Current Advances in the Cognitive Neuroscience of Music

Beyond the ears: A review exploring the interconnected brain behind the hierarchical memory of music

Music is a ubiquitous element of daily life. Understanding how music memory is represented and expressed in the brain is key to understanding how music can influence human daily cognitive tasks. Current music-memory literature is built on data from very heterogeneous tasks for measuring memory, and the neural correlates appear to differ depending on different forms of memory function targeted. Such heterogeneity leaves many exceptions and conflicts in the data underexplained (e.g., hippocampal involvement in music memory is debated). This review provides an overview of existing neuroimaging results from music-memory related studies and concludes that although music is a special class of event in our lives, the memory systems behind it do in fact share neural mechanisms with memories from other modalities. We suggest that dividing music memory into different levels of a hierarchy (structural level and semantic level) helps understand overlap and divergence in neural networks involved. This is grounded in the fact that memorizing a piece of music recruits brain clusters that separately support functions including-but not limited to-syntax storage and retrieval, temporal processing, prediction versus reality comparison, stimulus feature integration, personal memory associations, and emotion perception. The cross-talk between frontal-parietal music structural processing centers and the subcortical emotion and context encoding areas explains why music is not only so easily memorable but can also serve as strong contextual information for encoding and retrieving nonmusic information in our lives.

Concordance of movements and songs enhances receiver responses to multimodal display in the starling

Many animals produce signals that consist of vocalizations and movements to attract mates or deter rivals. We usually consider them as components of a single multimodal signal because they are temporally coordinated. Sometimes, however, this relationship takes on a more complex spatiotemporal character, resembling choreographed music. Timing is important for audio-visual integration, but choreographic concordance requires even more skill and competence from the signaller. Concordance should therefore have a strong impact on receivers; however, little is known about its role in audio-visual perception during natural interactions. We studied the effects of movement and song type concordance in audio-visual displays of the starling, Sturnus vulgaris. Starlings produce two types of movements that naturally appear in specific phrases of songs with a similar temporal structure and amplitude. In an experiment with a taxidermic robotic model, males responded more to concordant audio-visual displays, which are also naturally preferred, than to discordant displays. In contrast, the effect of concordance was independent of the specific combination of movement and song types in a display. Our results indicate that the concordance of movements and songs was critical to the efficacy of the display and suggest that the information that birds gained from concordance could not be obtained by adding information from movements and songs.

Effect of classical music on growth performance, stress level, antioxidant index, immune function and meat quality in broilers at different stocking densities

High-stocking density is one of the factors that can easily cause oxidative stress and inflammatory reaction of broilers. Currently, music therapy has been proposed to help animals relieve stress to some extent. However, it is still unclear whether classical music can alleviate stress in broilers at high stocking densities. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the effects of classical music on growth performance, stress level, antioxidant index, immune function and meat quality of broilers under different stocking densities. A total of 540 one-day-old broilers with similar body weight were randomly divided into 6 treatment groups, with 6 replicates per group, which included two feeding environments (with/without classical music) and three stocking densities (15.5, 17.9, and 20.3 birds/m2), thereby making a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement. The results showed as follows: increasing stocking density decreased the average daily feed intake and average daily gain (ADG), increased feed-to-gain ratio (F/G) and mortality of broilers. Moreover, increased density resulted in an increase in serum corticosterone (CORT) and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) levels. Increasing stocking density decreased spleen and bursal indices, serum immunoglobulin A (IgA), immunoglobulin G (IgG), and immunoglobulin M (IgM) levels. Increasing stocking density elevated serum malondialdehyde (MDA) and decreased catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) activities. Increasing stocking density decreased serum total protein (TP) levels and increased total cholesterol (TC) and glucose (GLU) levels. Additionally, increasing stocking density decreased the cooking liss of pectoralis and increased the L*24h value of pectoralis. Meanwhile, playing classical music for broilers increased their ADG and decreased F/G, and decreased serum CORT, ACTH, GLU content. In addition, the bursa of Fabricius index, serum IgA and IgG contents as well as the a*24h value of pectoralis was increased under the music therapy. In conclusion, high-stocking density (20.3 birds/m2) harmed the growth performance and health of broilers, and the classical music stimulus ameliorated the negative effects to some extent.

