Effects of Musical Mnemonics on Working Memory Performance in Cognitively Unimpaired Young and Older Adults

Figures & data

Table 1. Descriptive statistics of the participants.

	Young adults (N = 20) M(SD)	Older adults (N = 27) M(SD)	p-value
Age	20.25 (1.86; 18–23)	72.63 (6.98; 65–91)	<.001
Sex (men:women)	5:15	8:19	.726
Education level	5# (.68)	5# (.95)	.015
Years of education	12.15 (2.71)	10.78 (2.45)	.076
NART-IQ	87.00 (6.91; 80–100)	106.15 (15.46; 73–140)	<.001
MoCA	-	27.07 (1.82)
WAIS-IV Digit Span
Forward	8.80 (1.32)	8.26 (2.03)	.305
Backward	8.65 (2.37)	7.85 (2.18)	.238
Sorting	9.80 (1.94)	7.63 (1.86)	<.001
Gold-MSI
Beat Perception	13.10 (2.47)	10.96 (2.77)	.009
Melody Memory	7.55 (2.06)	7.00 (2.39)	.413
Self-Report Inventory
General Sophistication	67.50 (15.41)	51.74 (16.65)	.002
Active Engagement	35.85 (7.95)	23.26 (7.85)	<.001
Perceptual Abilities	42.25 (7.71)	34.96 (9.49)	.007
Musical Training	19.05 (8.31)	15.56 (8.42)	.164
Emotions	27.10 (5.32)	22.93 (6.03)	.018
Singing Abilities	29.25 (8.03)	22.85 (7.12)	.006

Note. Mean scores and differences between young and older adults. Standard deviations are shown between parentheses. Between group differences were tested with independent-samples t-tests. Differences in sex distribution were tested using a Chi-square test. Differences in distribution of education level were tested using a Mann-Whitney U test. Note that the significant NART-IQ difference between both groups was driven by one outlier in the older adults, who had an estimated IQ of 140. MoCA = Montreal Cognitive Assessment. NART-IQ = NART IQ-estimation. WAIS-IV = Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV. # = Median/Mode

Figure 1. Typical examples of the four task conditions (8- digit sequences), showing two digit sequences per condition. a) spoken condition, b) pitch condition, c) rhythm condition, d) melody condition.

Figure 2. Mean number correctly reproduced digit sequences (± SEM) in the four task conditions for the young and older adults, showing the differences between the groups and between task conditions. * p < .05, ** p < .01 (one-tailed).

Table

1.	2.	3.	4.	5.	6.
Spoken	Spoken	Spoken	Spoken	Spoken	Spoken
Pitch	Pitch	Rhythm	Rhythm	Melody	Melody
Melody	Rhythm	Melody	Pitch	Pitch	Rhythm
Rhythm	Melody	Pitch	Melody	Rhythm	Pitch

Table

7.	8.	9.	10.	11.	12.
Pitch	Pitch	Pitch	Pitch	Pitch	Pitch
Melody	Melody	Spoken	Spoken	Rhythm	Rhythm
Rhythm	Spoken	Rhythm	Melody	Melody	Spoken
Spoken	Rhythm	Melody	Rhythm	Spoken	Melody

Table

13.	14.	15.	16.	17.	18.
Rhythm	Rhythm	Rhythm	Rhythm	Rhythm	Rhythm
Melody	Melody	Spoken	Spoken	Pitch	Pitch
Pitch	Spoken	Melody	Pitch	Spoken	Melody
Spoken	Pitch	Pitch	Melody	Melody	Spoken

Table

19.	20.	21.	22.	23.	24.
Melody	Melody	Melody	Melody	Melody	Melody
Spoken	Spoken	Pitch	Pitch	Rhythm	Rhythm
Pitch	Rhythm	Rhythm	Spoken	Pitch	Spoken
Rhythm	Pitch	Spoken	Rhythm	Spoken	Pitch

Table

	Spoken		Pitch		Rhythm		Melody
	M	SD	M	SD	M	SD	M	SD	n
YA	3.75	1.74	3.70	1.26	4.35	1.73	4.25	1.41	20
OA	3.44	2.04	2.74	1.56	4.00	1.75	2.85	1.43	27
Total	3.57	1.91	3.15	1.50	4.15	1.73	3.45	1.57	47