{"id":106431,"date":"2024-07-30T12:15:30","date_gmt":"2024-07-30T16:15:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=106431"},"modified":"2024-07-31T12:37:01","modified_gmt":"2024-07-31T16:37:01","slug":"report-new-study-musical-memory-doesnt-seem-fade-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2024\/07\/30\/report-new-study-musical-memory-doesnt-seem-fade-age\/","title":{"rendered":"REPORT | New Study: Musical Memory Doesn\u2019t Seem To Fade As We Age"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_106433\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-106433\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-106433\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/07\/Copy-of-FEATURE-2.jpg\" alt=\"Ole Bull playing the violin, photographic positive, business card circa 1862; artist: Georg E. Hansen (1833-181) (Public domain)\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/07\/Copy-of-FEATURE-2.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/07\/Copy-of-FEATURE-2-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/07\/Copy-of-FEATURE-2-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/07\/Copy-of-FEATURE-2-768x402.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-106433\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ole Bull playing the violin, photographic positive, business card circa 1862; artist: Georg E. Hansen (1833-1891) (Public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A recent research study titled <a href=\"https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/382523597_Age_and_familiarity_effects_on_musical_memory\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Age and familiarity effects on musical memory<\/a> revealed some encouraging findings. The study by Sarah Sauv\u00e9 at the University of Lincoln in the UK was published in the journal PLOS ONE.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019ll hear anecdotes all the time of how people with severe Alzheimer\u2019s can\u2019t speak, can\u2019t recognize people, but will sing the songs of their childhood or play the piano,\u201d comments Sarah Sauv\u00e9 of the University of Lincoln in the United Kingdom in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-024-02369-7#ref-CR1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nature magazine<\/a>. It\u2019s a phenomenon she wanted to examine.<\/p>\n<p>As the paper notes, memory troubles are a common complaint among older adults, and previous research has identified certain criteria that seems to identify which memory-related tasks are affected by aging and which are not.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Tasks which involve recognition of familiar elements and well-known information tend to remain automatic, and unaffected by aging;<\/li>\n<li>Our ability to remember more complex tasks, which involve recalling diverse elements, and collecting and retaining new information, tend to decline as we age.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>The Study<\/h3>\n<p>Based on prior research into memory and music, the paper posits a hypothesis: that cognitive abilities decline as we age, but when we\u2019re familiar with the musical task, our abilities remain essentially the same. In other words, experience and familiarity make the difference.<\/p>\n<p>While the researchers were based in the UK, the study used a performance by the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra in St. John\u2019s (Canada) to test their theory.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>About 90 people between the ages of 18 and 86 experienced the performance live, and another 31 in a lab setting.<\/li>\n<li>The participants listened to three target themes: Mozart\u2019s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, and two pieces commissioned specially for the study, one tonal and one atonal. They heard each theme three times before the performance.<\/li>\n<li>They listened to the concert live, or in a lab setting (of the same performance).<\/li>\n<li>As they listened, they were to press a button, or the spacebar, when they heard the target theme(s).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Cognitive tests, and a questionnaire indicating demographic information, were added to the test results.<\/p>\n<h3>Results<\/h3>\n<p>The results revealed trends along various parameters.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Participants scored higher for accuracy when listening live vs. listening in a laboratory setting.<\/li>\n<li>They scored highest for the familiar Mozart piece (tonal); middling for the new piece that was tonal, and worst for the unfamiliar piece that was atonal.<\/li>\n<li>Age and prior musical training had no bearing on their recognition performance \u2014 familiarity was the key ingredient.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The paper calls the evidence \u201cencouraging\u201d that music, with its diverse connections to cognition and memory, provides a kind of solid framework that withstands the effects of time.<\/p>\n<p>Steffen Herff, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Sydney, Australia, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-024-02369-7#ref-CR1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">spoke to Nature<\/a> about the possibility that emotional connections to the music helped to solidify their place in our memory. \u201cWe know from general memory research that, effectively, the amygdala \u2014 or emotional processing \u2014 operates a little bit like an importance stamp,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<h3>Why is it important?<\/h3>\n<p>The study offers a better glimpse into the way memory operates, and in practical terms, a possible tool for therapists.<\/p>\n<p>As the paper\u2019s author Sarah Sauv\u00e9 noted, there is already anecdotal evidence that musical memory can withstand the harmful effects of neurodegenerative disease. The study offers more proof.<\/p>\n<p>The concept of \u201ccognitive scaffolding\u201d means essentially using an aid that improves learning or memory, and if music is indeed largely immune, then it may be used as such a tool to help people with conditions such as dementia which impair memory.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><em><b>#LUDWIGVAN<\/b><\/em><\/h3>\n<p class=\"western\"><em>Get the daily arts news straight to your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><em>Sign up for the Ludwig van Daily \u2014 classical music and opera in five minutes or less <a href=\"https:\/\/583e6ce0-dfd0-48be-8a33-61256b3c58e3.mlbtlr.com\/p2\/Fbd8jWoWQQ6CdBcLIvut3Q\/02E3cYaETqaj4Xm087cpSg?contactid=S3HHYfHY5rZv5f94S15MnA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/583e6ce0-dfd0-48be-8a33-61256b3c58e3.mlbtlr.com\/p2\/Fbd8jWoWQQ6CdBcLIvut3Q\/02E3cYaETqaj4Xm087cpSg?contactid%3DS3HHYfHY5rZv5f94S15MnA&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1695737525352000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1G4qY6XDg0trMBID9GLq6e\">HERE<\/a><\/em>.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A recent research study titled &#8216;Age and familiarity effects on musical memory&#8217; revealed some encouraging findings that suggest we hold on to the music we love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":106433,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[40967,4967,36,39,55],"tags":[33627,41369],"yst_prominent_words":[15317,8406,8410,6616,6735,8798,7451,14328,14745,12762,7315],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/07\/Copy-of-FEATURE-2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-rGD","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106431"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106431"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106496,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106431\/revisions\/106496"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106431"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=106431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}