Aging is associated with decline in both cognitive and auditory abilities. However,\nevidence suggests that music perception is relatively spared, despite relying on auditory\nand cognitive abilities that tend to decline with age. It is therefore likely that older adults\nengage compensatory mechanisms which should be evident in the underlying functional\nneurophysiology related to processing music. In other words, the perception of musical\nstructure would be similar or enhanced in older compared to younger adults, while\nthe underlying functional neurophysiology would be different. The present study aimed\nto compare the electrophysiological brain responses of younger and older adults to\nmelodic incongruities during a passive and active listening task. Older and younger adults\nhad a similar ability to detect an out-of-tune incongruity (i.e., non-chromatic), while the\namplitudes of the ERAN and P600 were reduced in older adults compared to younger\nadults. On the other hand, out-of-key incongruities (i.e., non-diatonic), were better\ndetected by older adults compared to younger adults, while the ERAN and P600 were\ncomparable between the two age groups. This pattern of results indicates that perception\nof tonal structure is preserved in older adults, despite age-related neurophysiological\nchanges in how melodic violations are processed.
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