musical practice on older people; they included an assessment of cognitive functions and/or an assessment of brain status; and they included a sample of participants aged 59 years or older with no cognitive impairment or brain damage. This review led to the selection of 13 studies: 9 correlational studies involving older musicians and non-musicians and 4 experimental studies involving short-term musical training programs. The results of the meta-analysis showed cognitive and cerebral benefits of musical practice, both in domain-specific functions (auditory perception) and in other rather domain-general functions. Moreover, these benefits seem to protect cognitive domains that usually decline with aging and boost other domains that do not decline with aging. The origin of these benefits may reside, simultaneously, in the specific training of many of these cognitive functions during musical practice (specific training mechanism), in the improvement of compensatory cognitive processes (specific compensatory mechanism), and in the preservation of general functions with a global influence on others, such as perceptual capacity, processing speed, inhibition and attention (general compensatory mechanism). Therefore, musical practice seems to be a promising tool to reduce the impact of cognitive problems associated to aging.

The effects of music-supported therapy on motor, cognitive, and psychosocial functions in chronic stroke

Neuroplasticity accompanying learning is a key mediator of stroke rehabilitation. Training in playing music in healthy populations and patients with movement disorders requires resources within motor, sensory, cognitive, and affective systems, and coordination among these systems. We investigated effects of music-supported therapy (MST) in chronic stroke on motor, cognitive, and psychosocial functions compared to conventional physical training (GRASP). Twenty-eight adults with unilateral arm and hand impairment were randomly assigned to MST (n = 14) and GRASP (n = 14) and received 30 h of training over a 10-week period. The assessment was conducted at four time points: before intervention, after 5 weeks, after 10 weeks, and 3 months after training completion. As for two of our three primary outcome measures concerning motor function, all patients slightly improved in Chedoke-McMaster Stroke Assessment hand score, while the time to complete Action Research Arm Test became shorter in the MST group. The third primary outcome measure for well-being, Stroke Impact Scale, was improved for emotion and social communication earlier in MST and coincided with the improved executive function for task switching and music rhythm perception. The results confirmed previous findings and expanded the potential usage of MST for enhancing quality of life in community-dwelling chronic-stage survivors.

Musical training, bilingualism, and executive function: working memory and inhibitory control

The current study investigated whether long-term experience in music or a second language is associated with enhanced cognitive functioning. Early studies suggested the possibility of a cognitive advantage from musical training and bilingualism but have failed to be replicated by recent findings. Further, each form of expertise has been independently investigated leaving it unclear whether any benefits are specifically caused by each skill or are a result of skill learning in general.

To assess whether cognitive benefits from training exist, and how unique they are to each training domain, the current study compared musicians and bilinguals to each other, plus to individuals who had expertise in both skills, or neither. Young adults (n = 153) were categorized into one of four groups: monolingual musician; bilingual musician; bilingual non-musician; and monolingual non-musician. Multiple tasks per cognitive ability were used to examine the coherency of any training effects. Results revealed that musically trained individuals, but not bilinguals, had enhanced working memory. Neither skill had enhanced inhibitory control.

The findings confirm previous associations between musicians and improved cognition and extend existing evidence to show that benefits are narrower than expected but can be uniquely attributed to music compared to another specialized auditory skill domain. The null bilingual effect despite a music effect in the same group of individuals challenges the proposition that young adults are at a performance ceiling and adds to increasing evidence on the lack of a bilingual advantage on cognition.

Does Music Matter? A Look at the Issues and the Evidence

Does music matter? Judging from the ever-diminishing support for music education in public funding, the message is that it is just a frill to be cast aside for more pressing needs. The pleasure of listening to music is worthy in itself and reason enough for support, but what happens when people are more deeply engaged, such as when they learn to read music and play an instrument? Can more material rewards follow for cognition, language, and emotion, and for social and physical well-being? This essay presents an overview of issues and evidence from a broad range of disciplines and age groups.

