# AGING IN PERCEPTION AND COGNITION OF MUSIC

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS DALLAS · 1991 · $112,113

## Abstract

Music provides an ideal domain to test the generality of widely accepted
principles of cognitive aging, and to explore how the factor of expertise
can moderate age differences in cognition.  We propose 12 studies that will
examine how age and musical training are related to perception and memory
of music.  Our first specific aim is to examine the hypothesis that one's
knowledge of scales and other musical structures does not decline and may
even increase in old age, despite age-related deficits in on-line analysis
of music.  We will test this hypothesis in five different studies that
assess the effects of tonal structure on (a) the perceived similarity of
single tones and tone sequences, and (b) accuracy of short-term memory for
melodies, by young and elderly adults with different levels of musical
training.  Our second specific aim is to determine if the principle of
generalized slowing in old age extends to musical materials, and, if so, if
this slowing is reduced among expert musicians.  Avoiding the use of
response-time measures, our approach will be to determine the fastest and
slowest tempos at which melodies can be recognized, and to assess the
accuracy of pitch-encoding in melodies presented at varying tempos.  Our
third specific aim is to examine age differences in several aspects of
memory for melodies, including the maintenance of melodies in short-term or
"working" memory, recognition of melodies, recollection of  context of
prior encounter with melodies, and reality-monitoring   judgments of
whether familiar melodies have been recently perceived or simply imagined.
We will also test the principle that there are minimal age differences in
"priming" tasks revealing memory for stimuli even in the absence of
conscious recollection.  Of interest throughout the proposed research will
be possible interactions of age with expertise, and, in other cases,
dissociative effects of these variables.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3121913
- **Project number:** 1R01AG009965-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS DALLAS
- **SAM.gov UEI:** EJCVPNN1WFS5
- **Principal Investigator:** JAMES C BARTLETT
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1991
- **Award amount:** $112,113
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 1991-09-20 → 1994-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3121913

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3121913, AGING IN PERCEPTION AND COGNITION OF MUSIC (1R01AG009965-01). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3121913. Licensed CC0.

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