Tuesday, July 1, 2025 7/1/2025

Music as an autobiographical memory cue across the lifespan

Award Number: R15AG075609
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGING
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 01/15/2022
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 12/31/2025

Group Awards By:

View Award Description

Music as an autobiographical memory cue across the lifespan - With steady growth of the aging population and associated pathologies such as Alzheimer’s disease, the need for understanding age-related changes in cognition is pertinent and critical. One important aspect of cognition that declines in both healthy and pathological aging is the ability to recall episodically-detailed autobiographical memories. One potential way to cue vivid and detailed autobiographical memories is through the use of musical cues. However, whether music is a particularly effective memory cue for older adults, and the mechanisms underlying such music-induced reminiscence, are currently unknown. The primary goal of the proposed research program is to determine whether music improves autobiographical memory retrieval in healthy aging, and whether such music-induced remembering leads to increased positive emotions. The studies proposed here are designed around a novel framework which proposes that music is a particularly effective memory cue for evoking memories involuntarily – that is, music evokes memories that spontaneously come to mind with little cognitive effort. These memories are in contrast to memories retrieved in a voluntary manner, which may require cognitive capacities that are degraded over the course of the lifespan. Aim 1 will investigate autobiographical memory retrieval in response to musical and other sensory cues across the lifespan. These studies will test the prediction that music-evoked memories will be relatively preserved in healthy aging, and will be evoked in a more involuntary manner, as compared to memories evoked by other sensory cues. Aim 2 will investigate the emotional outcomes of such music-induced reminiscence in older adults. We predict that memory-evoking music will induce prolonged positive changes in mood, as compared to music that does not evoke memories. Overall, this work aims to develop an understanding of how music affects autobiographical memory and emotional responses across the lifespan. The results of this work could form the basis for future interventions which use music to improve cognitive functioning, mood, and wellbeing in older adults.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2025	2022	UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI SYSTEM	300 W. 12TH STREET	ROLLA	MO	65409	PHELPS	USA	Aging Research	000	1	12/3/2024	NEW	$0
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $1 )
2023	2023	UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI SYSTEM	300 W 12TH ST	ROLLA	MO	65409	PHELPS	USA	Aging Research	002	1	8/17/2023	SUPPLEMENT FOR EXPANSION	$0
2023	2023	UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI SYSTEM	300 W 12TH ST	ROLLA	MO	65409	PHELPS	USA	Aging Research	000	1	1/31/2023	SUPPLEMENT FOR EXPANSION	$26,292
2023	2023	UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI SYSTEM	300 W 12TH ST	ROLLA	MO	65409	PHELPS	USA	Aging Research	001	1	8/16/2023	SUPPLEMENT FOR EXPANSION	-$26,291
														Subtotal = $1

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $462,163 )
2022	2022	UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI SYSTEM	300 W 12TH ST	ROLLA	MO	65409	PHELPS	USA	Aging Research	000	1	1/13/2022	NEW	$462,163
														Subtotal = $462,163

Grand Total All Awards = $462,164

Top

All Categories

About

Search

Reports

Data Submission

Award Information

Music as an autobiographical memory cue across the lifespan

Award Number: R15AG075609

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGING

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 01/15/2022

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 12/31/2025

Federal Websites

Department of Health & Human Services

HHS Operating Divisions

HHS Staff Divisions

Download A Document Viewer