Making music maintains memory as we age

People who play a musical instrument, like Tun Dr Siti Hasmah in this filepic, appear to remember things better as they age.

Not everyone learns to play the piano at age three like Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91) or Argentinian-Swiss classical pianist Martha Argerich.

Some take up instruments later in life, and that’s no bad thing.

Researchers at Stony Brook University in the United States looked at whether playing a musical instrument during adolescence and adulthood had an effect on memory problems.

They drew on a survey answered by more than 10,000 high (secondary) school graduates in the American state of Wisconsin in 1957.

The same students were polled again in 1964, 1975, 1993, 2004 and 2011.

Researcher Jamie L. Romeiser and colleagues looked specifically at data collected in 2004 and 2011, when several study participants were asked to complete memory tests.

During one of them, they were asked to remember a list of words and repeat it 12 minutes later, after being distracted by one of the scientists.

Participants in the study had previously provided information about their relationship with music, specifically whether they had learned to play an instrument in high (secondary) school or later in life.

The majority (55%) had not made music since their teenage years.

Only 8% had continued to play an instrument throughout their lives.

The researchers found that the musicians in the study did better on memory tests than those who were not.

While all participants showed signs of cognitive decline in their 60s and beyond, the scores of the instrument players were higher than those of people who had never learned to play an instrument.

Even more surprising, the benefits of playing a musical instrument were not limited to those who started playing in high (secondary) school.

People who started playing musical instruments as adults also had better episodic memory.

It’s enough to make you want to dig out that old guitar that’s been sitting at the back of the closet since you were a teenager. – AFP Relaxnews