Exploring Involvement in Musical Activity as a Predictor of Cognitive Resilience in Healthy Older Adults
Objective:
The aim of the current study is to explore the role of involvement in music across lifetime on cognitive functioning of the healthy elderly.
Background:
Aging is a natural process and is often associated with impaired functioning and brain atrophy. Decline in cognition is one of the major issues of the elderly and literature suggests music to be one of the protective factors against the same. Studies suggest musical practice, both in the past and present appears to be a promising mode of protection against cognitive decline.Brain imaging studies suggest that musicians have greater GM volume in certain brain areas involved in motor, auditory and visual processing
Design/Methods:
54 healthy elderly individuals (50-80 years of age) residing in an urban locality were selected for the study from the baseline data of the Tata Longitudinal Study of Aging (TLSA). Addenbrooke Cognitive Examination-III (ACE-III) and Trail Making Test-B (TMT-B) were used to assess cognitive functioning. Participants were divided into groups: Musicians (n =18), other artists (n = 9) and non-artists (n = 27). A regression model was introduced to study the relationship between involvement in musical activity and cognition. We also looked at the available brain imaging (MRI) data of a subset of our cohort to check for volumetric differences in the brain between the groups.
Results:
The regression coefficient (β) for TMT-B was found to be –37.49 for musicians with a p-value of 0.034 which was suggestive of musicians to have better executive functioning. Additionally, it was found that individuals with more years of education had better cognition in later age. Voxel-base morphometry (VBM) analysis on brain imaging data suggested non-musicians to have a reduction in Grey Matter (GM) volumes in various regions of the brain.
Conclusions:
Involvement in music has positive implications on cognitive functioning and maintenance of GM volume in healthy elderly individuals.