Abstract
This study investigated the effects of early- to midlife musical training on cognition in older adults. A musical training survey examined self-reported musical experience and objective knowledge in 237 cognitively intact participants. Responses were classified into low-, medium-, and high-knowledge groups. Linear mixed models compared the groups’ longitudinal performance on the Animal Naming Test (ANT; semantic verbal fluency) and Logical Memory Story A Immediate Recall (LMI; episodic memory) controlling for baseline age, time since baseline, education, sex, and full-scale IQ. Results indicate that high-knowledge participants had significantly higher LMI scores at baseline and over time compared to low-knowledge participants. The ANT scores did not differ among the groups. Ability to read music was associated with higher mean scores for both ANT and LMI over time. Early- to midlife musical training may be associated with improved late-life episodic and semantic memory as well as a useful marker of cognitive reserve.
Content
Musical Training and Late-Life Cognition
Lori F. Gooding, PhD1ਪ*’
Erin L. Abner, PhD2,3
Gregory A. Jicha, MD, PhD2,4
Richard J. Kryscio, PhD2,4,5
Fredrick A. Schmitt, PhD2,6
1College of Fine Arts, University of Kentucky (Dr Gooding), Lexington, KY, USA
2Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA
3Department of Epidemiology, College of Public Health, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA
4Department of Statistics, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA
5Department of Biostatistics, College of Public Health, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA
6Department of Neurology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA
Lori F. Gooding, PhD, College of Fine Arts, University of Kentucky, 105 Fine Arts, Lexington, KY 40506, USA. Email: lori.gooding@uky.edu
http://aja.sagepub.com/content/29/4/333.abstract