Listening to music and playing a musical instrument may help to avert brain aging in the areas related to these actions, researchers in Switzerland and Germany have found.
As people age, the plasticity of their brain decreases, meaning that neural structures in the brain lose some of their ability to adapt and change as needed in response to stimuli. The older brain also loses gray matter, where these neurons are located.
To determine how musical interventions might impact the aging brain, investigators followed the effects of six-month music interventions in 132 healthy older adults aged 62 to 78 years. Participants either began learning to play the piano or took music appreciation classes. Using neuroimaging, the researchers measured participants’ gray matter volume plasticity and auditory working memory performance.
All participants had an increase in gray matter in four brain regions that are involved in high-level cognitive functioning, the findings revealed. There was also a 6% increase in participants’ working memory performance. The two participants groups differed in the stability of their gray matter, however. The brain’s right primary auditory cortex remained stable in the pianists, but decreased in the active listening group.
However, the researchers also found a difference between the two groups. In the pianists, the volume of gray matter remained stable in the right primary auditory cortex, but it decreased in the active listening group. This area of the brain is a key region for sound processing.
In addition, all participants were found to have a pattern of overall brain atrophy, which naturally occurs with age.
“Therefore, we cannot conclude that musical interventions rejuvenate the brain. They only prevent aging in specific regions,” Damien Marie, PhD, of the University of Geneva and colleagues explained.
But the results are evidence that stimulating group interventions can help to boost brain plasticity and cognitive reserve in older adults, they added. “We argue that education for seniors should become a major policy priority in the framework of healthy aging,” they concluded.
Full findings were published in the journal Neuroimage: Reports.
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