Processing of musical pitch, time, and emotion in older adults

Abstract This chapter examines, in the context of healthy aging, age-related changes in processing of three aspects of music that convey meaning. Pitch and time are fundamental aspects of musical structure that need to be comprehended in real time in order to appreciate music. The delivery of an aesthetic and emotional message is built from these elements and distinguishes music as an art from other auditory objects. The studies reviewed here analyze pitch processing from single sounds to melody, and processing of time from single intervals to overall tempo. The third section looks at age-related changes in detection of emotion from music, the emotional response to music, and the relationship between emotion and memory for music. Although age-related declines are found in all these domains, the extent of decline (or in some cases stability or even superiority) may depend on the extent to which crystallized knowledge structures guide processing, and also on musical background and experience.