Musical reward across the lifespan

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Musicology

Background:

• Music is a universal human experience, yet individual differences in musical enjoyment are significant.
• Little research has explored how musical reward perception changes across the adult lifespan.
• Existing theories offer conflicting predictions regarding age-related changes in musical reward capacity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between age and musical reward across the adult lifespan.
• To determine if different facets of musical reward (e.g., pleasure seeking vs. emotional response) are affected differently by aging.
• To examine the implications of age-related changes in musical reward for therapeutic applications.

Main Methods:

• Study 1: Adults aged 20-85 completed the Barcelona Music Reward Questionnaire (BMRQ) to assess multi-dimensional musical reward.
• Study 2: Participants completed the Aesthetic Experiences in Music Scale (AES-M) to measure intense emotional responses to music.
• Data analysis involved correlational analyses to examine the relationship between age and questionnaire scores.

Main Results:

• A negative correlation was found between age and overall BMRQ scores, indicating a decrease in musical reward with increasing age.
• The 'music seeking' subscale of the BMRQ was the strongest predictor of age, highlighting a decline in music-related pursuits.
• No significant relationship was observed between age and AES-M scores, suggesting stable intense emotional responses to music across adulthood.

Conclusions:

• Musical reward, particularly the drive to seek out music, diminishes with age.
• Intense emotional experiences evoked by music remain consistent throughout adulthood.
• These findings underscore the importance of considering age in music research and highlight potential shifts in music engagement and therapeutic use for older adults.