Giannouli Vaitsa, Yordanova Juliana, Kolev Vasil
Institute of Neurobiology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria.
School of Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece.
J Intell. 2024 May 23;12(6):54. doi: 10.3390/jintelligence12060054.
The aim of this research was to enhance understanding of the relationship between brief music listening and working memory (WM) functions. The study extends a previous large-scale experiment in which the effects of brief exposure to music on verbal WM were explored. In the present second phase of the experiment, these effects were assessed for the visuospatial subcomponent of WM. For that aim, visuospatial WM was measured using the Corsi blocks task-backwards and Visual Patterns Test in a large sample of 311 young and older adults after being exposed to musical excerpts coming from different music composers (Mozart, Vivaldi, Glass). To account for possible effects of arousal, a silence condition was used. Individual preference for music excerpts and emotional reactions to each condition were also subjectively rated using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) to account for the role of emotional reactions in shaping subsequent cognitive performance. Results showed that music affected the visuospatial sketchpad of WM. In line with the previously described Mozart effect, only Mozart's music had a significant positive impact on visuospatial WM in the two age groups, regardless of preferences, and on overall age-related WM decline in older adults. The Mozart effect was more prominent for the VPT than the Corsi task and was also expressed for the prevailing positive effect. These observations are in contrast to the selective influence of Vivaldi's music on verbal WM that was detected in our first study. Together, the results demonstrate a differential music influence on the phonological loop and on the visuospatial sketchpad. They thus contribute to the debate of whether music has the potential to affect distinct processes within working memory in an excerpt- or composer-specific manner. Also, they suggest that emotional activation and central executive attention are essentially involved in modulating the influence of music on subsequent cognition. These findings can assist in the selection of music excerpts used in cognitive rehabilitation programs that focus on visuospatial skills.
本研究的目的是加深对短暂音乐聆听与工作记忆（WM）功能之间关系的理解。该研究扩展了之前的一项大规模实验，在该实验中探讨了短暂接触音乐对言语工作记忆的影响。在本实验的第二阶段，针对工作记忆的视觉空间子成分评估了这些影响。为此，在311名年轻和年长成年人的大样本中，在他们接触来自不同音乐作曲家（莫扎特、维瓦尔第、格拉斯）的音乐片段后，使用Corsi方块任务逆向版和视觉模式测试来测量视觉空间工作记忆。为了考虑唤醒的可能影响，设置了安静条件。还使用积极和消极情绪量表（PANAS）对音乐片段的个人偏好和对每种条件的情绪反应进行主观评分，以说明情绪反应在塑造后续认知表现中的作用。结果表明，音乐影响了工作记忆的视觉空间画板。与之前描述的莫扎特效应一致，只有莫扎特的音乐对两个年龄组的视觉空间工作记忆有显著的积极影响，无论偏好如何，并且对老年人与年龄相关的整体工作记忆衰退也有影响。莫扎特效应在视觉模式测试中比在Corsi任务中更显著，并且也表现为普遍的积极效应。这些观察结果与我们第一项研究中检测到的维瓦尔第音乐对言语工作记忆的选择性影响形成对比。总之，结果表明音乐对语音回路和视觉空间画板有不同的影响。因此，它们有助于讨论音乐是否有可能以片段或作曲家特定的方式影响工作记忆中的不同过程。此外，它们还表明情绪激活和中央执行注意力在调节音乐对后续认知的影响中起着重要作用。这些发现有助于在专注于视觉空间技能的认知康复计划中选择使用的音乐片段。
