ArticleBrain structure & function2023
Is musical engagement enough to keep the brain young?
Article in Brain structure & function, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- Stages of objective memory impairment are associated with accelerated brain aging.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Creative experiences and brain clocks.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Examining the influence of musical sophistication, cognitive performance, and social skills on the Brain Age Gap Estimate (BrainAGE).Brain structure & function · 2025Article
- Musical Sophistication and Multilingualism: Effects on Arcuate Fasciculus Characteristics.Human brain mapping · 2024Article
- Choir singing is associated with enhanced structural connectivity across the adult lifespan.Human brain mapping · 2024Article
- Expertise, brain plasticity, and resting state.Psychoradiology · 2024Article
- The effects of musicality on brain network topology in the context of Alzheimer's disease and memory decline.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2024Article
- Musical experience prior to traumatic exposure as a resilience factor: a conceptual analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Review
- The embodied mind in motion: a neuroscientific and philosophical perspective on prevention and therapy of dementia.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Music-making and engagement in music-related activities have shown procognitive benefits for healthy and pathological populations, suggesting reductions in brain aging. A previous brain aging study, using Brain Age Gap Estimation (BrainAGE), showed that professional and amateur-musicians had younger appearing brains than non-musicians. Our study sought to replicate those findings and analyze if musical training or active musical engagement was necessary to produce an age-decelerating effect in a cohort of healthy individuals. We scanned 125 healthy controls and investigated if musician status, and if musical behaviors, namely active engagement (AE) and musical training (MT) [as measured using the Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index (Gold-MSI)], had effects on brain aging. Our findings suggest that musician status is not related to BrainAGE score, although involvement in current physical activity is. Although neither MT nor AE subscales of the Gold-MSI are predictive for BrainAGE scores, dispositional resilience, namely the ability to deal with challenge, is related to both musical behaviors and sensitivity to musical pleasure. While the study failed to replicate the findings in a previous brain aging study, musical training and active musical engagement are related to the resilience factor of challenge. This finding may reveal how such musical behaviors can potentially strengthen the brain's resilience to age, which may tap into a type of neurocognitive reserve.
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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.