Study shows how music can prevent cognitive decline

Progressive cognitive decline is associated with normal ageing. Can we, however, train our brain to postpone this process? A team of researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), HES-SO Geneva, and EPFL discovered that practising and listening to music can slow cognitive decline in healthy seniors by increasing grey matter production. The researchers followed over 100 retired people who had never played music before to achieve these results. For six months, they were enrolled in piano and music awareness classes. These findings open up new avenues for promoting healthy ageing. They were published in NeuroImage: Reports. Throughout our lives, our brain remodels itself. Brain morphology and connections change according to the environment and the experiences, for instance when we learn new skills or overcome the consequences of a stroke. However, as we age, this ”brain plasticity” decreases. The brain also loses grey matter, where our precious neurons are located. This is known as ”brain atrophy”. Gradually, a cognitive decline appears. Working memory, at the core of many cognitive processes, is one of the cognitive functions suffering the most. Working memory is defined as the process in which we briefly retain and manipulate information in order to achieve a goal, such as remembering a telephone number long enough to write it down or translating a sentence from a foreign language.