Pentikäinen Emmi, Kimppa Lilli, Pitkäniemi Anni, Lahti Outi, Särkämö Teppo
Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Centre of Excellence in Music, Mind, Body, and Brain, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2023 Jul 20;17:1174574. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2023.1174574. eCollection 2023.
While increasing evidence points toward the benefits of musical activities in promoting cognitive and emotional well-being in older adults, more longitudinal studies are needed to establish their long-term effects and uncover the mechanisms through which musical activities affect well-being. Most previous research has focused on instrumental musical activities, but little is currently known about the long-term effects of singing, even though neuroimaging evidence suggests that it is a versatile activity for the brain, involving a multitude of neural processes that are potentially beneficial for well-being.
We conducted a 2-year follow-up study to assess aging-related changes in cognitive functioning and emotional and social well-being with self-report questionnaires and standardized tests in 107 older adult choir singers and 62 demographically matched non-singers. Data were collected at baseline (T1), and at 1-year (T2) and 2-year (T3) follow-ups using questionnaires on subjective cognitive functioning, depression, social engagement, and quality of life (QOL) in all participants and neuropsychological tests in a subgroup of participants (45 choir singers and 41 non-singers).
The results of linear mixed model analysis showed that in verbal flexibility (phonemic fluency task), the choir singers had higher scores already at T1 and showed no change over time, whereas the non-singers showed enhancement from T1 to T3. Furthermore, active retrieval of word knowledge (WAIS-IV Vocabulary task) showed significantly different changes from T1 to T2 between the groups (enhancement in choir singers and decline in non-singers), however lacking significant change within groups. Similar opposite trajectories of QOL related to social inclusion and safety of the environment (WHOQOL-Bref Environmental subscale) were significant from T1 to T3, but these changes were not significant within groups or at each timepoint. Within the choir singers, shorter experience in choir singing was associated with greater improvement in the vocabulary task over the follow-up period, suggesting that initiation of choir singing at older age induces some verbal benefits. There were no group differences in any other questionnaire or neuropsychological measure over time.
In conclusion, our results suggest that choir singing at older age is associated with a sustained enhancement of phonemic fluency, while the effects on other verbal skills and quality of life are less clear.
虽然越来越多的证据表明音乐活动对促进老年人的认知和情感健康有益，但仍需要更多的纵向研究来确定其长期影响，并揭示音乐活动影响幸福感的机制。以往的大多数研究都集中在器乐音乐活动上，但目前对于唱歌的长期影响知之甚少，尽管神经影像学证据表明唱歌对大脑来说是一项多功能活动，涉及多种可能有益于幸福感的神经过程。
我们进行了一项为期两年的随访研究，通过自我报告问卷和标准化测试，评估了107名老年合唱团歌手和62名人口统计学特征匹配的非歌手在认知功能、情感和社会幸福感方面与衰老相关的变化。在基线（T1）、1年随访（T2）和2年随访（T3）时收集数据，所有参与者均使用关于主观认知功能、抑郁、社会参与和生活质量（QOL）的问卷，一部分参与者（45名合唱团歌手和41名非歌手）还进行了神经心理学测试。
线性混合模型分析结果显示，在言语灵活性（音素流畅性任务）方面，合唱团歌手在T1时得分就较高，且随时间没有变化，而非歌手从T1到T3表现出提高。此外，单词知识的主动检索（韦氏成人智力量表第四版词汇任务）显示，两组从T1到T2有显著不同的变化（合唱团歌手提高，非歌手下降），但组内没有显著变化。与社会包容和环境安全相关的生活质量（世界卫生组织生活质量量表简表环境领域）在T1到T3之间有类似的相反轨迹，但这些变化在组内或每个时间点都不显著。在合唱团歌手中，在合唱团唱歌的时间较短与随访期间词汇任务的更大改善相关，这表明老年时开始参加合唱团唱歌会带来一些言语方面的益处。随着时间的推移，在任何其他问卷或神经心理学测量中都没有发现组间差异。
总之，我们的结果表明，老年人参加合唱团唱歌与音素流畅性的持续提高有关，而对其他言语技能和生活质量的影响则不太明确。
