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Can musical engagement alleviate age-related decline in inhibitory control?

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionScientificpeer-review

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    Abstract

    The purpose of our study was to determine whether active musical engagement alleviates decline in inhibitory control due to cognitive aging. Given that musical training in young adults has been shown to improve attentional performance,
    we can expect this benefit to persist for older adults as well. With the help of the stop-signal procedure, we measured response inhibition of young and older adults who provided a self-reported assessment of their musical engagement, using the recently validated Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index. The Gold-MSI addresses a variety of musical activities and thus offers a more comprehensive measure than the ability to play a musical instrument used in the past. Results of the experiment showed that older participants had longer stop-signal reaction times, independently of their musical training and engagement, but musical training and ensemble practice were negatively related to the proportion of missed responses suggesting a weak effect of certain types of musical activities
    on inhibitory control.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationProceedings of the 38th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.
    EditorsA. Papafragou, D. Grodner, D. Mirman, J. C. Trueswell
    Place of PublicationAustin, TX
    PublisherCognitive Science Society
    Pages2807-2812
    Number of pages6
    Publication statusPublished - 10 Aug 2016
    EventCogSci 2016 - Philadelphia Convention Center, Philadelphia, United States
    Duration: 10 Aug 201613 Aug 2016

    Conference

    ConferenceCogSci 2016
    Country/TerritoryUnited States
    CityPhiladelphia
    Period10/08/1613/08/16

    Keywords

    • inhibitory control
    • musical sophistication
    • attention
    • cognitive aging
    • stop-signal task

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