A novel music-based therapeutic approach: the Therapeutic Music Listening

The therapeutic use of music is frequently based on active interventions that directly involve the patient through a sonorous-music interaction with the music therapist. In contrast, approaches based on musical listening are characterized by a relationship aimed at promoting an introspective work and processing of one's emotional experiences. Increasingly, the scientific literature has shown how even listening to music related to the patient's personal tastes (preferred music listening) and by-passing the direct relationship with the patient, can produce therapeutic effects in different clinical settings. However, in many cases, a clear therapeutic rationale and specific application protocols are still lacking. The paper introduces a novel approach based on music listening: the Therapeutic Music Listening. This approach integrates the subjective component of listening (patient's musical tastes) and structural and parametric characteristics of the music in relation to the therapeutic aims. The article defines theoretical-applicative bases as well as therapeutic and research perspectives of this music listening-based intervention.

Accurately predicting hit songs using neurophysiology and machine learning

Identifying hit songs is notoriously difficult. Traditionally, song elements have been measured from large databases to identify the lyrical aspects of hits. We took a different methodological approach, measuring neurophysiologic responses to a set of songs provided by a streaming music service that identified hits and flops. We compared several statistical approaches to examine the predictive accuracy of each technique. A linear statistical model using two neural measures identified hits with 69% accuracy. Then, we created a synthetic set data and applied ensemble machine learning to capture inherent non-linearities in neural data. This model classified hit songs with 97% accuracy. Applying machine learning to the neural response to 1st min of songs accurately classified hits 82% of the time showing that the brain rapidly identifies hit music. Our results demonstrate that applying machine learning to neural data can substantially increase classification accuracy for difficult to predict market outcomes.

The effect of music on delirium, pain, sedation and anxiety in patients receiving mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit

OBJECTIVES

To examine the effects of music for patients under mechanical ventilation support in the intensive care unit on their delirium, pain, sedation, and anxiety.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY/DESIGN

A single-blind, randomized, controlled trial.

SETTING

The study was conducted with delirium positive patients between August 2020 and September 2021 in the medical/surgical intensive care unit of a university hospital in Turkey.

METHODS

The study sample was selected through a simple and stratified randomization method; patients who met the inclusion criteria were assigned to the music, noise reduction or control group. The data were collected by using a Confusion Assessment Method for the ICU (CAM-ICU), CAM-ICU-7, Critical Care Pain Observation Tool (CPOT), Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale (RASS), Facial Anxiety Scale (FAS), PRE-DELIRIC model, and Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS). The interventions were repeated twice a day for five days.

RESULTS

A total of 36 patients were included, with 12 patients in each group. Significant decreases were found in the severity of delirium and pain and the level of sedation and anxiety in the music compared to the other groups (p < 0.05). The number of patients with delirium and the number of days with mechanical ventilation was found to be significantly lower in the music group compared to the other groups (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Music intervention may be used as a nursing intervention to control delirium, pain, need for sedation and anxiety in intensive care unit patients. However, additional studies with larger sample is needed to validate findings.

Can acute exercise be more pleasant? Using audiovisual stimuli: A meta-analysis

This meta-analytic study aimed to examine the effects of audiovisual stimuli on affective responses during and after exercise and their moderators. A total of 296 effect sizes (Hedge's g) were extracted from 46 independent studies covering 1292 participants. Meta-analysis was performed using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis Version 3.3, and potential moderating variables were analysed using univariate meta-regression models. Audiovisual stimuli increased affective valence during (g = 0.793, 95% CI [0.666, 0.920]) and after exercise (g = 0.792, 95% CI [0.567, 1.016]), and arousal during (g = 0.920, 95% CI [0.742 1.097]) and after exercise (g = 0.666, 95% CI [0.390, 0.962]). There may be publication bias in the meta-analysis, but the main findings are still valid. The type of audiovisual stimuli (audio-video > audio or video), exercise habits (active > not reported), and exercise intensities (self-selected > imposed) moderated the effects. In conclusion, the application of audiovisual stimuli during exercise can elicit positive affective responses. These results provide a viable intervention strategy for exercise and health practitioners to reduce the number of physically inactive individuals and improve exercise compliance and adherence.

The Effect of Sound in the Dental Office: Practices and Recommendations for Quality Assurance-A Narrative Review

Sound is inextricably linked to the human senses and is therefore directly related to the general health of the individual. The aim of the present study is to collect data on the effect of two dimensions of sound, music, and noise from an emotional and functional point of view in the dental office and to perform a thorough review of the relevant literature. We collected articles from the databases PubMed and Google Scholar through keywords that were related to noise and music in healthcare. Important information was also extracted from articles on the web and official websites. Screening of the relevant literature was performed according to accuracy and reliability of the methodology tested. A total of 261 articles were associated to sound and music in healthcare. Ninety-six of them were the most well documented and were thus included in our article. Most of the articles associate noise with negative emotions and a negative impact on performance, while music is associated with positive emotions ranging from emotional state to therapeutic approaches. Few results were found regarding ways to reduce noise in a health facility. If there is a difficulty to find effective methods of reducing the daily noise-inducing sounds in the dental office, we must focus on ways to incorporate music into it as a means of relaxation and therapy.

