Participants exhibited an improvement in their memory subscore after the intervention, with no effects on visuospatial/executive function, naming, attention, language, abstraction, orientation, or total MCA scores. When the authors stratified the results by musician subgroups, a significant effect only occurred among nonmusicians.

After the intervention, the participants experienced reduced activation in the bilateral globus pallidus and the right inferior frontal gyri during the music listening task. When the authors stratified the results by musician subgroups, nonmusicians experienced reduced activation in the left and right globus pallidus, with no change among musicians.

The globus pallidus plays a role in movement regulation and motor learning. The authors hypothesized that decreased activation in this region over time might reflect increased efficiency during repeated exposure. The globus pallidus also plays a role in reward pathways, and the authors noted that its decreased activation could be due to the pleasurable aspects of the musical memory task. The right interior frontal gyri plays a role in emotion and memory retrieval, and the authors hypothesized that decreased activation over time might be related to greater processing efficiency within these domains.

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