Subcortical Gray Matter Aging and Attentional Control in Amateur Musicians and Non-Musicians: the dataset

The objective of this study was to investigate age-related changes in subcortical grey matter structures involved in attentional control, and to examine the relationship between subcortical decline and performance on a test of attention and inhibition in adults engaged in musical and non-musical activities. Data were collected from 109 healthy adults, divided into three groups: 34 amateur singers (mean age = 61.62 ± 16.19 years; range 23–88; 65% female), 38 amateur instrumentalists (mean age = 52.47 ± 18.82 years; range 20–88; 32% female), and 37 controls (mean age = 55.57 ± 18.97 years; range 20–87; 49% female). The dataset contains aggregated measures used for group-level statistical analyses, allowing replication of the published findings and enabling new analyses on subcortical volumetric data in this sample.