Can background music help older adults remember where words came from?

Details

Previous neuroimaging studies of cognitive aging have linked episodic memory deficits to limitations in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Improving episodic memory despite these deficits is therefore an important issue in aging research. Listening to music can stimulate cognitive performance in activities that are not purely musical, including language and memory. The researchers proposed that music might provide a helpful resource during verbal encoding and support later retrieval. They also suggested that this benefit might involve less demand on the PFC, which is important for encoding.

The study examined whether music could improve episodic memory in older adults while decreasing PFC activity. Sixteen healthy older adults, with a mean age of 64.5 years, encoded word lists presented with or without background music. Their dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) activity was monitored using an eight-channel continuous-wave near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) system (Oxymon Mk III, Artinis, The Netherlands).

Source-memory performance was better for words encoded with music than for words encoded in silence (p < 0.05). Functional NIRS data also showed lower oxyhemoglobin values on both sides of the DLPFC during encoding with music than during encoding in silence (p < 0.05), suggesting to the researchers that music modulated DLPFC activity in a less-demanding direction. Taken together, the researchers concluded that music may help older adults' memory performance by decreasing PFC activity. They suggested the findings open perspectives for music as an episodic memory rehabilitation tool for populations with memory deficits due to frontal lobe damage, such as patients with Alzheimer's disease.