Lifetime musical experience and healthy ageing

Music is with us throughout life: from nursery rhymes to playing in a band or joining a choir in retirement. These are enhancing experiences for many of us, but could making or listening to music also help us tackle challenges related to ageing? This project examined associations between musical experience and various aspects of healthy ageing using data from the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936. The results provided the groundwork for establishing that musical experience - and experience playing a musical instrument in particular - is beneficial for older people.

Principal investigator: Dr Judith Okely 

Co-investigators: Dr Katie Overy and Dr Michelle Luciano 

Funder: Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) 

Funded period: November 2019 - April 2022

Outputs:

Okely, J. A., Cox, S. R., Deary, I. J., Luciano, M., & Overy, K. (2023). Cognitive aging and experience of playing a musical instrument. Psychology and Aging. 

Okely, J. A., Overy, K., & Deary, I. J. (2022). Experience of Playing a Musical Instrument and Lifetime Change in General Cognitive Ability: Evidence From the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936. Psychological Science. 

Okely, J. A., Deary, I. J., & Overy, K. (2021). The Edinburgh Lifetime Musical Experience Questionnaire (ELMEQ). Responses and Nonmusical Correlates in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936, PLoS ONE. 

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