Losch Hannah, Altenmüller Eckart, Marie Damien, Passarotto Edoardo, Kretschmer Clara R, Scholz Daniel S, Kliegel Matthias, Krüger Tillmann H C, Sinke Christopher, Jünemann Kristin, James Clara E, Worschech Florian
Institute of Music Physiology and Musicians' Medicine, Hannover University of Music, Drama and Media, Hannover, Germany.
Institute for Music Education Research, Hannover University of Music, Drama and Media, Hannover, Germany.
BMC Geriatr. 2024 Dec 19;24(1):1018. doi: 10.1186/s12877-024-05600-2.
Older adults can acquire new skills across different domains. Practicing a musical instrument has been identified as a promising activity for improving cognition, promoting well-being, and inducing brain plasticity in older individuals. However, the mechanisms of these changes are still poorly understood. This study aims to assess musical skill acquisition in musically naïve older adults over one year of practice, focusing on individual factors influencing this process and the relations between musical skills.
One hundred fifty-six healthy older adults (age = 69.5 years ± 3.2) from Hannover and Geneva with no prior musical training participated in weekly piano practice (PP) or 'music culture' (MC) sessions over a one-year period. Baseline assessments included the Cognitive Reserve Index questionnaire (CRIq) and Cognitive Telephone Screening Instrument (CogTel). Musical abilities were measured using piano performance ratings (PP group), music quizzes (MC group), and aptitude tests such as the Beat Alignment Test (BAT), Melodic Discrimination Test (MDT) and Midi Scale Analysis (MSA) at baseline and six-, twelve and 18-month timepoints. The interrelationship between musical abilities was investigated through correlational analyses, and changes impacted through individual characteristics were modeled using Bayesian statistics.
The PP group demonstrated moderate improvements in piano articulation and dynamics, while the MC group achieved higher scores in the music quiz. Modest improvements in MDT and MSA were observed in both groups, with the PP group showing greater progress is MSA. Higher global cognitive functioning and musical sophistication was associated with greater performance in MDT for both groups. We did not identify any links between individual characteristics, like age, CogTel, CRIq, and musical sophistication, and improvement in musical aptitude tests. Changes in different musical aptitude test scores were not correlated, and neither the development of piano skills nor the music quiz correlated with initial performances on the musical aptitude tests.
Musically naïve older adults can acquire diverse musical abilities, which progress independently, suggesting a broad spectrum of musical abilities rather than a single general musical aptitude. Future research should also explore genetic and psychosocial factors influencing musical development.
The Ethikkomission of the Leibniz Universität Hannover approved the protocol on 14.08.17 (no. 3604-2017), the neuroimaging part and blood sampling was approved by the Hannover Medical School on 07.03.18. The full protocol was approved by the Commission cantonale d'éthique de la recherche de Genève (no. 2016-02224) on 27.02.18 and registered at clinicaltrials.gov on 17.09.18 (NCT03674931, no. 81185).
老年人能够在不同领域习得新技能。练习乐器已被视为一种有前景的活动，可改善老年人的认知、促进幸福感并诱导大脑可塑性。然而，这些变化的机制仍知之甚少。本研究旨在评估音乐零基础的老年人在一年练习期间的音乐技能习得情况，重点关注影响这一过程的个体因素以及音乐技能之间的关系。
156名来自汉诺威和日内瓦的健康老年人（年龄 = 69.5岁 ± 3.2岁），他们之前没有接受过音乐训练，在一年时间里每周参加钢琴练习（PP）或“音乐文化”（MC）课程。基线评估包括认知储备指数问卷（CRIq）和认知电话筛查工具（CogTel）。在基线以及6个月、12个月和18个月的时间点，使用钢琴演奏评分（PP组）、音乐测验（MC组）以及诸如节拍对齐测试（BAT）、旋律辨别测试（MDT）和Midi音阶分析（MSA）等能力测试来衡量音乐能力。通过相关性分析研究音乐能力之间的相互关系，并使用贝叶斯统计对受个体特征影响的变化进行建模。
PP组在钢琴清晰度和力度方面有适度提高，而MC组在音乐测验中获得了更高的分数。两组在MDT和MSA方面均有适度改善，PP组在MSA方面进步更大。两组中，更高的整体认知功能和音乐素养与MDT中的更好表现相关。我们未发现年龄、CogTel、CRIq和音乐素养等个体特征与音乐能力测试的提高之间存在任何联系。不同音乐能力测试分数的变化不相关，钢琴技能的发展和音乐测验均与音乐能力测试的初始表现无关。
音乐零基础的老年人能够获得多种音乐能力，且这些能力独立发展，这表明存在广泛的音乐能力而非单一的一般音乐天赋。未来的研究还应探索影响音乐发展的遗传和社会心理因素。
汉诺威莱布尼茨大学伦理委员会于2017年8月14日批准了该方案（编号3604 - 2017），神经成像部分和血液采样于2018年3月7日获得汉诺威医学院批准。完整方案于2018年2月27日获得日内瓦州伦理研究委员会（编号2016 - 02224）批准，并于2018年9月17日在clinicaltrials.gov注册（NCT03674931，编号81185）。
