Recent studies have reported positive effects of music training on older adults’ executive functions. However, it is not completely known whether these outcomes were due to improvement in music performance skills or due to other components of training, such as social interaction and music listening. Here, we investigated the effect of a 10-week melodica training program on a group of healthy older adults in Japan and the relationship between their early music performance and improvements in executive functions. Participants were divided into an experimental and a passive control group; both completed a battery of executive function measures before and after the intervention. The experimental group also completed a music performance evaluation developed for the current study. We found a significant improvement in an executive function composite index for the intervention group as compared with the control group. Moreover, individual musical performance was the only factor to predict cognitive improvement. Our results suggest that musical instrument training has a positive impact on older adults’ cognition which is not solely attributed to social interaction or music listening. Further research should consider the potential of examining individual differences in music performance skills inside the experimental group to understand the effects of instrument training programs.

中文翻译：

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老年人乐器训练计划中音乐表演技能与认知改善之间的关系


最近的研究报告了音乐训练对老年人的执行功能的积极影响。然而，尚不完全清楚这些结果是由于音乐表演技能的提高还是由于训练的其他组成部分，例如社交互动和音乐聆听。在这里，我们调查了为期 10 周的口风琴训练计划对日本一组健康老年人的影响，以及他们早期音乐表现与执行功能改善之间的关系。参与者被分为实验组和被动对照组；两人在干预前后都完成了一系列执行功能测量。实验组还完成了为本研究开发的音乐表演评估。我们发现与对照组相比，干预组的执行功能综合指数有显着改善。此外，个人音乐表演是预测认知改善的唯一因素。我们的研究结果表明，乐器训练对老年人的认知具有积极影响，这不仅仅归因于社交互动或音乐聆听。进一步的研究应该考虑检查实验组内音乐表演技能的个体差异的潜力，以了解乐器训练计划的效果。