A study by Tohoku University and Ikebe Musical Instruments Co., Ltd. revealed that healthy elderly people with no musical instrument experience improved their cognitive and psychological functions when they participated in group music sessions.
Playing a musical instrument simultaneously uses hearing, vision, and touch, requiring various information processing in a wide range of brain regions, and is known to improve cognitive and psychological functions. With the progression of aging worldwide, the establishment of preventive measures against dementia is urgently needed, and musical activities are thought to be one effective method.
Previously, the effects of playing musical instruments alone have been studied, but there has been insufficient research on the effects of group music sessions (band performances with multiple types of instruments) among healthy elderly people with no experience playing musical instruments.
In this study, 65 elderly subjects aged 74-27 who had never played a musical instrument were randomly divided into a group that participated in group music sessions and a group that did not, and an experiment was conducted to investigate the effects on cognitive and psychological functions after 16 weeks. The group that participated in the group music sessions held 16-minute sessions every week for 90 weeks, during which the subjects played bass guitar, keyboard, and drums along with simple melodies played on the piano by the instructor. The group that did not participate in the group music sessions went about their daily lives as usual for 16 weeks.
As a result, the group that participated in the group music sessions showed significant improvements in the MMSE score, which is an index of overall cognitive function, the WMS-LM II score, which is an index of verbal memory, and the POMS2 score, which is an index of mood state vitality and energy. None of the indices changed in the group that did not participate in the group music sessions.
These results suggest that group music sessions may maintain and improve the brain and mental health of elderly people. The development of dementia prevention programs incorporating group music sessions may contribute to extending healthy lifespan. In the future, it will be necessary to clarify the mechanisms of effectiveness of group music sessions on cognitive and psychological functions.
Paper information: [Frontiers in Aging] Effects of group music sessions on cognitive and psychological functions in healthy older adults
