Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
PLoS One. 2013 Aug 7;8(8):e71630. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0071630. Print 2013.
The current study investigates whether long-term music training and practice are associated with enhancement of general cognitive abilities in late middle-aged to older adults. Professional musicians and non-musicians who were matched on age, education, vocabulary, and general health were compared on a near-transfer task involving auditory processing and on far-transfer tasks that measured spatial span and aspects of cognitive control. Musicians outperformed non-musicians on the near-transfer task, on most but not all of the far-transfer tasks, and on a composite measure of cognitive control. The results suggest that sustained music training or involvement is associated with improved aspects of cognitive functioning in older adults.
本研究旨在探讨长期的音乐训练和练习是否与中老年人大脑认知能力的提高有关。在一项涉及听觉处理的近迁移任务以及测量空间广度和认知控制方面的远迁移任务上，研究人员对年龄、教育程度、词汇量和整体健康状况相匹配的专业音乐家和非音乐家进行了比较。音乐家在近迁移任务上的表现优于非音乐家，在大多数但不是所有的远迁移任务上，以及在认知控制的综合衡量指标上，都表现得更好。研究结果表明，持续的音乐训练或参与与老年人认知功能的提高有关。
