Fig 1.
Flow diagram of variable assessments.
Data were collected at multiple timepoints from 1957 when participants were approximately 18 years of age, through 2011 when participants were approximately 72 years of age.
Table 1.
Descriptive statistics, demographics by high school music engagement.
Table 2.
Adolescent and adult musical engagement and memory decline.
Fig 2.
Change in adjusted episodic memory scores for musical engagement groups.
(A) Adjusted predicted memory scores for high school musical engagement (HSME) groups are plotted at both time points. There were significant differences in the adjusted scores between High HSME group and the No HSME group at baseline (B = 0.348, p = 0.049). Slopes between these groups also significantly differed, indicating a steeper rate of decline for the High HSME group compared to the No HSME group (B = -0.435, p = 0.049). (B) Adjusted predicted memory scores for musical engagement in adulthood (MEA) groups are plotted at both time points. There were significant differences in the adjusted scores between the Continuous MEA group and the No MEA group at baseline (B = 0.424, p = 0.012). Rate of decline (slopes) did not differ between the groups.
Table 3.
Adjusted models to predict episodic memory, immediate recall and delayed recall scores.