Music for your mental health? The development and evaluation of a group mental health intervention in subacute rehabilitation

Objectives: Short-stay residents of nursing homes experience high rates of mental health (MH) distress compared to community dwelling counterparts, yet MH interventions are difficult to implement and sustain. We modified a music therapy framework to Effective Music in Psychotherapy. Using the modified model, we integrated music listening into MH group intervention and evaluated MH outcomes. This pilot study reports the development and evaluation of the Mental Health and Music Group for short-stay nursing homes residents.Method: The group was developed and refined to be non-sequential and non-cumulative, specific to the needs of short-stay nursing home residents. Pre-/post-session ratings examined affect, quality of life, and pain. Leaders monitored engagement across and between sessions. Qualitative interviews were conducted with a selection of attendees.Results: Findings indicated decreases in irritation and worry, and increases in mood, energy, and self-as-a-whole from pre- to post-session. There were no changes in pain, perception of physical health or life-as-a-whole, energetic, sad, or happy affect, or differences in engagement. Qualitative interviews demonstrated benefits of group modality and music to group cohesion and highlighted the relevance of music for mental health outcomes.Conclusion: The Mental Health and Music group was designed around a framework of Effective Music in Psychotherapy, for short-stay nursing home settings, and demonstrated promising results. Future research can solidify the interventions generalizeability to medical and rehabilitation settings addressing the specific population needs and preferences.Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2021.1935463 .

The Neurophysiological Processing of Music in Children: A Systematic Review With Narrative Synthesis and Considerations for Clinical Practice in Music Therapy

Introduction: Evidence supporting the use of music interventions to maximize arousal and awareness in adults presenting with a disorder of consciousness continues to grow. However, the brain of a child is not simply a small adult brain, and therefore adult theories are not directly translatable to the pediatric population. The present study aims to synthesize brain imaging data about the neural processing of music in children aged 0-18 years, to form a theoretical basis for music interventions with children presenting with a disorder of consciousness following acquired brain injury. Methods: We conducted a systematic review with narrative synthesis utilizing an adaptation of the methodology developed by Popay and colleagues. Following the development of the narrative that answered the central question "what does brain imaging data reveal about the receptive processing of music in children?", discussion was centered around the clinical implications of music therapy with children following acquired brain injury. Results: The narrative synthesis included 46 studies that utilized EEG, MEG, fMRI, and fNIRS scanning techniques in children aged 0-18 years. From birth, musical stimuli elicit distinct but immature electrical responses, with components of the auditory evoked response having longer latencies and variable amplitudes compared to their adult counterparts. Hemodynamic responses are observed throughout cortical and subcortical structures however cortical immaturity impacts musical processing and the localization of function in infants and young children. The processing of complex musical stimuli continues to mature into late adolescence. Conclusion: While the ability to process fundamental musical elements is present from birth, infants and children process music more slowly and utilize different cortical areas compared to adults. Brain injury in childhood occurs in a period of rapid development and the ability to process music following brain injury will likely depend on pre-morbid musical processing. Further, a significant brain injury may disrupt the developmental trajectory of complex music processing. However, complex music processing may emerge earlier than comparative language processing, and occur throughout a more global circuitry.

Functional Brain Response to Emotional Musical Stimuli in Depression, Using INLA Approach for Approximate Bayesian Inference

Introduction:

One of the vital skills which has an impact on emotional health and well-being is the regulation of emotions. In recent years, the neural basis of this process has been considered widely. One of the powerful tools for eliciting and regulating emotion is music. The Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) is part of the emotional neural circuitry involved in Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). The current study uses functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to examine how neural processing of emotional musical auditory stimuli is changed within the ACC in depression. Statistical inference is conducted using a Bayesian Generalized Linear Model (GLM) approach with an Integrated Nested Laplace Approximation (INLA) algorithm.

Methods:

A new proposed Bayesian approach was applied for assessing functional response to emotional musical auditory stimuli in a block design fMRI data with 105 scans of two healthy and depressed women. In this Bayesian approach, Unweighted Graph-Laplacian (UGL) prior was chosen for spatial dependency, and autoregressive (AR) (1) process was used for temporal correlation via pre-weighting residuals. Finally, the inference was conducted using the Integrated Nested Laplace Approximation (INLA) algorithm in the R-INLA package.

