Music and Dementia

 

                                                    We don’t stop playing because we grow old;                                                                 we grow old because we stop playing.                                                                      -  George Bernard Shaw

Does the music you enjoy indicate intellectual capacity?

Stereotypically, classical music is the favorite genre of the pretentious and intellectually elite. While this isn’t always true, research suggests that there might be a bit of truth to that stereotype. 

Two independent studies, conducted in Britain and Italy respectively, found that those who have greater intellectual function tend to correlate with liking classical music. In the British study, doctors found that musical tastes changed as patients lost brainpower to dementia, with some who had previously loved classical music turning away from it in favor of pop. The Italian study produced almost identical results, with complete turnarounds in musical tastes as gray matter in the brain was damaged or diminished.

This isn’t to say that all pop fans are mentally incompetent or lack smarts, researchers from both studies were quick to assert, only that it appears to take more brain power to be able to appreciate classical music. 

I find this interesting but still love listening to everything from Green Day to Artie Shaw, and Eddie Vedder to Mel Carter.