TY - JOUR
T1 - Music Engagement and Episodic Memory Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults
T2 - A National Longitudinal Analysis
AU - Rouse, Hillary J.
AU - Doyle, Cassidy
AU - Hueluer, Gizem
AU - Torres, Mia D.
AU - Peterson, Lindsay J.
AU - Pan, Xi
AU - Dobbs, Debra
AU - Du, Yan
AU - Conner, Kyaien
AU - Meng, Hongdao
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2023.
PY - 2023/9/1
Y1 - 2023/9/1
N2 - Objectives: The objective of this study was to examine associations between music engagement and episodic memory for more than 12 years in a nationally representative sample of middle- and older-aged adults in the United States. Methods: This study is based on a secondary analysis of data from a sample (N = 5,021) of cognitively normal adults from the Health and Retirement Study (2006–2018). Episodic memory was measured by immediate and delayed recall tasks. Music engagement was classified as none, passive (i.e., listening to music), active (i.e., singing and/or playing an instrument), or both (i.e., listening to music and singing or playing an instrument). Results: Compared with those with no music engagement, respondents who reported both passive and active engagement performed 0.258 points better at baseline on episodic memory tasks. This group also performed better across time with scores that declined by 0.043 points fewer per study visit. Additionally, compared to those with no music engagement, participants with passive music engagement had scores that declined by 0.023 points fewer per visit. There were no significant differences in performance at baseline for those with passive or active music engagement, or across time for those with active engagement. Discussion: The results of this study suggest that engaging in both passive and active music engagement may be superior to engaging with music only passively or actively and that engaging in music both ways may be able to protect against age-related declines in episodic memory. Future research should examine whether community-based music engagement interventions can affect this trajectory of decline.
AB - Objectives: The objective of this study was to examine associations between music engagement and episodic memory for more than 12 years in a nationally representative sample of middle- and older-aged adults in the United States. Methods: This study is based on a secondary analysis of data from a sample (N = 5,021) of cognitively normal adults from the Health and Retirement Study (2006–2018). Episodic memory was measured by immediate and delayed recall tasks. Music engagement was classified as none, passive (i.e., listening to music), active (i.e., singing and/or playing an instrument), or both (i.e., listening to music and singing or playing an instrument). Results: Compared with those with no music engagement, respondents who reported both passive and active engagement performed 0.258 points better at baseline on episodic memory tasks. This group also performed better across time with scores that declined by 0.043 points fewer per study visit. Additionally, compared to those with no music engagement, participants with passive music engagement had scores that declined by 0.023 points fewer per visit. There were no significant differences in performance at baseline for those with passive or active music engagement, or across time for those with active engagement. Discussion: The results of this study suggest that engaging in both passive and active music engagement may be superior to engaging with music only passively or actively and that engaging in music both ways may be able to protect against age-related declines in episodic memory. Future research should examine whether community-based music engagement interventions can affect this trajectory of decline.
KW - Health care and interventions
KW - Longitudinal methods
KW - Memory
KW - Music
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U2 - 10.1093/geronb/gbad058
DO - 10.1093/geronb/gbad058
M3 - Article
C2 - 37082891
AN - SCOPUS:85168808872
SN - 1079-5014
VL - 78
SP - 1484
EP - 1492
JO - Journals of Gerontology - Series B Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences
JF - Journals of Gerontology - Series B Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences
IS - 9
ER -