Laboratoire PSITEC (EA 4072), Université de Lille Villeneuve d'Ascq, France ; Epilepsy Unit, Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière Paris, France ; Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06 UMR S 1127, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Épinière - ICM, Centre de Neuroimagerie de Recherche - CENIR Paris, France.
Laboratoire PSITEC (EA 4072), Université de Lille Villeneuve d'Ascq, France ; Centre National de Référence des Maladies Rares, Service de Neuropédiatrie, CHRU de Lille, Université de Lille 2 Lille, France.
Front Aging Neurosci. 2015 Mar 12;7:23. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2015.00023. eCollection 2015.
The emotions evoked by music can enhance recognition of excerpts. It has been suggested that memory is better for high than for low arousing music (Eschrich et al., 2005; Samson et al., 2009), but it remains unclear whether positively (Eschrich et al., 2008) or negatively valenced music (Aubé et al., 2013; Vieillard and Gilet, 2013) may be better recognized. Moreover, we still know very little about the influence of age on emotional memory for music. To address these issues, we tested emotional memory for music in young and older adults using musical excerpts varying in terms of arousal and valence. Participants completed immediate and 24 h delayed recognition tests. We predicted highly arousing excerpts to be better recognized by both groups in immediate recognition. We hypothesized that arousal may compensate consolidation deficits in aging, thus showing more prominent benefit of high over low arousing stimuli in older than younger adults on delayed recognition. We also hypothesized worst retention of negative excerpts for the older group, resulting in a recognition benefit for positive over negative excerpts specific to older adults. Our results suggest that although older adults had worse recognition than young adults overall, effects of emotion on memory do not seem to be modified by aging. Results on immediate recognition suggest that recognition of low arousing excerpts can be affected by valence, with better memory for positive relative to negative low arousing music. However, 24 h delayed recognition results demonstrate effects of emotion on memory consolidation regardless of age, with a recognition benefit for high arousal and for negatively valenced music. The present study highlights the role of emotion on memory consolidation. Findings are examined in light of the literature on emotional memory for music and for other stimuli. We finally discuss the implication of the present results for potential music interventions in aging and dementia.
音乐所唤起的情感可以增强对片段的识别。有人认为，高唤醒音乐比低唤醒音乐的记忆效果更好（Eschrich 等人，2005 年；Samson 等人，2009 年），但尚不清楚是积极的（Eschrich 等人，2008 年）还是消极的音乐（Aubé 等人，2013 年；Vieillard 和 Gilet，2013 年）可能会更好地被识别。此外，我们对音乐情绪记忆随年龄变化的影响知之甚少。为了解决这些问题，我们使用唤醒度和效价不同的音乐片段，测试了年轻和老年成年人的音乐情绪记忆。参与者完成了即时和 24 小时延迟识别测试。我们预测，两组在即时识别中都会更好地识别高唤醒的片段。我们假设，唤醒度可能会补偿衰老过程中的巩固缺陷，因此，在延迟识别中，与年轻成年人相比，高唤醒刺激对老年人的影响更为明显，而低唤醒刺激的影响则较小。我们还假设，老年人对负面片段的保留最差，导致老年人对积极片段的识别比负面片段的识别更有优势。我们的结果表明，尽管老年人的整体识别能力不如年轻人，但情绪对记忆的影响似乎不会因年龄而改变。即时识别的结果表明，低唤醒片段的识别可能会受到效价的影响，即与低唤醒的负面音乐相比，积极音乐的记忆效果更好。然而，24 小时延迟识别结果表明，无论年龄如何，情绪对记忆巩固都有影响，高唤醒和负性效价的音乐都有识别优势。本研究强调了情绪对记忆巩固的作用。研究结果结合了音乐情绪记忆和其他刺激的文献进行了讨论。最后，我们讨论了本研究结果对衰老和痴呆症潜在音乐干预的意义。
