Visual memory in musicians and non-musicians

Abstract

Many investigations have reported structural, functional, and cognitive changes in the brains of musicians, which occur as a result of many years of musical practice. We aimed to investigate if intensive, long-term musical practice is associated with improved visual memory ability. Musicians and non-musicians, who were comparable in age, gender, and education, were submitted to a visual memory test. The test consisted of the presentation of four sets of stimuli, each one containing eight figures to be memorized. Each set was followed by individual figures and the subject was required to indicate if each figure was or was not present in the memorized set, by pressing the corresponding keys. We divided the test in two parts, in which the stimuli had greater or reduced semantic coding. Overall, musicians showed better performance on reaction times, but not on accuracy. An additional analysis revealed no significant interaction between group and any part of the test in the prediction of the outcomes. When simple reaction time was included as covariate, no significant difference between groups was found on reaction times. In the group of musicians, we found some significant correlations between variables related to musical practice and performance in the visual memory test. In summary, our data provide no evidence of enhanced visual memory ability in musicians, since there was no difference in accuracy between groups. Our results suggest that performance of musicians in the visual memory test may be associated with better sensorimotor integration, since although they have presented shorter reaction times, such effect disappeared when taken in consideration the simple reaction time test. However, given existing evidence of associations between simple reaction time and cognitive function, their performance in the visual memory test could also be related to enhanced visual attention ability, as has been suggested by previous studies, but this hypothesis deserves more investigation.

Music Makes the World Go Round: The Impact of Musical Training on Non-musical Cognitive Functions—A Review

“…Visual attention also seems to be improved in musicians ( Rodrigues et al, 2014 ). This finding was confirmed by a recent longitudinal study in which musical training was found to increase visual attention over time ( Roden et al, 2014 ).…”

Age of onset in musical practice on cognitive functioning

“…Other research found that auditory memory improves in musicians, but not visual memory (Chan, et al, 1998). While Rodrigues et al (2014) report that in an image memorization task there were significant differences in reaction times, but not in accuracy, they suggest that there may be better sensorimotor integration by musicians. Giovagnoli and Raglio (2011), using the copy and memory of Rey's complex Figure and the word list learning task, did not find significant differences, this agrees with this research because no difference was found in these tasks more than in the strategy used to solve the word list.…”

“…Thus, the study of music as a neuropsychological phenomenon has gained relevance, as it provides valuable information regarding a wide variety of cognitive processes. In general, musicians have better performance in verbal memory tasks (Chan, Ho, & Cheung, 1998), sensorimotor integration, visual attention (Rodrigues, Loureiro & Caramelli, 2014) working memory (Clayton Swaminathan, Yazdanbakhsh, Zuk, Patel, & Kidd, 2016). It is essential to consider the stage of neurodevelopment in which the musical practice begins for the evaluation of structural and functional changes.…”

Musical Training in Congenital Hearing Impairment. Effects on Cognitive and Motor Skill in Three Children Using Hearing Aids: Pilot Test Data

“…Studies mentioned so far present the following limits; (1) their main focus is on primary school children and (2) they investigate the effect of musical training on phonetic awareness, language, and memory (auditory or digit span task), disregarding all other cognitive abilities potentially influenced by music. “Even if the effect of music training on non-auditory findings are preliminary and in need of further corroboration, musical program seem to enhance working memory (Bergman Nutley et al, 2014 ; Zuk et al, 2014 ), motor and visual-spatial skills (Benz et al, 2016 ), and visual attention (Roden et al, 2014 ; Rodrigues et al, 2014 ).” This case report focuses on non-instrumental musical training offered to three pre-school children with CHI with the aim of investigating its effects on complex cognitive functions governing language development, such as memory, attention, and motor skills.…”