Ryan Gray is a PhD student at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. In 2024, he carried out a study looking at how the experience of playing an instrument, singing or listening to music might be related to memory and thinking skills in older age. The ‘How is musical experience related to our thinking skills in older age?’ study has recruited more than 3,000 participants through Join Dementia Research.

What is your study looking into?

My work is predominantly exploring the relationship between musical experience, such as playing an instrument or listening to music, and thinking skills in older age. I’ve had previous experience doing that, but there are a lot of unanswered questions within the field that I was keen to explore during my PhD. For example, one thing we want to better understand is whether there are particular elements of musical experience i.e., playing in a group or ensemble, that might be specifically related to certain thinking skills. 

My study itself is specifically looking at the relationship between musical experience and executive function, a set of thinking skills important for planning and tackling unanticipated problems. By asking participants to complete a questionnaire, we will explore how elements of instrument playing, singing and also music listening might be related to these functions in later life. 

We’re also recruiting people of all ages. So, anyone above the age of 18 could take part in this study. 

Why are you recruiting people from all age groups?

There are theories that suggest that playing a musical instrument might enhance cognitive functions when we’re younger, while others suggest that those experiences actually delay or reduce decline when we’re older. By recruiting people of all ages, we can start to consider some of those issues. 

What do participants do when they take part in the study?

It is online so anyone in the UK can take part. It starts with a demographic questionnaire, so just finding out a bit about participants and their lifestyles. Then it moves on to something called the ‘Edinburgh lifetime musical experience questionnaire’, which is a comprehensive measure of their experience with music. And then once they complete that they move on to a series of online cognitive tasks assessing executive functions looking specifically at skills known as working memory, cognitive flexibility and inhibitory control. 

What do you hope to do with the information you find out from this study?

We ideally want to understand the mechanisms that might underpin music’s relationship with thinking skills. Whether it’s a specific instrument or genre for example; or as mentioned whether it’s enjoying music in a group or alone. We are trying to unpick the nuances of this relationship. Through this, we can hopefully develop an intervention for older adults that uses music in the most appropriate form.

How likely do you think it is that taking up music in its different forms could reduce cognitive decline?

The evidence that exists so far suggests a positive relationship between playing an instrument and thinking skills in older age, so we would like to use this evidence, and our own, to design new interventions. Whether that’s making opportunities to play music more accessible or sharing information more widely on the benefits of playing an instrument. 

How did you first find out about Join Dementia Research?

I heard about the service through a couple of people in the psychology department I work in. They said how useful they found it for recruiting participants and how I should use the service to recruit for my study. With previous studies, I found it quite difficult to promote them to large numbers of people and find those who wanted to take part. With Join Dementia Research, you have a huge database of people across the country who actively want to participate in research, which is a great benefit.

What would you say to other researchers about using Join Dementia Research?

I would strongly encourage anyone researching dementia and brain health to use the platform. Not only has it been brilliant in terms of the numbers of people who have taken part – with more than 3,000 on this study – the response from participants has also been really positive. The Join Dementia Research team has been really quick in their responses and really helpful every time. It’s been a very smooth experience, which has benefited my research massively.

The ‘How is musical experience related to our thinking skills in older age?’ study is open to new participants until 31 August. 

Want to use Join Dementia Research to help recruit to your study? Visit our ‘Researchers’ page for more information.