Lifetime musical experience and healthy ageing

从童谣到乐队演奏，再到退休后加入唱诗班，我们的生活中不时会有音乐。对于我们中的许多人来说，这些都是改善生活的经历，但制作或听音乐也能帮助我们应对与衰老有关的挑战吗？作为全球人口，我们正在迅速老龄化。这一趋势带来了许多挑战，因为人们往往在年老时健康状况变差，记忆力和思维能力下降。听音乐和做音乐是一种独特的精神要求高的任务，它涉及到不同心理过程的组合，包括注意力、情感、记忆，对于演奏乐器来说，身体协调和技能。以前的研究发现证明了演奏乐器在儿童认知或语言发展方面的好处，以及在成人认知功能测试中的改善表现。对大脑结构的神经成像研究表明，音乐训练与某些大脑差异有关。此外，其他研究还记录了各种形式的音乐体验对心理的益处，包括演奏乐器、唱歌和听音乐。关于音乐经验和老年结果之间的潜在联系，人们知之甚少。特别是，目前还不清楚音乐体验是否与老年人认知功能、大脑结构或心理健康的变化有关。拟议项目的目的是审查这些潜在的联系。我将使用1936年洛锡安出生队列研究(LBC1936)的数据来研究音乐经验和健康老龄化之间的联系。从70岁开始，LBC1936的参与者每三年都会完成一系列极其详细的思维和记忆测试。参与者接受了多次脑部核磁共振扫描，并提供了广泛的健康、人口统计、心理和生活方式数据。重要的是，这些参与者也可以获得童年时期认知能力的衡量标准。在最近一波研究中，82岁的参与者完成了一份终生音乐经历问卷。这份问卷详细回顾了乐器的终身训练和练习。它还评估了终生音乐体验的其他方面，包括唱歌和听音乐。利用这些数据，我将回答以下悬而未决的问题：1)具有高水平终生音乐体验的人的人口统计学、健康和童年认知特征是什么？这项工作将有助于确定音乐体验和健康老龄化之间的联系是否可能是因果关系，或者仅仅是影响音乐体验和老龄化结果的另一个因素(例如社会经济地位)的副产品。2)演奏乐器的经验是否与终身认知变化有关？童年的认知功能是老年人认知功能的主要预测因素之一，在这项研究中，我将测试有更多乐器演奏经验的人在70岁时的认知能力是否往往高于预期，因为他们在11岁时的认知能力。3)演奏乐器的经验是否与老年人的认知能力水平或认知能力或大脑结构的变化有关？4)演奏乐器、唱歌或听音乐的经验是否与老年人的心理健康水平或变化有关？在测试这些问题时，我将对第一项研究中确定的因素进行统计控制，这些因素可能会解释老年人的音乐体验与认知、大脑或心理健康之间的联系。我的研究结果可能会为确定音乐经验--尤其是演奏乐器的经验--是否有益于老年人奠定基础。

From nursery rhymes to playing in a band or joining a choir in retirement, our lives are punctuated by music. These are life-enhancing experiences for many of us, but could making or listening to music also help us tackle challenges related to ageing? As a global population, we are aging rapidly. This trend brings many challenges, as people often suffer from poorer health and declining memory and thinking skills in older age. Listening to music and music making are unique mentally demanding tasks which involve the combination of different mental processes including attention, emotion, memory, and in the case of playing a musical instrument, physical coordination and skill. Findings from previous studies have documented the benefits of playing a musical instrument in terms of better cognitive or language development in children and improved performance on tests of cognitive function in adults. Neuroimaging studies of brain structure indicate that musical training is associated with certain brain differences. In addition, other studies have documented the psychological benefits of various forms of musical experience including playing an instrument, singing and listening to music. Less is known regarding the potential association between musical experience and outcomes in older age. In particular, it is unclear whether musical experience is related to changes in cognitive function, brain structure or psychological wellbeing in older age. The aim of the proposed project is to examine these potential associations. I will examine associations between musical experience and healthy ageing using data from the Lothian Birth Cohort study 1936 (LBC1936). Every three years, since the age of 70, LBC1936 participants have completed an extremely detailed battery of thinking and memory tests. Participants have had multiple brain MRI scans and provided extensive health, demographic, psychological and lifestyle data. Importantly, a measure of cognitive ability in childhood is also available for these participants. At the most recent wave of the study, at age 82, participants completed a lifetime musical experience questionnaire. The questionnaire provides a detailed retrospective account of lifetime musical instrument training and practice. It also assesses other aspects of lifetime musical experience including singing and music listening.Using these data, I will address the following unresolved questions: 1) what are the demographic, health, and childhood cognitive characteristics of people with high levels of lifetime musical experience? This work will help establish whether the association between musical experience and healthy ageing might be causal, or simply a by-product of another factor which influences both musical experience and ageing outcomes (e.g. socioeconomic status). 2) Is experience playing a musical instrument related to lifetime cognitive change? Cognitive function in childhood is one of the main predictors of cognitive function in older age, in this study I will test if people with more experience playing a musical instrument tend to have higher cognitive abilities at age 70 than would be expected given their cognitive ability at age 11. 3) Is experience playing a musical instrument related to level or change in cognitive ability or brain structure in older age? 4) Is experience playing a musical instrument, singing or music listening related to level or change in psychological wellbeing in older age? In testing these questions, I will statistically control for the factors, identified in the first study, which might account for associations between musical experience and cognitive, brain or psychological health in older age. My results could lay the groundwork for establishing whether musical experience - and experience playing a musical instrument in particular - is beneficial for older people.