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Cristina demonstrates parallel motion on the keyboard (where the right hand plays the same notes as the left in a scale, but the fingering is different), then asks me to try. I apologise for my poor coordination but she pays me a surprising compliment: she can tell I played years ago. “Otherwise you wouldn’t be able to do parallel motion. The muscle memory is still there. It’s like riding a bicycle after 40 years.”
When I talk to Prof Corbett, she explains our young brains are like sponges. “Skills tend to be embedded a lot quicker and become essential to the way our neural pathways are put together, because those early connections are then built upon.”
But as we age, ‘‘brain plasticity’’ decreases. The brain also loses grey matter, known as ‘‘brain atrophy’’. Hardest hit is our working memory – where we briefly retain and manipulate information to achieve a goal, such as remembering a telephone number, translating a sentence from a foreign language or playing Bartók scales.
“It’s much harder to pick these things up as we get older,” she acknowledges. “But it’s still a fantastic way of challenging the brain. It’s like any other muscle – if you exercise and train it, the brain performs better.” Another factor may be the social aspect of playing in an orchestra or singing in a choir. “We know social engagement is an important protective factor for the brain and that social isolation increases your risk of dementia later on.”
The Protect study is run by the University of Exeter and King’s College, in partnership with the NHS. For more than a decade they have followed more than 25,000 volunteers, from all walks of life, to understand how the brain ages. Taking up a musical instrument doesn’t mean you will never develop dementia, Prof Corbett stresses. “It’s not as simple as that.” But Dementia UK are encouraged by the study: “The results of this study are positive, and echo similar research into the benefits of both listening to and playing music for people living with dementia,” says Caroline Scates, a deputy director of admiral nurse development.
The Protect findings also build on last year’s research, co-authored by scientists at the University of Geneva, which found learning the piano in later life can slow down cognitive decline in retired people with little or no past musical training. After six months of weekly piano lessons, participants aged 62-78 performed better in tests that challenged their working memory, such as remembering directions. Normally the brain shrinks in our 60s and 70s, a process that, in some cases, develops into dementia. But after six months of music lessons, this was reversed in some brain regions. MRI scans showed an increase in grey matter in parts of the cerebellum, which helps with decision-making and storage of memories.
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