Neural Advantages of Older Musicians Involve the Cerebellum: Implications for Healthy Aging Through Lifelong Musical Instrument Training
This study compared 30 older musicians and 30 age-matched non-musicians to investigate the association between lifelong musical instrument training and age-related cognitive decline and brain atrophy (musicians: mean age 70.8 years, musical experience 52.7 years; non-musicians: mean age 71.4 years,...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Human Neuroscience |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2021.784026/full |
| _version_ | 1818974486025732096 |
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| author | Masatoshi Yamashita Chie Ohsawa Maki Suzuki Xia Guo Xia Guo Makiko Sadakata Yuki Otsuka Kohei Asano Kohei Asano Nobuhito Abe Kaoru Sekiyama |
| author_facet | Masatoshi Yamashita Chie Ohsawa Maki Suzuki Xia Guo Xia Guo Makiko Sadakata Yuki Otsuka Kohei Asano Kohei Asano Nobuhito Abe Kaoru Sekiyama |
| author_sort | Masatoshi Yamashita |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This study compared 30 older musicians and 30 age-matched non-musicians to investigate the association between lifelong musical instrument training and age-related cognitive decline and brain atrophy (musicians: mean age 70.8 years, musical experience 52.7 years; non-musicians: mean age 71.4 years, no or less than 3 years of musical experience). Although previous research has demonstrated that young musicians have larger gray matter volume (GMV) in the auditory-motor cortices and cerebellum than non-musicians, little is known about older musicians. Music imagery in young musicians is also known to share a neural underpinning [the supramarginal gyrus (SMG) and cerebellum] with music performance. Thus, we hypothesized that older musicians would show superiority to non-musicians in some of the abovementioned brain regions. Behavioral performance, GMV, and brain activity, including functional connectivity (FC) during melodic working memory (MWM) tasks, were evaluated in both groups. Behaviorally, musicians exhibited a much higher tapping speed than non-musicians, and tapping speed was correlated with executive function in musicians. Structural analyses revealed larger GMVs in both sides of the cerebellum of musicians, and importantly, this was maintained until very old age. Task-related FC analyses revealed that musicians possessed greater cerebellar-hippocampal FC, which was correlated with tapping speed. Furthermore, musicians showed higher activation in the SMG during MWM tasks; this was correlated with earlier commencement of instrumental training. These results indicate advantages or heightened coupling in brain regions associated with music performance and imagery in musicians. We suggest that lifelong instrumental training highly predicts the structural maintenance of the cerebellum and related cognitive maintenance in old age. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T15:40:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-52e852f815c849a69ced33b0fe848ec3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1662-5161 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T15:40:49Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Human Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-52e852f815c849a69ced33b0fe848ec32022-12-21T19:35:11ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Human Neuroscience1662-51612022-01-011510.3389/fnhum.2021.784026784026Neural Advantages of Older Musicians Involve the Cerebellum: Implications for Healthy Aging Through Lifelong Musical Instrument TrainingMasatoshi Yamashita0Chie Ohsawa1Maki Suzuki2Xia Guo3Xia Guo4Makiko Sadakata5Yuki Otsuka6Kohei Asano7Kohei Asano8Nobuhito Abe9Kaoru Sekiyama10Graduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies in Human Survivability, Kyoto University, Kyoto, JapanSchool of Music, Mukogawa Women’s University, Hyogo, JapanDepartment of Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry, Osaka University United Graduate School of Child Development, Osaka, JapanGraduate School of Social and Cultural Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, JapanJapan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, JapanInstitute for Logic, Language and Computation, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, NetherlandsKokoro Research Center, Kyoto University, Kyoto, JapanKokoro Research Center, Kyoto University, Kyoto, JapanFaculty of Child Care and Education, Osaka University of Comprehensive Children Education, Osaka, JapanKokoro Research Center, Kyoto University, Kyoto, JapanGraduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies in Human Survivability, Kyoto University, Kyoto, JapanThis study compared 30 older musicians and 30 age-matched non-musicians to investigate the association between lifelong musical instrument training and age-related cognitive decline and brain atrophy (musicians: mean age 70.8 years, musical experience 52.7 years; non-musicians: mean age 71.4 years, no or less than 3 years of musical experience). Although previous research has demonstrated that young musicians have larger gray matter volume (GMV) in the auditory-motor cortices and cerebellum than non-musicians, little is known about older musicians. Music imagery in young musicians is also known to share a neural underpinning [the supramarginal gyrus (SMG) and cerebellum] with music performance. Thus, we hypothesized that older musicians would show superiority to non-musicians in some of the abovementioned brain regions. Behavioral performance, GMV, and brain activity, including functional connectivity (FC) during melodic working memory (MWM) tasks, were evaluated in both groups. Behaviorally, musicians exhibited a much higher tapping speed than non-musicians, and tapping speed was correlated with executive function in musicians. Structural analyses revealed larger GMVs in both sides of the cerebellum of musicians, and importantly, this was maintained until very old age. Task-related FC analyses revealed that musicians possessed greater cerebellar-hippocampal FC, which was correlated with tapping speed. Furthermore, musicians showed higher activation in the SMG during MWM tasks; this was correlated with earlier commencement of instrumental training. These results indicate advantages or heightened coupling in brain regions associated with music performance and imagery in musicians. We suggest that lifelong instrumental training highly predicts the structural maintenance of the cerebellum and related cognitive maintenance in old age.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2021.784026/fullagingolder musicianscerebellumfinger tapmusic imagery |
| spellingShingle | Masatoshi Yamashita Chie Ohsawa Maki Suzuki Xia Guo Xia Guo Makiko Sadakata Yuki Otsuka Kohei Asano Kohei Asano Nobuhito Abe Kaoru Sekiyama Neural Advantages of Older Musicians Involve the Cerebellum: Implications for Healthy Aging Through Lifelong Musical Instrument Training Frontiers in Human Neuroscience aging older musicians cerebellum finger tap music imagery |
| title | Neural Advantages of Older Musicians Involve the Cerebellum: Implications for Healthy Aging Through Lifelong Musical Instrument Training |
| title_full | Neural Advantages of Older Musicians Involve the Cerebellum: Implications for Healthy Aging Through Lifelong Musical Instrument Training |
| title_fullStr | Neural Advantages of Older Musicians Involve the Cerebellum: Implications for Healthy Aging Through Lifelong Musical Instrument Training |
| title_full_unstemmed | Neural Advantages of Older Musicians Involve the Cerebellum: Implications for Healthy Aging Through Lifelong Musical Instrument Training |
| title_short | Neural Advantages of Older Musicians Involve the Cerebellum: Implications for Healthy Aging Through Lifelong Musical Instrument Training |
| title_sort | neural advantages of older musicians involve the cerebellum implications for healthy aging through lifelong musical instrument training |
| topic | aging older musicians cerebellum finger tap music imagery |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2021.784026/full |
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