Development and validation of the Music Cognitive Test: A music-based cognitive screening test

Specific tools to measure the cognitive benefits of music therapy and music-rehabilitation training available to music therapists are few and empirically weak: they are mostly psychometrically unrefined or based on unclear tasks and scoring protocols; they do not take into consideration distinct cognitive functions or are based on exclusively observational protocols. To overcome these limitations, we developed a 15-min cognitive screening tool suitable for music therapists, MCT (Music Cognitive Test), which assesses cognitive abilities stimulated by music-making activities (e.g., attentional, verbal and executive functions, short- and long-term memory) by including music-based items. MCT was validated with 335 participants (aged 18-100y.o.) presenting a range of cognitive levels, from healthy cognition to severe impairment. MCT correlated strongly and positively with well-known tests: MMSE (Mini-Mental State Examination), MoCA (Montreal Cognitive Assessment) and SMMSE (Severe Mini-Mental State Examination). MCT also displayed excellent sensitivity in identifying impaired individuals according to both MMSE and MoCA diagnostic criteria (99.4% and 93.0%, respectively), and excellent specificity in identifying healthy participants based on MMSE (93.5%) and MoCA (97.8%) criteria. Overall, results highlight the reliability of this novel brief music-focused cognitive screening test, to enable music therapists to independently and consistently monitor the effectiveness of their intervention on cognitive functions.

Mangiacotti A, Cipriani G, Ward E, Franco F, Biasutti M. Development and validation of the Music Cognitive Test: A music-based cognitive screening test. Psychology of Music. July 2022. doi:10.1177/03057356221100851. Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). DOI: 10.1177/03057356221100851
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