The Impact of Listening to Background Music on Inhibition Control and Prefrontal Cortical Activation in Healthy Older Adults: A Study Using Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

Introduction Aging declines executive functions, including attentional function and inhibitory control, which is the ability to inhibit inappropriate or irrelevant responses. Certain types of background music are negatively correlated with cognitive function. The prefrontal network is correlated with task performance related to executive function. This study aimed to assess the impact of listening to background music on inhibition control and prefrontal cortical (PFC) activation measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) in healthy older people. Methods In total, 59 healthy volunteers, including 32 healthy older and 27 younger individuals (mean age ± standard deviation: 69 ± 7 and 32 ± 8 years, respectively), participated in this study. The participants completed the inhibition control task (the go/no-go task) and a similar task while listening to certain melodies of children's songs that are popular in Japan. Changes in cerebral blood flow in the PFC during each task were evaluated using multichannel fNIRS. The relative changes in oxygenated hemoglobin (oxy-Hb) levels during the no-go and go tasks under the music and no-music conditions were compared using a paired t-test. Among the channels with a significant difference in oxy-Hb levels during the go/no-go task between the music and no-music conditions in the older group, the correlation between changes in accuracy response and oxy-Hb levels was validated using Pearson's correlation test. Results The task accuracy was significantly reduced under the music condition compared with that under the no-music condition in the older group but not in the younger group. The accuracy reduction was significantly greater in the older group than in the younger group. In older people, the oxy-Hb levels in 20 channels located in the bilateral Broadman area (BA) 9 and BA46 in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the bilateral BA10 in the frontal pole cortex significantly increased during the no-go tasks under the music condition. During the go/no-go task under the music condition, the decline in task accuracy was significantly correlated with increased oxy-Hb levels in six channels located in the bilateral BA10 in older people. Conclusion Background music induced the decline of inhibition control and increase of PFC activity in healthy older adults.