Music helps us reduce cognitive decline.
A recent study carried out at the Memorial University of Newfoundland shows age seems to make little difference when it comes to recognizing music. It turns out, our ability to remember music is stronger than we realized.
The researchers studied people from their 20’s to their 80’s. One interesting result is that the subjects in their 80’s performed just as well as those in their 20’s.
The Study’s Setup
Some of the participants listened to music played in a concert setting. The others listened in a laboratory. This too did not seem to affect results.
Before the concerts, subjects were played a particular musical theme.
They then listened to three musical pieces:
1.A familiar classical work: “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” by Mozart
2. A newly composed piece using normal Western tone structure
3. A newly composed piece of atonal music.
When they heard the particular musical theme, whether in concert or in the lab, they used clickers to signal their recognition.
Not surprisingly, subjects had the least difficulty with the piece by Mozart, followed by the normal-tone music – and the unusual atonal music gave them the most trouble.
“Music on Our Minds”
That’s a report by the Global Council on Brain Health, an organization convened by the AARP to study how we can remain in top cognitive health as we age.
The GCBH experts concluded that music held significant promise for supporting good brain health. That’s engaging with music by listening to it, dancing, singing and making music.
Compared to Nature Sounds
Jacobo Mintzer, M.D. is running a pilot study to evaluate the difference in brain response in patients with dementia to hearing music or sounds from nature.
The result so far? Music helps our brains organize themselves more effectively than listening to nature sounds.
How Music Interacts With Our Brain and Its Functions
According to Psyche Loui, Ph.D., head of the Music, Imaging, and Neural Dynamics (MIND) Lab at Northeastern University in Boston, our brains automatically predict and anticipate rhythms and familiar melodies.
As music is sound, so when we hear it, it affects the part of your brain that perceives and processes sounds. That’s the auditory cortex. When we hear a song or other music we enjoy, that also engages your brain’s reward systems. They’re driven by the neurotransmitter dopamine – the molecule of “more.”
In turn, dopamine motivates you to seek out more pleasure, including learning new information.
Part of that hardwiring is the medial prefrontal cortex – which processes our thoughts and memories about ourselves. Listening to music you’ve known most of your life causes the auditory cortex to communicate with the medial prefrontal cortex.
Based on this, Loui and researchers at the Berklee College of Music and Harvard Medical School came up with an eight-week music-based program for older adults. Compared to control groups, participants in this program developed stronger connections between the auditory cortex and the medial prefrontal cortex.
Effective Against Alzheimer’s?
In mouse studies, sound and light together reduced tau and beta-amyloid plaque in the brains of mice. In people, these same brain deposits of waste proteins are highly correlated with Alzheimer’s.
Therefore, if Loui and colleagues can come up with a sound-light device that reduces tau and beta-amyloid plaque in people, that would be a terrific breakthrough in the fight against dementia.
The Value of Improvisation
Julene Johnson, Ph.D., is a professor at the University of California, San Francisco as well as co-director of the Sound Health Network.
Her current study is testing the possible effects of making music on older adults with mild cognitive impairment. Although many forms of music performance require you to play each note or chord as written, with improvisation it’s up to you to take the original music to a new and original level – as with jazz and rock concerts.
Your Brain Must Function Well to Understand Music
Because so much of the meaning of music is based on the relationships between notes – and parts of each song/piece – it conveys a lot of information within an auditorially complex structure.
Rhythm. Melody. Pace. Chords. Themes and variations. Most nonmusicians don’t appreciate how complex good music often is. That’s why listening to it forces your brain to perform a lot of computing.
Go Ahead, Take Those Lessons You Missed
Whether it’s piano or guitar, violin or flute – at some point in our lives, many of us wanted to play an instrument, but didn’t have the time.
Sometimes we took a few lessons and quit. Many never got around to playing at all.
Now’s the time. According to a study conducted by Exeter University, playing an instrument or singing in a choir is linked to retaining a better memory and cognitive functions.
They studied about a thousand adults over the age 40. They discovered playing a piano worked the best, but – like so many things – you should play what suits you best.
If you prefer the guitar or French horn, take guitar or French horn lessons instead.
These musicians demonstrated better executive function. That’s the brain tasks associated with planning, remembering and prioritising activities.
Choir singers also demonstrated better brain health, but some of that could be attributed to increased social contact with the other members of the choir.
Conclusion
If you already know how to play an instrument, don’t stop. You may never reach Carnegie Hall, but you can improve, learn new pieces of music, improvise or simply maintain the connections you’ve already made in your brain.
If you don’t know how to play an instrument, choose one and take lessons. You don’t have to aim for Carnegie Hall. Have fun. Entertain yourself, your family and your friends.
Listen to the old music that brings back so many memories.
Listen to new music. If you’re older and just can’t stomach modern pop, listen to other genres, classical and music from other countries, including types of music foreign to you.
Dance too, for the exercise, for the music and to have fun with other people.
https://www.aarp.org/health/brain-health/global-council-on-brain-health/music/
https://studyfinds.org/music-key-to-staying-sharp/
https://www.nia.nih.gov/news/could-musical-medicine-influence-healthy-aging
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6447697/
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/keep-your-brain-young-with-music
https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2024/0311/1437152-brain-health-cognition-ageing-playing-music-instruments/
