What is it about?

This study, which used data from 420 older adults, examined the relationship between experience of playing a musical instrument and cognitive ability in later life. We tested whether experience of playing a musical instrument was associated with different types of cognitive skills and changes in these skills over time, between ages 70 and 82. While all participants’ test performance tended to decline during ageing, those with greater experience of playing a musical instrument showed sustained, slightly higher performance on tests of processing speed and visuospatial ability. Importantly, these results were not completely explained by other factors that might be related to musical experience or cognitive performance, including years of education, socio-economic status, general cognitive ability at age 11, and health variables in older age.

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Why is it important?

It's important to understand the lifestyle behaviours that might impact cognitive health in later life. Learning to play a musical instrument has been found to be associated with cognitive performance in older adults. This study examines this relationship in more detail by including measures of specific cognitive skills and their changes with ageing. While we can't definitively say that musical instrument training enhances cognitive skills (as other factors might be at play), our findings strengthen the argument for a link between musical experience and healthy cognitive aging and pave the way for future studies on this topic.

Perspectives

I’m a researcher interested in the predictors of healthy cognitive ageing. Learning to play a musical instrument is a fascinating activity in this context as it engages a variety of cognitive and perceptual skills simultaneously. This research was made possible thanks to the commitment of the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 participants (who completed a long list of cognitive tests every three years) and my co-authors who are experts in Music and Psychology. Working with colleagues from different fields brought a broader perspective and was a particularly rewarding aspect of the project.

Judith Okely
Edinburgh Napier University

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Cognitive aging and experience of playing a musical instrument., Psychology and Aging, August 2023, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/pag0000768.
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