Results:

The results revealed that positive music, as compared to negative music, elicits stronger activation within the ACC area in both healthy and depressed subjects. In comparing MDD and Never-Depressed (ND) individuals, a significant difference was found between MDD and ND groups in response to positive music vs negative music stimuli. The activations increase from baseline to positive stimuli and decrease from baseline to negative stimuli in ND subjects. Also, a significant decrease from baseline to positive stimuli was observed in MDD subjects, but there was no significant difference between baseline and negative stimuli.

Conclusion:

Assessing the pattern of activations within ACC in a depressed individual may be useful in retraining the ACC and improving its function, and lead to more effective therapeutic interventions.

Effects of cadence-compatible melodic rhythmic auditory stimulation implementation on gait in patients with Parkinson's disease

PURPOSE

Progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in basal ganglia is blamed as the main source of gait disturbance in Parkinson's disease (PD). It is known that the normal step pattern does not disappear in PD, but there is a problem in activating the correct step response. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation (RAS), which is an external stimulus, on gait in individuals with PD.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Twenty-six individuals, 13 in the PD group and 13 in the control group, participated in the study. All individuals were asked to walk under four different RAS conditions configured with beat frequency and melodic variations. Time-distance parameters and gait performance of the individuals were evaluated.

RESULTS

RAS significantly increased the gait speed of the individuals with PD compared to the control group. RAS set to 10% increase in the cadence of the patient with melody (10 M+) was found to be more effective than the RAS set to normal cadence of the patient without melody (0 M-) (p < 0.05). While all RAS implementations increased the stride length of the individuals with PD (p < 0.05), there was no change in the control group. RAS did not affect the return time in both groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study has shown that RAS implementation improves gait in individuals with PD both in terms of time-distance parameters and performance, especially when set to 10% more than the patient's gait cadence. It was concluded that cadence-compatible melodic RAS can be safely included in PD rehabilitation programs.

More music, more health!

For several decades, music has been used more and more frequently and consciously as a mean of care to reduce or stabilize symptoms and/or complications arising therefrom. This has been the case with several diseases and conditions. Indeed, music also gives pleasure, promotes well-being, facilitates the expression and regulation of emotions and improves communication and relationships between individuals. The basis underlying the therapeutic potential of music are to be considered in relation to the extensive action that music itself exerts on the brain but also on vital signs and neurochemical systems. Music therapy interventions are based on active/receptive approaches (characterized by a relational or rehabilitative component) but also on music listening. Music-based interventions can be considered activities aimed at increasing the person's well-being. The objectives of making/listening to music are to improve the person's mood and motivation, promote socialization and stimulate sensory, motor and cognitive aspects. In particular, music listening effects concern structured symptoms and general well-being reducing anxiety and stress. New technologies, such as algorithmic music and machine learning techniques, can also help to develop therapeutic interventions with music and to bring art and science closer together, in the service of medicine, in clinical work and in research.

Decreasing Delirium Through Music: A Randomized Pilot Trial

BACKGROUND

Management of delirium in intensive care units is challenging because effective therapies are lacking. Music is a promising nonpharmacological intervention.

OBJECTIVES

To determine the feasibility and acceptability of personalized music (PM), slow-tempo music (STM), and attention control (AC) in patients receiving mechanical ventilation in an intensive care unit, and to estimate the effect of music on delirium.

METHODS

A randomized controlled trial was performed in an academic medical-surgical intensive care unit. After particular inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied, patients were randomized to groups listening to PM, relaxing STM, or an audiobook (AC group). Sessions lasted 1 hour and were given twice daily for up to 7 days. Patients wore noise-canceling headphones and used mp3 players to listen to their music/audiobook. Delirium and delirium severity were assessed twice daily by using the Confusion Assessment Method for the Intensive Care Unit (CAM-ICU) and the CAM-ICU-7, respectively.

RESULTS

Of the 1589 patients screened, 117 (7.4%) were eligible. Of those, 52 (44.4%) were randomized, with a recruitment rate of 5 patients per month. Adherence was higher in the groups listening to music (80% in the PM and STM groups vs 30% in the AC group; P = .01), and 80% of patients surveyed rated the music as enjoyable. The median number (interquartile range) of delirium/coma-free days by day 7 was 2 (1-6) for PM, 3 (1-6) for STM, and 2 (0-3) for AC (P = .32). Median delirium severity was 5.5 (1-7) for PM, 3.5 (0-7) for STM, and 4 (1-6.5) for AC (P = .78).

CONCLUSIONS

Music delivery is acceptable to patients and is feasible in intensive care units. Further research testing use of this promising intervention to reduce delirium is warranted.

