ArticleHuman brain mapping2021
Musical instrument training program improves verbal memory and neural efficiency in novice older adults.
Article in Human brain mapping, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 40 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effortful and effortless training of executive functions improve brain multiple demand system activities differently: an activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis of functional neuroimaging studies.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Pooled it
- Self-directed music play to improve executive function in young children using NIRS.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- A Pilot Study Examining the Effects of Music Training on Attention in Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD).Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Trial
- Effects of dance training on oxytocin secretion and neural activity in older adults with subjective cognitive decline.Innovation in aging · 2026Article
- Emergent motor timing enhances time perception.iScience · 2025Article
- Subcortical gray matter aging and attentional control in amateur musicians and nonmusicians.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2025Article
- Predictors for Enjoyment in Playing Musical Instruments with a Focus on Psychological Factors.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Effects of group music sessions on cognitive and psychological functions in healthy older adults.Frontiers in aging · 2025Article
- Never too late to start musical instrument training: Effects on working memory and subcortical preservation in healthy older adults across 4 years.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025Article
- Attention, working memory, and inhibitory control in aging: Comparing amateur singers, instrumentalists, and active controls.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2024Article
- Neural underpinnings of ethical decisions in life and death dilemmas in naïve and expert firefighters.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Article
- The impact of music making on neural efficiency & dual-task walking performance in healthy older adults.Neuropsychology, development, and cognition. Section B, Aging, neuropsychology and cognition · 2024Article
- Musical experience influences socio-emotional functioning in behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Article
- Short communication: Lifetime musical activity and resting-state functional connectivity in cognitive networks.PloS one · 2024Article
- Enhanced neural mechanisms of set shifting in musically trained adolescents and young adults: converging fMRI, EEG, and behavioral evidence.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2023Article
- Article
- Effects of a 10-week musical instrument training on cognitive function in healthy older adults: implications for desirable tests and period of training.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2023Article
- Musical Activity During Life Is Associated With Multi-Domain Cognitive and Brain Benefits in Older Adults.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Musical instrument training program improves verbal memory and neural efficiency in novice older adults.Human brain mapping · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Previous studies indicate that musical instrument training may improve the cognitive function of older adults. However, little is known about the neural origins of training-related improvement in cognitive function. Here, we assessed the effects of instrumental training program on cognitive functions and neural efficiency in musically naïve older adults (61-85 years old). Participants were assigned to either the intervention group, which received a 4-month instrumental training program using keyboard harmonica, or a control group without any alternative training. Cognitive measurements and functional magnetic resonance imaging during visual working memory (VWM) task were administered before and after the intervention in both groups. Behavioral data revealed that the intervention group significantly improved memory performance on the test that measures verbal recall compared to the control group. Neuroimaging data revealed that brain activation in the right supplementary motor area, left precuneus, and bilateral posterior cingulate gyrus (PCgG) during the VWM task decreased after instrumental training only in the intervention group. Task-related functional connectivity (FC) analysis revealed that the intervention group showed decreased FC between the right PCgG and left middle temporal gyrus, and between the left putamen and right superior temporal gyrus (lPu-rSTG) during a VWM task after the intervention. Furthermore, a greater improvement in memory performance in the intervention group was associated with a larger reduction in lPu-rSTG FC, which might be interpreted as improved neural efficiency. Our results indicate that the musical instrument training program may contribute to improvements in verbal memory and neural efficiency in novice older adults.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.