Psychology

The Neuroscience between Musical Stimulation and Enhancing Short Term Memory with Age

Scientific research over time has shown that the brain’s system for creating and storing memories of a lifetime starts to malfunction as the brain ages. The entire neuroanatomy disintegrates, which causes the cognitive processes involved in short-term memory retention to slow down or, in extreme situations, stop entirely. However, studies have demonstrated that music improves memory and even helps older people with short-term memory.  The easiest way to define short-term memory is the ability to recall information or events several minutes after it first occurs. The relationship between age and how quickly and efficiently one can learn a piece of music in a short amount of time will be examined in this study.  

Image source – https://www.wishtv.com/news/national/brain-stimulation-improves-short-term-memory-in-older-adults-for-a-month-study-finds/

This paper presents the results of research that was carried out using a quasi-experimental study design. The goal of the study was to determine how musical stimulation affects short-term memory as people age by using both visual and auditory cues to help people successfully memorize a brief musical clip. The study’s visual memory section was mostly concerned with recalling what was seen on paper. A segment of fairly challenging music, consisting of thirteen measures, was presented to the participant. Appendix A contains the music that was provided to the attendees. Then, they had twenty minutes to commit the majority of the piece to memory with as near to perfect accuracy as they could. Checks were conducted every five minutes to assess the participant’s progress. 

No participant was used to manipulate another participant. Everybody was given the same amount of time, music, and study environment, which was only two people in one room at opposing ends. The participants were told they may use any technique they thought would help them learn the music as accurately as possible, but they could not aid each other. An analysis of the methods used by the participants to commit their music to memory was conducted. In order to ascertain statistical significance, the findings of this study looked at three distinct categories of quantitative data. The first statistical analysis examined the relationship between participant memory speed and age. Analyzing the specific aspect of the intended research question—namely, whether musical stimulation improved memory with age—was the focus of this memory test section. The second analysis examined the relationship between auditory memory and age. The relationship between age and visual memory accuracy was the subject of the final analysis, which made up the second-largest section of the suggested study topic. This section examined the accuracy of memory generally as a function of age during musical stimulation. If musical stimulation increased the speed, the effects on age, speed, auditory memory, and visual memory accuracy were examined.

Reference – Fiorta, M. A., & Talarczyk, P. (2019). The neuroscience between musical stimulation and enhancing short term memory with age. Journal of Student Research7(2). https://doi.org/10.47611/jsrhs.v7i2.497 

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