The Psychophysiological Effects of Different Tempo Music on Endurance Versus High-Intensity Performances

The use of music during training represents a special paradigm for trainers to stimulate people undertaking different types of exercise. However, the relationship between the tempo of music and perception of effort during different metabolic demands is still unclear. Therefore, the aim of this research was to determine whether high intensity exercise is more sensitive to the beneficial effects of music than endurance exercise. This study assessed 19 active women (age 26.4 ± 2.6 years) during endurance (walking for 10′ at 6.5 km/h on a treadmill) and high intensity (80% on 1-RM) exercise under four different randomly assigned conditions: no music (NM), with music at 90–110 bpm (LOW), with music at 130–150 bpm (MED), and with music at 170–190 bpm (HIGH). During each trial, heart rate (HR) and the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) were assessed. Repeated analysis of variance measures was used to detect any differences between the four conditions during high intensity and low intensity exercise. RPE showed more substantial changes during the endurance exercises (11%), than during high intensity exercise (6.5%), between HIGH and NM conditions. The metabolic demand during the walking exercise increased between NM and HIGH bpm conditions. This study indicates the benefits of music under stress conditions as well as during endurance and high intensity training. The results demonstrate that the beneficial effects of music are more likely to be seen in endurance exercise. Consequently, music may be considered an important tool to stimulate people engaging in low intensity physical exercise.

Scaling behaviour in music and cortical dynamics interplay to mediate music listening pleasure

The pleasure of music listening regulates daily behaviour and promotes rehabilitation in healthcare. Human behaviour emerges from the modulation of spontaneous timely coordinated neuronal networks. Too little is known about the physical properties and neurophysiological underpinnings of music to understand its perception, its health benefit and to deploy personalized or standardized music-therapy. Prior studies revealed how macroscopic neuronal and music patterns scale with frequency according to a 1/f^α relationship, where a is the scaling exponent. Here, we examine how this hallmark in music and neuronal dynamics relate to pleasure. Using electroencephalography, electrocardiography and behavioural data in healthy subjects, we show that music listening decreases the scaling exponent of neuronal activity and-in temporal areas-this change is linked to pleasure. Default-state scaling exponents of the most pleased individuals were higher and approached those found in music loudness fluctuations. Furthermore, the scaling in selective regions and timescales and the average heart rate were largely proportional to the scaling of the melody. The scaling behaviour of heartbeat and neuronal fluctuations were associated during music listening. Our results point to a 1/f resonance between brain and music and a temporal rescaling of neuronal activity in the temporal cortex as mechanisms underlying music appreciation.

Efficacy and Outcomes of a Music-Based Emotion Regulation Mobile App in Distressed Young People: Randomized Controlled Trial

Background

Emotion dysregulation increases the risk of depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders. Music can help regulate emotions, and mobile phones provide constant access to it. The Music eScape mobile app teaches young people how to identify and manage emotions using music.

Objective

This study aimed to examine the effects of using Music eScape on emotion regulation, distress, and well-being at 1, 2, 3, and 6 months. Moderators of outcomes and user ratings of app quality were also examined.

Methods

A randomized controlled trial compared immediate versus 1-month delayed access to Music eScape in 169 young people (aged 16 to 25 years) with at least mild levels of mental distress (Kessler 10 score>17).

Results

No significant differences between immediate and delayed groups on emotion regulation, distress, or well-being were found at 1 month. Both groups achieved significant improvements in 5 of the 6 emotion regulation skills, mental distress, and well-being at 2, 3, and 6 months. Unhealthy music use moderated improvements on 3 emotion regulation skills. Users gave the app a high mean quality rating (mean 3.8 [SD 0.6]) out of 5.

Conclusions

Music eScape has the potential to provide a highly accessible way of improving young people’s emotion regulation skills, but further testing is required to determine its efficacy. Targeting unhealthy music use in distressed young people may improve their emotion regulation skills.

Trial Registration

Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12615000051549; https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=365974

Atonal Music: Can Uncertainty Lead to Pleasure?

In recent years, the field of neuroaesthetics has gained considerable attention with music being a favored object of study. The majority of studies concerning music have, however, focused on the experience of Western tonal music (TM), which is characterized by tonal hierarchical organization, a high degree of consonance, and a tendency to provide the listener with a tonic as a reference point during the listening experience. We argue that a narrow focus on Western TM may have led to a one-sided view regarding the qualities of the aesthetic experience of music since Western art music from the 20th and 21st century like atonal music (AM) – while lacking a tonal hierarchical structure, and while being highly dissonant and hard to predict – is nevertheless enjoyed by a group of avid listeners. We propose a research focus that investigates, in particular, the experience of AM as a novel and compelling way with which to enhance our understanding of both the aesthetic appreciation of music and the role of predictive models in the context of musical pleasure. We use music theoretical analysis and music information retrieval methods to demonstrate how AM presents the listener with a highly uncertain auditory environment. Specifically, an analysis of a corpus of 100 musical segments is used to illustrate how tonal classical music and AM differ quantitatively in terms of both key and pulse clarity values. We then examine person related, extrinsic and intrinsic factors, that point to potential mechanisms underlying the appreciation and pleasure derived from AM. We argue that personality traits like “openness to experience,” the framing of AM as art, and the mere exposure effect are key components of such mechanisms. We further argue that neural correlates of uncertainty estimation could represent a central mechanism for engaging with AM and that such contexts engender a comparatively weak predictive model in the listener. Finally we argue that in such uncertain contexts, correct predictions may be more subjectively rewarding than prediction errors since they signal to the individual that their predictive model is improving.

