School of Aging Studies, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2023 Aug 28;78(9):1484-1492. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbad058.
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.
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).
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.
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.
本研究旨在通过对美国具有代表性的中老年人群体进行为期 12 年以上的音乐参与度与情景记忆关联性的研究。
本研究基于对认知正常的美国健康与退休研究（Health and Retirement Study，HRS）（2006-2018 年）参与者（N=5021）的样本进行的二次分析。情景记忆通过即时和延迟回忆任务进行衡量。音乐参与度分为无、被动（即听音乐）、主动（即唱歌和/或演奏乐器）或两者兼而有之（即听音乐和唱歌或演奏乐器）。
与没有音乐参与的参与者相比，报告有被动和主动参与的参与者在情景记忆任务中的基线得分高 0.258 分。该组在整个研究期间的表现也更好，每次研究访问时得分下降幅度减少了 0.043 分。此外，与没有音乐参与的参与者相比，被动音乐参与的参与者每次访问时的得分下降幅度减少了 0.023 分。对于被动或主动音乐参与的参与者，在基线时的表现没有显著差异，对于主动参与的参与者，在整个研究期间的表现也没有显著差异。
本研究结果表明，被动和主动参与音乐活动可能优于仅被动或主动参与音乐活动，并且以两种方式参与音乐活动可能能够保护情景记忆免受与年龄相关的衰退。未来的研究应该检验社区音乐参与干预是否可以影响这种衰退轨迹。
