title: Musical Training and Late-Life Cognition.
abstract: This study investigated the effects of early- to midlife musical training on cognition in older adults. A musical training survey examined self-reported musical experience and objective knowledge in 237 cognitively intact participants. Responses were classified into low-, medium-, and high-knowledge groups. Linear mixed models compared the groups' longitudinal performance on the Animal Naming Test (ANT; semantic verbal fluency) and Logical Memory Story A Immediate Recall (LMI; episodic memory) controlling for baseline age, time since baseline, education, sex, and full-scale IQ. Results indicate that high-knowledge participants had significantly higher LMI scores at baseline and over time compared to low-knowledge participants. The ANT scores did not differ among the groups. Ability to read music was associated with higher mean scores for both ANT and LMI over time. Early- to midlife musical training may be associated with improved late-life episodic and semantic memory as well as a useful marker of cognitive reserve.
authors.affiliation: College of Fine Arts, University of Kentucky (Dr Gooding), Lexington, KY, USA lori.gooding@uky.edu.
authors.forename: Lori F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Gooding
authors.affiliation: Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA Department of Epidemiology, College of Public Health, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA.
authors.forename: Erin L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Abner
authors.affiliation: Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA Department of Statistics, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA.
authors.forename: Gregory A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Jicha
authors.affiliation: Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA Department of Statistics, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA Department of Biostatistics, College of Public Health, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA.
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Kryscio
authors.affiliation: Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA Department of Neurology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA.
authors.forename: Fredrick A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Schmitt
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D058245:Cognitive Reserve / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D009146:Music
keywords: aging; cognitive reserve; memory; musical training