Skip to main content
Log in

Does music enhance cognitive performance in healthy older adults? The Vivaldi effect

  • Original Articles
  • Published:
Aging Clinical and Experimental Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background and aims: Controversial evidence suggests that music can enhance cognitive performance. In the present study, we examined whether listening to an excerpt of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” had a positive effect on older adults’ cognitive performance in two working memory tasks. Methods: With a repeated-measures design, older adults were presented with the forward version of the digit span and phonemic fluency in classical music, white-noise and no-music conditions. Results: Classical music significantly increased working memory performance compared with the no-music condition. In addition, this effect did not occur with white noise. Conclusion: The authors discuss this finding in terms of the arousal-and-mood hypothesis and the role of working memory resources in aging.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Wallace WT. Memory for music: effect of melody on recall of text. J Exp Psychol: Learn, Mem & Cogn 1994; 20: 1471–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Schellenberg EG. Music and cognitive abilities. Current Directions in Psychol Sci 2005; 14: 317–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Fox LS, Knight BG, Zelinski E. Mood induction with older adults: A tool for investigating effects of depressed mood. Psychol Aging 1998; 13: 519–23.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Moreno R, Mayer RE. A Coherence effect in multimedia learning: the case for minimizing irrelevant sounds in the design of multimedia instructional messages. J Educ Psychol 2000; 92: 117–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Rauscher FH, Shaw G. Key components of the Mozart effect. Percept Mot Skills 1998; 86: 835–42.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Foster NA, Valentine ER. The effect of auditory stimulation on autobiographical recall in dementia. Exp Aging Res 2001; 27: 215–28.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Rauscher FH, Shaw GL, Ky KN. Music and spatial task performance. Nature 1993; 365: 611.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Nantais KM, Schellenberg EG. The Mozart effect: an artifact of preference. Psychol Sci 1999; 10: 370–4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Steele KM, Brown JD. Failure to confirm the Rauscher and Shaw description of recovery of the Mozart effect. Percept Mot Skills 1999; 88: 843–8.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. McKelvie P, Low J. Listening to Mozart does not improve children’s spatial ability: final curtains for the Mozart effect. Brit J Dev Psychol 2002; 20: 241–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Steele KM, Bass KE, Crook, MD. The mystery of the Mozart effect: failure to replicate. Psychol Sci 1999; 10: 366–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Chabris CF, Steele KM, Dalla Bella S, et al. Prelude or requiem for the ‘Mozart effect’? Nature 1999; 400: 826–7.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Sherratt K, Thornton A, Hatton C. Music interventions for people with dementia: a review of the literature. Aging Ment Health 2004; 8: 3–12.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Irish M, Cunningham CJ, Walsh JB, et al. Investigating the enhancing effect of music on autobiographical memory in mild Alzheimer’s disease. Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord. 2006; 22:108–20.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Rahhal T, Hasher L, Colcombe SJ. Instructional manipulations and age differences in memory: now you see them, now you don’t. Psychol Aging 2001; 16: 697–707.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Eysenck MW. Arousal, learning and memory. Psychol Bull 1976; 83: 389–404.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Carlson S, Rama P, Artchakov D, Linnankoski I. Effects of music and white noise on working memory performance in monkeys. Neuroreport 1997; 8: 2853–6.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Rauscher FH, Robinson KD, Jens JJ. Improved maze learning through early music exposure in rats. Neurol Res 1998; 20: 427–32.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Thompson WF, Schellenberg EG, Husain G. Arousal, mood and the Mozart effect. Psych Science 2001; 12: 248–51.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Schulkind MD, Hennis LK, Rubin, D.C. Music, emotion, and autobiographical memory: they’re playing your song. Mem & Cogn 1999; 27: 948–55.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Thompson RG, Moulin CJA, Hayre S, Jones RW. Music enhances category fluency in healthy older adults and Alzheimer’s disease patients. Exp Aging Res 2005; 31: 91–9.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Baddeley A. Working Memory. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Sharps MJ, Pollitt BK. Category superiority effects and the processing of auditory images. J Gen Psychol 1998; 125:109–16.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Janata P, Tillmann B, Bharucha JJ. Listening to polyphonic music recruits domain-general attention and working memory circuits. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosc 2002; 2:121–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Slevc LR, Miyake A. Individual differences in second-language proficiency: does musical ability matter? Psychol Sci 2006; 17: 675–81.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Ho YC, Cheung, MC, Chan AS. Music training improves verbal but not visual memory: cross-sectional and longitudinal explorations in children. Neuropsychol 2003; 17: 439–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Williamon A, Egner T. Memory structures for encoding and retrieving a piece of music: an ERP investigation. Brain Res Cogn Brain Res 2004; 22: 36–44.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Henry JD, Crawford JR, Phillips LH. Verbal fluency performance in dementia of the Alzheimer type: a meta-analysis. Neuropsychologia 2004; 42: 1212–22.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Hirokawa E. Effects of music listening and relaxation instructions on arousal changes and the working memory task in older adults. J Music Ther 2004; 41:107–27.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Folstein MF, Folstein SE, McHugh PR. Mini-Mental State: A practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. J Psychiatr Res 1975; 12: 189–98.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Mondini S, Mapelli D, Vestri A, Bisiacchi PS. Esame Neuropsicologico Breve. Milano: Raffaello Cortina Editore, 2003.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Daee S, Wilding JM. Effects of high intensity white noise on short-term memory for position in a list and sequence. Brit J Psychol 1977; 68: 335–49.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Pichora-Fuller MK, Schneider BA, Daneman M. How young and old adults listen to and remember speech in noise. J Acoust Soc Am. 1995; 97: 593–608.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Cornoldi C, Vecchi T. Visuo-spatial working memory and individual differences. Hove: Psychology Press, 2003.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Steele KM, Ball TN, Runk R. Listening to Mozart does not enhance backwards digit span performance. Percept Mot Skills 1997; 84:1179–84.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nicola Mammarella.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Mammarella, N., Fairfield, B. & Cornoldi, C. Does music enhance cognitive performance in healthy older adults? The Vivaldi effect. Aging Clin Exp Res 19, 394–399 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03324720

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03324720

Keywords

Navigation