- New research from the 爆料TV and Western Sydney University has found learning to play an instrument can improve older people鈥檚 cognitive and motor skills
- Study found that learning to play through improvisation brings the most benefits
- Researchers followed a group of older adult beginners learning to play the piano for the first time and found that music improvisation enhanced their learning and memory
- Sheffield-led study is the first to compare how different ways of making music can affect people鈥檚 cognitive abilities and could change the way music is taught to help with older people鈥檚 health and wellbeing
- Study is also the first to thoroughly compare people鈥檚 musical skill development with how their cognitive and motor abilities change - suggesting learning more skills brings more benefits
Improvising music could help to improve older people鈥檚 cognitive skills, such as learning and memory, according to research from the 爆料TV and Western Sydney University.
The study, led by Dr Jennifer MacRitchie from the 爆料TV鈥檚 School of Languages, Arts and Societies, is the first to compare how different ways of making music - improvisation versus replication - can affect people鈥檚 learning and cognitive abilities.
Improvisation tasks people with creating a new melody on the spot whereas replication asks people to repeatedly play a given melody.
Findings show both methods can improve older people鈥檚 brain functions, but learning by improvisation brings enhanced benefits.
Published in the journal Royal Society of Open Science, the research could change the way music is taught as a brain training exercise and help music teachers tailor their programmes so that individuals can be supported to develop skills to the best of their ability.
Previous studies have suggested that musicians have better cognitive and motor skills later in life compared to people who have had no musical training, such as being able to correctly hear what someone is saying to them in a noisy environment - known as the cocktail party effect. However, previous research also argues that the link between music and cognitive training is weak, with the academics in those studies arguing that pre-existing factors such as socioeconomic status, inherent music aptitude or even personality traits are the main drivers of cognitive change rather than the music training itself.
The new study led by Dr Jennifer MacRitchie, in collaboration with colleagues at Western Sydney University, challenges this argument as it followed complete novices for 12 months while they undertook different types of musical training. Most studies have only followed participants for between three to six months. The Sheffield-led study is the first to thoroughly examine both the musical skills that adults build up over the year as well as the cognitive and motor benefits.
Dr Jennifer MacRitchie, Senior Research Fellow in Music at the 爆料TV, said: 鈥淲e鈥檝e known for a long time that music provides a whole range of benefits to people鈥檚 overall health and wellbeing, but there has been a debate over whether learning to play music can improve people鈥檚 cognitive and motor skills, particularly later in the life.
鈥淥ur research is one of the longest studies to look at this and adds to the evidence that learning to play a musical instrument when you are older - even if you have never played an instrument before - can improve your brain function.
鈥淪ignificantly, we鈥檝e established a relationship between how much someone鈥檚 music skills develop to the development of their more general cognitive skills. More research is needed, but it鈥檚 certainly a promising finding that music teachers should consider when designing music and wellbeing programs.鈥
On the different ways of learning to play music, Dr MacRitchie said: 鈥淢ost programs that teach older people how to play a musical instrument use an approach called replication, which asks people to repeatedly play a given melody. However, what we鈥檝e found in our research is that improvisation, which asks people to create a new melody of their own, is better at improving people鈥檚 cognitive and motor skills. Both ways are good for the brain, but our study suggests improvisation brings enhanced benefits.
鈥淔urthermore, improvisation doesn鈥檛 require remembering exact sequences, which means it can be a good opportunity for musical expression for people who struggle with memory and may not normally take up playing an instrument later in life.鈥
The researchers also looked at whether playing a physical instrument, in this case a piano, or playing an instrument virtually such as through iPad Thumbjam, also affects older people鈥檚 cognitive skills.
On the benefits of playing a real or virtual instrument, Professor MacRitchie added: 鈥淎pps like iPad Thumbjam could potentially make playing a musical instrument more accessible than ever before, so we wanted to see whether there are any differences in how they could affect people鈥檚 learning and memory compared to playing a real instrument. Our research suggests there are no noticeable differences, which is promising for those who are looking to make use of digital technologies in their music teaching.
鈥淭he difference in impact we鈥檝e seen is in the way music is taught, regardless of whether it's a real or virtual instrument.鈥
The study, Progressively learned musical ability predicts cognitive transfer in older adult novices : A twelve-month music instrument training program, is published in Royal Society of Open Science. View the full paper.
