Ask the doctors: The connection between music and memory
Dec 10, 2025
SUMMARY:
"a healing practice that, while making headlines today, dates back centuries. We’re tempted to cite the use of music in psychiatric hospitals in the early 1800s as one of the earliest formal uses of it to improve mental and emotional health....
In exploring the effects of music on cognition, researchers have found some surprises...
music may have a protective effect on cognition. This includes the study you asked about from researchers in Australia who specialize in neuropsychiatry and dementia. They analyzed a decade of data collected from 10,800 healthy adults in their 70s. They found that people who reported listening to music almost every day lowered their risk of dementia by nearly 40%. The protective effect also extended to general cognitive decline. When assessed separately, the music group outperformed the nonmusic group on cognitive function and memory tests..."
LINK:
https://www.wataugademocrat.com/columns/ask-the-doctors-the-connection-between-music-and-memory/article_844f5d4f-6cae-4238-bd24-914a640b6909.html&/or
LINK:
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2025/dec/11/ask-the-doctors-the-connection-between-music-and-m/