Effects of familiar music exposure on deliberate retrieval of remote episodic and semantic memories in healthy aging adults.

Familiar music facilitates memory retrieval in adults with dementia. However, mechanisms behind this effect, and its generality, are unclear because of a lack of parallel work in healthy aging. Exposure to familiar music enhances spontaneous recall of memories directly cued by the music, but it is unknown whether such effects extend to deliberate recall more generally - e.g., to memories not directly linked to the music being played. It is also unclear whether familiar music boosts recall of specific episodes versus more generalised semantic memories, or whether effects are driven by domain-general mechanisms (e.g., improved mood). In a registered report study, we examined effects of familiar music on deliberate recall in healthy adults ages 65-80 years (N = 75) by presenting familiar music from earlier in life, unfamiliar music, and non-musical audio clips across three sessions. After each clip, we assessed free recall of remote memories for pre-selected events. Contrary to our hypotheses, we found no effects of music exposure on recall of prompted events, though familiar music evoked spontaneous memories most often. These results suggest that effects of familiar music on recall may be limited to memories specifically evoked in response to the music (Preprint and registered report protocol at https://osf.io/kjnwd/).

Exploring the relationship between horse-owner attributes and their approach to horse training.

The way horses are trained has implications for equine welfare and training success, yet little is known about the factors that influence horse-owners' choice of training approach (TA). Limited understanding in this area will hinder the development and dissemination of evidence-based training advice to owners. Consequently, this study aims to identify demographic and attitudinal factors that influence horse-owner TA selection. A 22-question online survey collected information from 1,593 horse-owners about their demographics, equestrian activities, goals and beliefs. Participants rated how likely they were to use six different horse TAs on a five-point scale. Multinomial regression analysis and Spearman's correlation coefficients were used to identify factors associated with their likelihood of using each TA. Several factors were associated with reported TA use, including age, gender identity, goals, activities, industry role and whether they had training in animal behavior. Beliefs about equine sentience, cognitive ability and whether science should inform horse training correlated with likelihood of applying aversives. This study provides insight for further research and development of educational strategies to reduce the use of training approaches that may compromise equine welfare.