Focal musical interventions to improve memory consolidation

DIAZ ABRAHAN, V.; JUSTEL, N.

Cordoba

Congreso; XXXIV Reunión Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias; 2019

Sociedad Argentina de Neurociencias

Memory, as a cognitive function that allows us to store learned information, has a series of phases for the formation of the mnemonic trace, which include acquisition and encoding, consolidation, storage and evocation of the information with particular objectives and demands. Over the years different stimuli, activities and treatments that modulates the process of memory formation, have been identified through interventions in some of the mentioned phases. Musical activities have been tested and implemented as modulator´s treatments in some types of episodic memory, such as emotional memory. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a focal music intervention on visual and verbal memory. Two hundred and thirty seven young adults and 186 older adults participated in this study (both groups had participants with or without musical training), randomly assigned to the different experimental treatments. We evaluated neutral visual memory using the Rey Complex Figure (RCF) and neutral verbal memory using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RVLT). After acquisition of visual or verbal information, groups were exposed to one of the experimental interventions (music improvisation or rhythmic reproduction) or to a control condition (rest) for 3 min. Then we evaluated memory through two tasks (free recall and recognition), by means of immediate and deferred measures (after a week).The main finding of this study indicated that musical improvisation improves delayed free recall for visual and verbal information in both groups of participants (young and old adults). On the other hand, participants who had musical knowledge had a better performance in memory than non-musicians. Our results suggest that a focal musical activity can be a useful intervention to stimulate and rehabilitate memory.