Auditory and cognitive performance in elderly musicians and nonmusicians

Musicians represent a model for examining brain and behavioral plasticity in terms of cognitive and auditory profile, but few studies have investigated whether elderly musicians have better auditory and cognitive abilities than nonmusicians. The aim of the present study was to examine whether being a professional musician attenuates the normal age-related changes in hearing and cognition. Elderly musicians still active in their profession were compared with nonmusicians on auditory performance (absolute threshold, frequency intensity, duration and spectral shape discrimination, gap and sinusoidal amplitude-modulation detection), and on simple (short-term memory) and more complex and higher-order (working memory [WM] and visuospatial abilities) cognitive tasks. The sample consisted of adults at least 65 years of age. The results showed that older musicians had similar absolute thresholds but better supra-threshold discrimination abilities than nonmusicians in four of the six auditory tasks administered. They also had a better WM performance, and stronger visuospatial abilities than nonmusicians. No differences were found between the two groups' short-term memory. Frequency discrimination and gap detection for the auditory measures, and WM complex span tasks and one of the visuospatial tasks for the cognitive ones proved to be very good classifiers of the musicians. These findings suggest that life-long music training may be associated with enhanced auditory and cognitive performance, including complex cognitive skills, in advanced age. However, whether this music training represents a protective factor or not needs further investigation.

Increased engagement of the cognitive control network associated with music training in children during an fMRI Stroop task

Playing a musical instrument engages various sensorimotor processes and draws on cognitive capacities collectively termed executive functions. However, while music training is believed to associated with enhancements in certain cognitive and language abilities, studies that have explored the specific relationship between music and executive function have yielded conflicting results. As part of an ongoing longitudinal study, we investigated the effects of music training on executive function using fMRI and several behavioral tasks, including the Color-Word Stroop task. Children involved in ongoing music training (N = 14, mean age = 8.67) were compared with two groups of comparable general cognitive abilities and socioeconomic status, one involved in sports ("sports" group, N = 13, mean age = 8.85) and another not involved in music or sports ("control" group, N = 17, mean age = 9.05). During the Color-Word Stroop task, children with music training showed significantly greater bilateral activation in the pre-SMA/SMA, ACC, IFG, and insula in trials that required cognitive control compared to the control group, despite no differences in performance on behavioral measures of executive function. No significant differences in brain activation or in task performance were found between the music and sports groups. The results suggest that systematic extracurricular training, particularly music-based training, is associated with changes in the cognitive control network in the brain even in the absence of changes in behavioral performance.

Musicians have better memory than nonmusicians: A meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Several studies have found that musicians perform better than nonmusicians in memory tasks, but this is not always the case, and the strength of this apparent advantage is unknown. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis with the aim of clarifying whether musicians perform better than nonmusicians in memory tasks.

METHODS

Education Source; PEP (WEB)-Psychoanalytic Electronic Publishing; Psychology and Behavioral Science (EBSCO); PsycINFO (Ovid); PubMed; ScienceDirect-AllBooks Content (Elsevier API); SCOPUS (Elsevier API); SocINDEX with Full Text (EBSCO) and Google Scholar were searched for eligible studies. The selected studies involved two groups of participants: young adult musicians and nonmusicians. All the studies included memory tasks (loading long-term, short-term or working memory) that contained tonal, verbal or visuospatial stimuli. Three meta-analyses were run separately for long-term memory, short-term memory and working memory.

RESULTS

We collected 29 studies, including 53 memory tasks. The results showed that musicians performed better than nonmusicians in terms of long-term memory, g = .29, 95% CI (.08-.51), short-term memory, g = .57, 95% CI (.41-.73), and working memory, g = .56, 95% CI (.33-.80). To further explore the data, we included a moderator (the type of stimulus presented, i.e., tonal, verbal or visuospatial), which was found to influence the effect size for short-term and working memory, but not for long-term memory. In terms of short-term and working memory, the musicians' advantage was large with tonal stimuli, moderate with verbal stimuli, and small or null with visuospatial stimuli.

CONCLUSIONS

The three meta-analyses revealed a small effect size for long-term memory, and a medium effect size for short-term and working memory, suggesting that musicians perform better than nonmusicians in memory tasks. Moreover, the effect of the moderator suggested that, the type of stimuli influences this advantage.