The Multidisciplinary Approach to Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia. A Narrative Review of Non-Pharmacological Treatment

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) and dementia are chronic diseases with progressive deterioration of cognition, function, and behavior leading to severe disability and death. The prevalence of AD and dementia is constantly increasing because of the progressive aging of the population. These conditions represent a considerable challenge to patients, their family and caregivers, and the health system, because of the considerable need for resources allocation. There is no disease modifying intervention for AD and dementia, and the symptomatic pharmacological treatments has limited efficacy and considerable side effects. Non-pharmacological treatment (NPT), which includes a wide range of approaches and techniques, may play a role in the treatment of AD and dementia. Aim: To review, with a narrative approach, current evidence on main NPTs for AD and dementia. Methods: PubMed and the Cochrane database of systematic reviews were searched for studies written in English and published from 2000 to 2018. The bibliography of the main articles was checked to detect other relevant papers. Results: The role of NPT has been largely explored in AD and dementia. The main NPT types, which were reviewed here, include exercise and motor rehabilitation, cognitive rehabilitation, NPT for behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia, occupational therapy, psychological therapy, complementary and alternative medicine, and new technologies, including information and communication technologies, assistive technology and domotics, virtual reality, gaming, and telemedicine. We also summarized the role of NPT to address caregivers' burden. Conclusions: Although NPT is often applied in the multidisciplinary approach to AD and dementia, supporting evidence for their use is still preliminary. Some studies showed statistically significant effect of NPT on some outcomes, but their clinical significance is uncertain. Well-designed randomized controlled trials with innovative designs are needed to explore the efficacy of NPT in AD and dementia. Further studies are required to offer robust neurobiological grounds for the effect of NPT, and to examine its cost-efficacy profile in patients with dementia.

Effects of Musical Tempo on Musicians' and Non-musicians' Emotional Experience When Listening to Music

Tempo is an important musical element that affects human’s emotional processes when listening to music. However, it remains unclear how tempo and training affect individuals’ emotional experience of music. To explore the neural underpinnings of the effects of tempo on music-evoked emotion, music with fast, medium, and slow tempi were collected to compare differences in emotional responses using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of neural activity between musicians and non-musicians. Behaviorally, musicians perceived higher valence in fast music than did non-musicians. The main effects of musicians and non-musicians and tempo were significant, and a near significant interaction between group and tempo was found. In the arousal dimension, the mean score of medium-tempo music was the highest among the three kinds; in the valence dimension, the mean scores decreased in order from fast music, medium music, to slow music. Functional analyses revealed that the neural activation of musicians was stronger than those of non-musicians in the left inferior parietal lobe (IPL). A comparison of tempi showed a stronger activation from fast music than slow music in the bilateral superior temporal gyrus (STG), which provided corresponding neural evidence for the highest valence reported by participants for fast music. Medium music showed stronger activation than slow music in the right Heschl’s gyrus (HG), right middle temporal gyrus (MTG), right posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), right precuneus, right IPL, and left STG. Importantly, this study confirmed and explained the connection between music tempo and emotional experiences, and their interaction with individuals’ musical training.

Entrainment and Synchronization to Auditory Stimuli During Walking in Healthy and Neurological Populations: A Methodological Systematic Review

