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Music-evoked memory engages similar behavioural and neurophysiological patterns in mild cognitive impairment and healthy controls

Poster Session A - Saturday, March 7, 2026, 3:00 – 5:00 pm PST, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom
Also presenting in Data Blitz Session 2 - Saturday, March 7, 2026, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm PST, Salon D.

Veronica Vuong^1,2 (), Michael H. Thaut¹, Claude Alain^1,2; ¹University of Toronto, ²Baycrest

Autobiographically salient (ABS) music engages memory processes more efficiently than familiar (FAM) music. Our prior research in healthy older adults revealed distinct neural correlates of music-evoked familiarity and recollection. Here, we tested whether similar memory-related processes occur in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Neural responses to ABS, FAM, and unfamiliar (UFAM) music in MCI (n = 18, 72.2 ± 8.35 yrs, 6 F) and healthy controls (HC) (n = 36, 70.7 ± 6.65 yrs, 20 F) were compared. In Experiment 1, we tested whether MCI and HC differed in response times when identifying ABS, FAM, and UFAM excerpts. Both groups identified ABS the fastest (2.07 ± 0.55 s), followed by FAM (2.95 ± 1.16 s), then UFAM (3.84 ± 0.99 s), indicating faster recollection for ABS than FAM and UFAM music. In Experiment 2, we measured event-related potentials while participants listened to the same stimuli. Mean amplitudes were extracted from right frontal-central and left parietal-occipital regions of interest. Both groups showed similar neural patterns when listening to musical excerpts, though amplitude and scalp distribution varied by condition. ABS music elicited the greatest frontal positivity, consistent with self-referential and evaluative processes, while ABS and FAM elicited greater parietal positivity than UFAM excerpts, suggesting stronger retrieval and/or imagery. The MCI group exhibited larger amplitudes, possibly reflecting compensatory recruitment, yet scalp distributions remained consistent with HC. Together, behavioural and neurophysiological findings suggest that MCI adults show comparable responses to HC when listening to ABS, FAM, and UFAM music, despite cognitive impairment.

Topic Area: LONG-TERM MEMORY: Episodic