Repeated exposure to long-known music has been shown to have a beneficial effect on cognitive performance in patients with AD. However, the brain mechanisms underlying improvement in cognitive performance are not yet clear.
Objective:
In this pilot study we propose to examine the effect of repeated long-known music exposure on imaging indices and corresponding changes in cognitive function in patients with early-stage cognitive decline.
Methods:
Participants with early-stage cognitive decline were assigned to three weeks of daily long-known music listening, lasting one hour in duration. A cognitive battery was administered, and brain activity was measured before and after intervention. Paired-measures tests evaluated the longitudinal changes in brain structure, function, and cognition associated with the intervention.
Results:
Fourteen participants completed the music-based intervention, including 6 musicians and 8 non-musicians. Post-baseline there was a reduction in brain activity in key nodes of a music-related network, including the bilateral basal ganglia and right inferior frontal gyrus, and declines in fronto-temporal functional connectivity and radial diffusivity of dorsal white matter. Musician status also significantly modified longitudinal changes in functional and structural brain measures. There was also a significant improvement in the memory subdomain of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment.
Conclusion:
These preliminary results suggest that neuroplastic mechanisms may mediate improvements in cognitive functioning associated with exposure to long-known music listening and that these mechanisms may be different in musicians compared to non-musicians.
LanctôtKL, HerrmannN, YauKK, KhanLR, LiuBA, LouLouMM, EinarsonTR (2003) Efficacy and safety of cholinesterase inhibitors in Alzheimer’s disease: A meta-analysis. CMAJ169, 557–564.
2.
RickardNS, ToukhsatiSR, FieldSE (2005) The effect of music on cognitive performance: Insight from neurobiological and animal studies. Behav Cogn Neurosci Rev4, 235–261.
3.
AngelucciF, FioreM, RicciE, PaduaL, SabinoA, TonaliPA (2007) Investigating the neurobiology of music: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor modulation in the hippocampus of young adult mice. Behav Pharmacol18, 491–496.
4.
IrishM, CunninghamCJ, WalshJB, CoakleyD, LawlorBA, RobertsonIH, CoenRF (2006) Investigating the enhancing effect of music on autobiographical memory in mild Alzheimer’s disease. Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord22, 108–120.
5.
ThompsonWF, SchellenbergEG, HusainG (2001) Arousal, mood, and the Mozart effect. Psychol Sci12, 248–251.
6.
FangR, YeS, HuangfuJ, CalimagDP (2017) Music therapy is a potential intervention for cognition of Alzheimer’s disease: A mini-review. Transl Neurodegener6, 2.
7.
LeggieriM, ThautMH, FornazzariL, SchweizerTA, BarfettJ, MunozDG, FischerCE (2019) Music intervention approaches for Alzheimer’s disease: A review of the literature. Front Neurosci13, 132.
8.
El HajM, FasottiL, AllainP (2012) The involuntary nature of music-evoked autobiographical memories in Alzheimer’s disease. Conscious Cogn21, 238–246.
9.
El HajM, PostalV, AllainP (2012) Music enhances autobiographical memory in mild Alzheimer’s disease. Educ Gerontol38, 30–41.
10.
Arroyo-AnllóEM, DíazJP, GilR (2013) Familiar music as an enhancer of self-consciousness in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Biomed Res Int2013, 752965.
11.
BairdA SS, MillerL, ChalmersK. (2017) Does music training facilitate the mnemonic effect of song? An exploration of musicians and nonmusicians with and without Alzheimer’s dementia. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol39, 9–21.
12.
BairdA, SamsonS (2009) Memory for music in Alzheimer’s disease: Unforgettable?Neuropsychol Rev19, 85–101.
13.
AmerT, KalenderB, HasherL, TrehubSE, WongY (2013) Do older professional musicians have cognitive advantages?PLoS One8, e71630.
KingJB, JonesKG, GoldbergE, RollinsM, MacNameeK, MoffitC, NaiduSR, FergusonMA, Garcia-LeavittE, AmaroJ, BreitenbachKR, WatsonJM, GurgelRK, AndersonJS, FosterNL (2019) Increased functional connectivity after listening to favored music in adults with Alzheimer dementia. J Prev Alzheimers Dis6, 56–62.
16.
McKhannGM, KnopmanDS, ChertkowH, HymanBT, JackCR, KawasCH, KlunkWE, KoroshetzWJ, ManlyJJ, MayeuxR (2011) The diagnosis of dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease: Recommendations from the National Institute on Aging-Alzheimer’s Association workgroups on diagnostic guidelines for Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimers Dement7, 263–269.