Background: Interdisciplinary work is needed for scientific progress, and with this review, our interest is in the scientific progress toward understanding the underlying mechanisms of auditory-motor coupling, and how this can be applied to gait rehabilitation. Specifically we look into the process of entrainment and synchronization; where entrainment is the process that governs the dynamic alignments of the auditory and motor domains based on error-prediction correction, whereas synchronization is the stable maintenance of timing during auditory-motor alignment. Methodology: A systematic literature search in databases PubMed and Web of Science were searched up to 9th of August 2017. The selection criteria for the included studies were adult populations, with a minimum of five participants, investigating walking to an auditory stimulus, with an outcome measure of entrainment, and synchronization. The review was registered in PROSPERO as CRD42017080325. Objectives: The objective of the review is to systematically describe the metrics which measure entrainment and synchronization to auditory stimuli during walking in healthy and neurological populations. Results: Sixteen articles were included. Fifty percent of the included articles had healthy controls as participants (N = 167), 19% had neurological diseases such as Huntington's and Stroke (N = 76), and 31% included both healthy and neurological [Parkinson's disease (PD) and Stroke] participants (N = 101). In the included studies, six parameters were found to capture the interaction between the human movement and the auditory stimuli, these were: cadence, relative phase angle, resultant vector length, interval between the beat and the foot contact, period matching performance, and detrended fluctuation analysis. Conclusion: In this systematic review, several metrics have been identified, which measure the timing aspect of auditory-motor coupling and synchronization of auditory stimuli in healthy and neurological populations during walking. The application of these metrics may enhance the current state of the art and practice across the neurological gait rehabilitation. These metrics also have current shortcomings. Of particular pertinence is our recommendation to consider variability in data from a time-series rather than time-windowed viewpoint. We need it in view of the promising practical applications from which the studied populations may highly benefit in view of personalized medical care.

Ballroom Dancing Promotes Neural Activity in the Sensorimotor System: A Resting-State fMRI Study

Objective

This study aims at investigating differences in the spontaneous brain activity and functional connectivity in the sensorimotor system between ballroom dancers and nondancers, to further support the functional alteration in people with expertise.

Materials and Methods

Twenty-three ballroom dancers and twenty-one matched novices with no dance experience were recruited in this study. Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and seed-based functional connectivity, as methods for assessing resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data, were used to reveal the resting-state brain function in these participants.

Results

Compared to the novices, ballroom dancers showed increased ALFF in the left middle temporal gyrus, bilateral precentral gyrus, bilateral inferior frontal gyrus, left postcentral gyrus, left inferior temporal gyrus, right middle occipital gyrus, right superior temporal gyrus, and left middle frontal gyrus. The ballroom dancers also demonstrated lower ALFF in the left lingual gyrus and altered functional connectivity between the inferior frontal gyrus and temporal, parietal regions.

Conclusions

Our results indicated that ballroom dancers showed elevated neural activity in sensorimotor regions relative to novices and functional alterations in frontal-temporal and frontal-parietal connectivity, which may reflect specific training experience related to ballroom dancing, including high-capacity action perception, attentional control, and movement adjustment.

The Unforgettables: a chorus for people with dementia with their family members and friends

Our experience evaluating a museum program for people with dementia together with their family members demonstrated benefits for all participants. We hypothesized that participation in a chorus would also have positive effects, giving them an opportunity to share a stimulating and social activity that could improve their quality of life. We inaugurated a chorus for people with dementia and their family caregivers in 2011, which rehearses and performs regularly. Each person with dementia must be accompanied by a friend or family member and must commit to attending all rehearsals and the concert that ensues. A pilot study included a structured assessment, take home questionnaires and focus groups. Analyses of pre-post scores were conducted; effect size was quantified using Cohen's d. Results showed that quality of life and communication with the other member of the dyad improved (Effect size: Cohen's d between 0.32 and 0.72) for people with dementia; quality of life, social support, communication and self-esteem improved (d between 0.29 and 0.68) for caregivers. Most participants stated that benefits included belonging to a group, having a normal activity together and learning new skills. Participants attended rehearsals in spite of harsh weather conditions. The chorus has been rehearsing and performing together for more than 6 years and contributing to its costs. Results of this pilot study suggest that people in the early to middle stage of dementia and their family members and friends can enjoy and learn from rehearsing and performing in concerts that also engage the wider community. It is essential to conduct additional larger studies of the benefits of participating in a chorus, which may include improved quality of life and social support for all, and reduced cognitive decline among people with dementia.

