Age-related changes of rhythmic ability in musically trained and untrained individuals

The ability to discriminate and reproduce a rhythmic sequence of sounds is considered to reflect a combination of maturation and experience. This study aimed to assess age-related decrements in reproduction of rhythmic patterns in musically untrained adults (range 25-54 years), young-old (range 60-69 years), and old (range 70-79 years) individuals, and co-aged old (range 60-79 years) musicians. Participants were required to reproduce on an electronic pad three rhythmic sequences differing in time signature (meter), inter-event ratio and tempo. Differences between the standard and its reproductions in number of events, total duration and ratio among rhythmic events were calculated. All variables showed that rhythmic ability is negatively affected by aging, with lengthening errors of total duration increasing markedly after 60 years of age. However, reproductions were positively affected by expertise. The results suggest that training can effectively counteract decremental trend in rhythmic reproduction ability that emerges with aging