Sensitive Period of Music Training and Late-Life Cognitive Reserve

A Cross Sectional Comparison Between Older Adult Musicians

Yu, Aiping

Honours

2022

Strong, Jessica

Bachelor of Science

Faculty of Science. Honours in Psychology.

Psychology

Psychology

University of Prince Edward Island

Charlottetown, PE

Healthy ageing is an essential topic for health care workers and professionals today. Music training is known for its benefits on cognition for all age groups. I studied the effect of music training on cognitive outcomes among older adult musicians based on their age of acquisition. I divided a sample of healthy older adults (N=31) who identified as having formal music training experience into two groups: early trained musicians (age of acquisition <= 7, mean = 5.8 years old, N = 13), and late Show moreHealthy ageing is an essential topic for health care workers and professionals today. Music training is known for its benefits on cognition for all age groups. I studied the effect of music training on cognitive outcomes among older adult musicians based on their age of acquisition. I divided a sample of healthy older adults (N=31) who identified as having formal music training experience into two groups: early trained musicians (age of acquisition <= 7, mean = 5.8 years old, N = 13), and late trained musicians (age of acquisition >= eight years old, mean = 11.8 years old, N = 18). Participants completed a cognitive test battery examining their general cognitive functioning and a series of questionnaires asking about their life experience on many dimensions. Independent t-tests showed that early trained musicians and late trained musicians did not significantly differ in their physical activity level, social activity level, or social support. Moreover, there were no group differences on test scores in the domains of executive functioning (D-KEFS Colour Word Interference Trial (CWIT) 3, Mann-Whitney U = 81, p = 0.357; D-KEFS CWIT Trial 4, Mann-Whitney U = 81.5, p = .59), verbal memory (CVLT short delay, t = 1.29, p =.29, or CVLT long delay, t = 0.71, p = .48), attention (Digit Span Backward, t = 1.4, p = .17, or Digit Span Sequence t = -.13, p = 0.90), or language (BNT, Mann-Whitney U = 84.5, p = .43). The result shows that the age of acquisition of music training may not impact long-term cognitive functioning in the current sample. Show less

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