This review examined the evidence about training interventions targeting metacognition in improving memory and cognitive performance, metacognitive functioning, and well-being in healthy older adul...

Using the arousal and mood hypothesis as a theoretical framework, we examined whether community-dwelling older adults (N = 132) exhibited cognitive benefits after listening to music. Participants listened to shorter (≈2.5 min) or longer (≈8 min) excerpts from recordings of happy- or sad-sounding music or from a spoken-word recording. Before and after listening, they completed tasks measuring visuospatial working memory (WM), cognitive flexibility and speed, verbal fluency, and mathematical ability, as well as measures of arousal and mood. In general, older adults improved from pre- to post-test on the cognitive tasks. For the test of WM, the increase was greater for participants who heard happy-sounding music compared to those in the other two groups. The happy-sounding group also exhibited larger increases in arousal and mood, although improvements in mood were evident only for the long-duration condition. At the individual level, however, improvements in WM were unrelated to changes in arousal or mood. In short, the results were partially consistent with the arousal and mood hypothesis. For older adults, listening to happy-sounding music may optimize arousal levels and mood, and improve performance on some cognitive tasks (i.e., WM), even though there is no direct link between changes in arousal/mood and changes in WM.

This systematic review and meta-analysis examined whether and how music listening impacts cognition and affect in healthy older adults, specifically considering the emotional connotations of music (happy- or sad-sounding music) and its presentation modality (background or prior to the tasks). Based on the PRISMA guidelines and preregistering in PROSPERO (CRD42022366520), we searched the Scopus, PsycInfo, and Web of Science databases. Out of 2,675 articles, 27 met the inclusion criteria. The synthesized findings on cognition (23 studies) revealed an uncertain influence of music type and presentation modalities on memory outcomes. In contrast, happy-sounding music seems to support executive functioning (2 out of 4) and processing speed (1), when presented in the background, and facilitate language processes (2 out of 3), when given prior to the task. However, the high heterogeneity and inconsistency in the music type and presentation modalities, as well as in the cognitive outcomes considered, prevented us from drawing clear conclusions on the effect of music listening on older adults’ cognition. For affective outcomes, a narrative synthesis of the findings on mood (12 studies) and arousal (7 studies) outcomes showed that, regardless of music presentation modality, happy- and sad-sounding music increase or decrease mood/valence and arousal, respectively. Results from meta-analysis showed no significant cognitive benefits from music listening (SMD = 0.09, [95% CI: −0.17, 0.35], p = 0.51) and suggest a positive effect of happy-sounding music on arousal (SMD = 0.44 [95% CI: 0.13, 0.74], p = 0.005), but not on valence (SMD = 0.79 [95% CI: −0.25, 1.84], p = 0.14). The methodological shortcomings of the extant literature call upon the need for further studies adopting more rigorous and consistent approaches that better elucidate the potential benefits of music listening on cognitive and affective outcomes among older adults.