Music-based memory enhancement in Alzheimer’s Disease: Promise and limitations

Ally, B. A., Brandler, B. J., Budson, A. E., Deason, R. G., Frustace, B. S., O’Connor, M. K., & Simmons-Stern, N. R. (2012). Music-based memory enhancement in Alzheimer’s Disease: Promise and limitations. Neuropsychologia, 50(14), 329-333

Abstract:

This study aims to further investigate claims made by a previous study that patients with Alzheimer’s disease better recognize visually presented lyrics when the lyrics are also sung rather than spoken at encoding. In order to investigate in more depth, the researchers made the content of the song lyrics relevant for the daily life of an older adult and examined how musical encoding alters several different aspects of episodic memory. Patients with Alzheimer’s decease and healthy older adults studied visually presented novel song lyrics related to instrumental activities of daily living that were accompanied by either a sung or a spoken recording. Overall, participants performed better on a memory test of general lyric content for lyrics that were studied sung as compared to spoken. However, on a memory test of specific lyric content, participants performed equally well for sung and spoken lyrics. The researchers interpret these results in terms of a dual-process model of recognition memory such that the general content questions represent a familiarity-based representation that is preferentially sensitive to enhancement via music, while the specific content questions represent a recollection-based representation unaided by musical encoding. Additionally, in a test of basic recognition memory for the audio stimuli, patients with AD demonstrated equal discrimination for sung and spoken stimuli. They propose that the perceptual distinctiveness of musical stimuli enhanced metamemorial awareness in AD patients via a non-selective distinctiveness heuristic, thereby reducing false recognition while at the same time reducing true recognition and eliminating the mnemonic benefit of music. These results are discussed in the context of potential music-based memory enhancement interventions for the care of patients with Alzheimer’s decease.

Link: http://journals1.scholarsportal.info.libproxy.wlu.ca/details/00283932/v50i0014/3295_mmeiadpal.xml