17.
FolsteinMF, FolsteinSE, McHughPR (1975) “Mini-mental state”: A practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. J Psychiatr Res12, 189–198.
18.
DavisWB, ThautMH (1989) The influence of preferred relaxing music on measures of state anxiety, relaxation, and physiological responses. J Music Ther26, 168–187.
19.
ThautMH, DavisWB (1993) The influence of subject-selected versus experimenter-chosen music on affect, anxiety, and relaxation. J Music Ther30, 210–223.
20.
NasreddineZS, PhillipsNA, BédirianV, CharbonneauS, WhiteheadV, CollinI, CummingsJL, ChertkowH (2005) The Montreal Cognitive Assessment, MoCA: A brief screening tool for mild cognitive impairment. J Am Geriatr Soc53, 695–699.
21.
FreitasS, PrietoG, SimoesMR, SantanaI (2014) Psychometric properties of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA): An analysis using the Rasch model. Clin Neuropsychol28, 65–83.
22.
ChurchillNW, HutchisonMG, GrahamSJ, SchweizerTA (2019) Mapping brain recovery after concussion: From acute injury to one year after medical clearance. Neurology93, e1980–e1992.
23.
ChurchillNW, HutchisonMG, GrahamSJ, SchweizerTA (2020) Scale-free functional brain dynamics during recovery from sport-related concussion. Hum Brain Mapp41, 2567–2582.
24.
ChurchillNW, HutchisonMG, GrahamSJ, SchweizerTA (2021) Brain function associated with reaction time after sport-related concussion. Brain Imaging Behav15, 1508–1517.
25.
StrotherSC, AndersonJ, HansenLK, KjemsU, KustraR, SidtisJ, FrutigerS, MuleyS, LaConteS, RottenbergD (2002) The quantitative evaluation of functional neuroimaging experiments: The NPAIRS data analysis framework. Neuroimage15, 747–771.
26.
ConwayMA, Pleydell-PearceCW, WhitecrossSE (2001) The neuroanatomy of autobiographical memory: A slow cortical potential study of autobiographical memory retrieval. J Mem Lang45, 493–524.
27.
SvobodaE, McKinnonMC, LevineB (2006) The functional neuroanatomy of autobiographical memory: A meta-analysis. Neuropsychologia44, 2189–2208.
28.
SenkforAJ, PettenCV, KutasM (2002) Episodic action memory for real objects: An ERP investigation with perform, watch, and imagine action encoding tasks versus a non-action encoding task. J Cogn Neurosci14, 402–419.
29.
TurnerRS, DesmurgetM (2010) Basal ganglia contributions to motor control: A vigorous tutor. Curr Opin Neurobiol20, 704–716.
30.
HowellNA, PrescottIA, LozanoAM, HodaieM, VoonV, HutchisonWD (2016) Preliminary evidence for human globus pallidus pars interna neurons signaling reward and sensory stimuli. Neuroscience328, 30–39.
31.
RitcheyM, LaBarKS, CabezaR (2011) Level of processing modulates the neural correlates of emotional memory formation. J Cogn Neurosci23, 757–771.
32.
SwartM, LiemburgEJ, KortekaasR, WiersmaD, BruggemanR, AlemanA (2013) Normal brain activation in schizophrenia patients during associative emotional learning. Psychiatry Res214, 269–276.
33.
DrobyshevskyA, BaumannSB, SchneiderW (2006) A rapid fMRI task battery for mapping of visual, motor, cognitive, and emotional function. Neuroimage31, 732–744.
34.
KlawiterEC, SchmidtRE, TrinkausK, LiangH-F, BuddeMD, NaismithRT, SongS-K, CrossAH, BenzingerTL (2011) Radial diffusivity predicts demyelination in ex vivo multiple sclerosis spinal cords. Neuroimage55, 1454–1460.
35.
SongS-K, YoshinoJ, LeTQ, LinS-J, SunS-W, CrossAH, ArmstrongRC (2005) Demyelination increases radial diffusivity in corpus callosum of mouse brain. Neuroimage26, 132–140.
36.
LodygenskyGA, WestT, StumpM, HoltzmanD, InderT, NeilJ (2010) In vivo MRI analysis of an inflammatory injury in the developing brain. Brain Behav Immun24, 759–767.
37.
WangY, WangQ, HaldarJP, YehF-C, XieM, SunP, TuT-W, TrinkausK, KleinRS, CrossAH (2011) Quantification of increased cellularity during inflammatory demyelination. Brain134, 3590–3601.
