The aging population is growing rapidly. Proposing interventions that enhance the cognitive functions or strategies that delay the onset of disabilities associated with age is a topic of capital interest for the biopsychosocial health of our species. In this work, we employed musical improvisation as a focal environmental activity to explore its ability to improve memory in older adults. We present two studies: the first one evaluated neutral memory using the Rey Complex Figure (RCF) and the second one evaluated emotional memory using International Affective Picture System (IAPS). A group of 132 volunteers, between the ages of 60 and 90, participated in this investigation. Fifty-one of them were musicians with more than 5 years of formal musical training. After acquisition of neutral (Study 1) or emotional (Study 2) information, the groups of older adults were exposed to music improvisation (experimental intervention) or music imitation (control intervention) for 3 min. We then evaluated memory through two tasks (free recall and recognition), by means of immediate and deferred measures (after a week). We found a significant improvement in memory among participants involved in music improvisation, who remembered more items of the RCF and images from IAPS than the imitation group, both in the immediate and deferred evaluation. On the other hand, participants who had musical knowledge had a better performance in neutral visual memory than non-musicians. Our results suggest that a focal musical activity can be a useful intervention in older adults to promote an enhancement in memory.

Music improvisation is a technique frequently used in the music therapy field. Its application involves emotional support, cognitive evaluation or cognitive/motor rehabilitation. However, its effect as a valid treatment to moderate memory has not been studied. The aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of music improvisation on emotional memory, in adults with or without musical training. Participants watched emotional or neutral images, and rated simultaneously how emotional they felt the images were, from 0 to 10 ( nothing to highly arousing). Later, participants were exposed to a treatment (music improvisation, imitation, or silence). Immediately afterwards, recall and recognition were evaluated. After a week, free recall and recognition were tested again. The main findings of this study were that music improvisation improves free recall and recognition of neutral and emotional images. The results also indicated that musicians showed better emotional memory performance than non-musicians.