Music for the ageing brain: Cognitive, emotional, social, and neural benefits of musical leisure activities in stroke and dementia

Music engages an extensive network of auditory, cognitive, motor, and emotional processing regions in the brain. Coupled with the fact that the emotional and cognitive impact of music is often well preserved in ageing and dementia, music is a powerful tool in the care and rehabilitation of many ageing-related neurological diseases. In addition to formal music therapy, there has been a growing interest in self- or caregiver-implemented musical leisure activities or hobbies as a widely applicable means to support psychological wellbeing in ageing and in neurological rehabilitation. This article reviews the currently existing evidence on the cognitive, emotional, and neural benefits of musical leisure activities in normal ageing as well as in the rehabilitation and care of two of the most common and ageing-related neurological diseases: stroke and dementia.

Preservation of cognitive and musical abilities of a musician following surgery for chronic drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy: a case report

Mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) affects a range of cognitive functions and musical abilities. We report a 16-year-old boy diagnosed with drug-resistant right-medial TLE. He is a professional musician, trained in Carnatic classical music. Clinical, electrophysiological, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography evaluation localized the seizure focus to the right medial temporal lobe. Patient underwent detailed neuropsychological evaluation and functional MRI (fMRI) for musical abilities prior to surgery. He underwent an awake craniotomy and tailored resection of lateral neocortex as well as amygdalohippocampectomy under guidance of cortical stimulation and clinical monitoring. The superior temporal gyrus where activation was revealed on task-based fMRI was preserved. At 16-month follow-up, there was no seizure recurrence and his cognitive functions including musical abilities did not deteriorate with surgery. The task-based fMRI while listening to music revealed bilateral frontotemporal activation. There was evidence of increased left frontotemporal connectivity during the postsurgical period in the resting state fMRI. It is hypothesized that the intact neuropsychological and musical abilities might be as a result of intense musical training from an early age despite the illness leading to functional and neural adaptation of the brain might have contributed to his preserved cognitive functions and musical skills. Intense musical training at a young age perhaps not only honed a range of cognitive functions but also resulted in functionally more efficient cognitive networks despite the surgical resection.

Selective Maintenance of Motor Performance in Older Adults From Long-Lasting Sport Practice

PURPOSE

Decline of motor performance in older individuals affects their quality of life. Understanding the contribution of sport-related training in advanced ages might help to attenuate motor performance decay as one gets older. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the extent to which long-lasting training in running or sport-specific skills during old age preserves motor performance in different motor tasks.

METHOD

Older runners and tennis players with at least 10 years of training were assessed as were age-matched and young exercisers. Performance was evaluated for 6 motor tasks requiring different functions of sensorimotor control expected to decline with aging.

RESULTS

Analysis revealed that runners had increased aerobic fitness in comparison with the other older participants and that they presented similar performance to older exercisers in the motor tasks. Tennis players outperformed the other groups of older participants on coincident timing and simple reaction time and achieved similar performance to the young group on the timing task.

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest selective maintenance of task-specific processing through extensive practice of tennis-related motor skills in older adults.

Executive Function, Visual Attention and the Cocktail Party Problem in Musicians and Non-Musicians

The goal of this study was to investigate how cognitive factors influence performance in a multi-talker, “cocktail-party” like environment in musicians and non-musicians. This was achieved by relating performance in a spatial hearing task to cognitive processing abilities assessed using measures of executive function (EF) and visual attention in musicians and non-musicians. For the spatial hearing task, a speech target was presented simultaneously with two intelligible speech maskers that were either colocated with the target (0° azimuth) or were symmetrically separated from the target in azimuth (at ±15°). EF assessment included measures of cognitive flexibility, inhibition control and auditory working memory. Selective attention was assessed in the visual domain using a multiple object tracking task (MOT). For the MOT task, the observers were required to track target dots (n = 1,2,3,4,5) in the presence of interfering distractor dots. Musicians performed significantly better than non-musicians in the spatial hearing task. For the EF measures, musicians showed better performance on measures of auditory working memory compared to non-musicians. Furthermore, across all individuals, a significant correlation was observed between performance on the spatial hearing task and measures of auditory working memory. This result suggests that individual differences in performance in a cocktail party-like environment may depend in part on cognitive factors such as auditory working memory. Performance in the MOT task did not differ between groups. However, across all individuals, a significant correlation was found between performance in the MOT and spatial hearing tasks. A stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that musicianship and performance on the MOT task significantly predicted performance on the spatial hearing task. Overall, these findings confirm the relationship between musicianship and cognitive factors including domain-general selective attention and working memory in solving the “cocktail party problem”.