Progressively learned musical ability predicts cognitive transfer in older adult novices: a 12-month musical instrument training programme

Musical instrument training is an often-suggested candidate for cognitive training in older adults. Studies are typically short-term, with little opportunity to explore different trained music-making activities (e.g. improvisation) or how progression in music-specific learning may affect cognitive outcomes. This long-term study (12 months training, six months follow-up) contributes the first comparison of music-making activity and instruments for healthy older adult novices, evaluating how different conditions may affect music learning (measured quantitatively by objective computational means) and how this transfers to domain-general cognitive and motor skills. Sixty-eight participants experienced both types of music-making activity (replication versus improvisation) and instrument (piano keyboard versus iPad-based ThumbJam) through four three-month blocks delivered online. We have previously published our investigation of the participants’ music learning, with the biggest improvements in melodic discrimination tasks associated with improvisation training. This article uses our repeated measures design of domain-general cognitive and motor skills to demonstrate that the extent of learning, as evaluated by music-specific perception tests, can predict some cognitive benefits. Implications are in the design of music teaching and learning tasks for cognitive gain, such that individuals can be supported to develop skills to the best of their ability.