Instrument Playing as a Cognitive Intervention Task for Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

The aim of this meta-analysis was to review studies that applied musical instrument playing as an intervention to improve cognitive functioning of older adults with and without cognitive impairment. English-language articles published between 1990 and 2018 were searched using electronic databases. Music therapy journals were also hand searched for relevant research. Inclusion criteria for participants were older adults, ages 60 years and older, and any clinical diagnosis of cognitive impairment had to be due to aging. Searches used combinations of the following keywords: older adults, instrument playing, and cognitive outcomes measures. A total of 10 studies that met the inclusion criteria were included in the final analysis: five studies with healthy older adults, two with older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), two studies with older adults with dementia, and one study with both healthy older adults and older adults with MCI. The results of this meta-analysis demonstrated that different types of cognitive involvement were demanded from instrument playing. Furthermore, depending on the type of involvement, a target cognitive domain was found to be differentially impacted by the instrument playing intervention. This study supports using different types of instrument playing for interventions targeting specific cognitive domains of older adults with varying levels of cognitive aging.

Cognitive Intervention with Musical Stimuli Using Digital Devices on Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Pilot Study

“…Hand-eye coordination guided by auditory stimuli improved the executive and visuospatial function as well as memory. Moreover, multiple steps depending on difficulty level with the complexities of musical tasks and cognitive-motor function might be effective in the frontal lobe function [25].…”

“…The Patients were asked to tap the musical stimuli-presenting digital devices in synchronization with the color-matching stimuli aligned with the isochronous beats by each song. Auditory and tactile feedbacks, such as a percussion 'tock' sound was provided each time the patient tapped [25]. They could listen to each song and auditory feedback only through the headphones, which helped reduce noise from the surrounding environment.…”

“…(2) The musical components of songs, such as specific tempo (e.g., bpm and duple or triple meter), rhythm (e.g., simple, complex, syncopated rhythm, or non-beat based rhythm), melody (e.g., various intervals, tonal, musical mode, or voice parts), lyrics (e.g., specific letter patterns, related emotion, or memory), forms (e.g., repeated musical phrases, specific phrases, or various accompaniment's styles), and so on, may help different integrated sensory-motor responses through listening to music and playing the instruments on the basis of external musical cues [27]. (3) The period of entrainment helps regulate and synchronize the rhythmic cue to optimize movement patterns and performance of timed visuomotor tasks [25]. (4) The lyrics and musical traits of songs provided not only emotional reminiscence and pleasure, but also predictable external cue as structured auditory stimuli [28].…”

Effects of musical improvisation as a cognitive and motor intervention for the elderly

“…There is also a correlation between EF and health indicators of the elderly, such as walking speed (Taylor et al, 2017). Recently, practicing musical improvisation and percussion has been related to executive gains and discussed as promoters of cognitive health for the elderly (Biasutti & Mangiacotti, 2017;Kim & Yoo, 2019). Pressing (1987) explains the practice of improvisation through a three-step model: input (sensory organs); processing and decision making (central nervous system); and motor output.…”

The behavioral and neurophysiological effects of music training on cognitive and motor inhibition in aging adults

“…Mansens et al (2017) found that playing a musical instrument once every two weeks as an older adult is associated with better attention, episodic memory, and executive function. Furthermore, recent meta-analysis of 10 music training interventions in older adults showed overall improvements in memory, processing speed, and general cognition (Kim & Yoo, 2019). This suggests that learning an instrument at any age may improve cognition.…”