Honors Theses

Date of Award

Spring 5-7-2022

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Department

Engineering

First Advisor

Toshikazu Ikuta

Second Advisor

Ying Hao

Third Advisor

John Latartara

Relational Format

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

The progression of Alzheimer’s disease is primarily characterized by a loss of memory concerning past events, as well as a lack in ability to create new memories. While this spans across many subsets of memory, such as recognition, recall, and autobiographical memory, there seems to be a lesser impact on musical memory in those with Alzheimer’s. Multiple studies have suggested that exposure to music and introduction of music therapy can even improve other aspects of memory in Alzheimer’s patients. This systematic review and meta-analysis sought to examine the relationship between music exposure and autobiographical memory specifically. A pool of electronic records were first generated using the terms [music AND memory AND Alzheimer’s], screened based on Title and Abstract, and examined to ensure a measure of autobiographical memory was used and that music exposure was an independent variable. A meta-analysis was performed using the results of the remaining four articles, resulting in a positive overall effect size, but lacking statistical significance. While this was not the expected outcome, one explanation could lie in the necessity of music in encoding to improve later retrieval. More research should be conducted on specific aspects of music, such as familiarity and length of exposure or therapy, to further study its effects on autobiographical memory.

Accessibility Status

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Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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