Childhood music lessons may keep minds sharp in old age: study

nypost.com:

Psychology and Aging, found that musicians do marginally better on cognitive ability tests than those who didn’t play an instrument.“Music can be such a joyful and enriching experience at all ages, regardless of expertise or musical genre,” Professor Katie Overy of the University of Edinburgh said. “We are keen to investigate musical experience further, including music listening and singing, and we look forward to developing the new volunteer database.”The study — funded by Age UK and the Economic and Social Research Council — included 420 participants who were born in 1936 in the Edinburgh and Lothian areas of Scotland.Of those 420 people,167 had at least some experience playing a musical instrument, mainly the piano and primarily as a child or teenager, and 39 were still playing an instrument at 82 years old.These participants were given tests to measure brainpower every three years, between the ages of 70 to 82.Researchers at the University of Edinburgh and Edinburgh Napier University found that those with musical experience had a slight link to greater results in tests that looked at processing speed and visuospatial reasoning.“We see these results as an exciting starting point for further investigation into how musical experience from across the life course might contribute to healthy aging,” lead author Dr.