Social health in dementia care: harnessing an applied research agenda

The notion of social health (Huber et al., 2011) as applied to dementia care research was introduced to redress the balance of empirical studies that tended to focus on biomedical, cognitive, and functional status in dementia (Vernooij-Dassen and Jeon, 2016). The introduction of social health has followed the zeitgeist of campaigners for a better life for those living with dementia, with initiatives to improve the social images of dementia (Alzheimers.org, 2017). Examples from social research in dementia to examine friendships and the social environments of people with dementia exist (Medeiros et al., 2012), but introduction of the paradigm of social health in dementia (Vernooij-Dassen and Jeon, 2016) has harnessed a growing research agenda (de Vugt and Dröes, 2017). This paradigm provides an umbrella concept to study how social aspects influence the dynamic balance between opportunities and limitations in dementia. Social health goes beyond the neuropathology of dementia, to understand how people, their social networks and wider society with its norms, interact with the condition (Vernooij-Dassen and Jeon, 2016). It is not far removed from the ideas of Tom Kitwood, the pioneer of person-centered dementia care, who noted that "personhood is a standing or status that is bestowed upon one human being, by others, in the context of relationship and social being" (Kitwood, 1997). The INTERDEM (Early detection and timely INTERvention in DEMentia, www.interdem.org) psychosocial research agenda aspired to improve knowledge about social inclusion and reciprocal relationships for people with dementia (Moniz-Cook et al., 2011). The concept of social health (Vernooij-Dassen and Jeon, 2016) with its dimensions for dementia research (Dröes et al., 2017) has begun to develop this knowledge-base.

Statistical learning and probabilistic prediction in music cognition: mechanisms of stylistic enculturation

Music perception depends on internal psychological models derived through exposure to a musical culture. It is hypothesized that this musical enculturation depends on two cognitive processes: (1) statistical learning, in which listeners acquire internal cognitive models of statistical regularities present in the music to which they are exposed; and (2) probabilistic prediction based on these learned models that enables listeners to organize and process their mental representations of music. To corroborate these hypotheses, I review research that uses a computational model of probabilistic prediction based on statistical learning (the information dynamics of music (IDyOM) model) to simulate data from empirical studies of human listeners. The results show that a broad range of psychological processes involved in music perception-expectation, emotion, memory, similarity, segmentation, and meter-can be understood in terms of a single, underlying process of probabilistic prediction using learned statistical models. Furthermore, IDyOM simulations of listeners from different musical cultures demonstrate that statistical learning can plausibly predict causal effects of differential cultural exposure to musical styles, providing a quantitative model of cultural distance. Understanding the neural basis of musical enculturation will benefit from close coordination between empirical neuroimaging and computational modeling of underlying mechanisms, as outlined here.

Not Cure But Heal: Music and Medicine

Do you know that our soul is composed of harmony? Leonardo Da Vinci Despite evidence for music-specific mechanisms at the level of pitch-pattern representations, the most fascinating aspect of music is its transmodality. Recent psychological and neuroscientific evidence suggest that music is unique in the coupling of perception, cognition, action and emotion. This potentially explains why music has been since time immemorial almost inextricably linked to healing processes and should continue to be.

Culture Modulates the Brain Response to Harmonic Violations: An EEG Study on Hierarchical Syntactic Structure in Music

We investigated the role of culture in processing hierarchical syntactic structures in music. We examined whether violation of non-local dependencies manifest in event related potentials (ERP) for Western and Iranian excerpts by recording EEG while participants passively listened to sequences of modified/original excerpts. We also investigated oscillatory and synchronization properties of brain responses during processing of hierarchical structures. For the Western excerpt, subjective ratings of conclusiveness were marginally significant and the difference in the ERP components fell short of significance. However, ERP and behavioral results showed that while listening to culturally familiar music, subjects comprehended whether or not the hierarchical syntactic structure was fulfilled. Irregularities in the hierarchical structures of the Iranian excerpt elicited an early negativity in the central regions bilaterally, followed by two later negativities from 450–700 to 750–950 ms. The latter manifested throughout the scalp. Moreover, violations of hierarchical structure in the Iranian excerpt were associated with (i) an early decrease in the long range alpha phase synchronization, (ii) an early increase in the oscillatory activity in the beta band over the central areas, and (iii) a late decrease in the theta band phase synchrony between left anterior and right posterior regions. Results suggest that rhythmic structures and melodic fragments, representative of Iranian music, created a familiar context in which recognition of complex non-local syntactic structures was feasible for Iranian listeners. Processing of neural responses to the Iranian excerpt indicated neural mechanisms for processing of hierarchical syntactic structures in music at different levels of cortical integration.

Keypress-Based Musical Preference Is Both Individual and Lawful

Musical preference is highly individualized and is an area of active study to develop methods for its quantification. Recently, preference-based behavior, associated with activity in brain reward circuitry, has been shown to follow lawful, quantifiable patterns, despite broad variation across individuals. These patterns, observed using a keypress paradigm with visual stimuli, form the basis for relative preference theory (RPT). Here, we sought to determine if such patterns extend to non-visual domains (i.e., audition) and dynamic stimuli, potentially providing a method to supplement psychometric, physiological, and neuroimaging approaches to preference quantification. For this study, we adapted our keypress paradigm to two sets of stimuli consisting of seventeenth to twenty-first century western art music (Classical) and twentieth to twenty-first century jazz and popular music (Popular). We studied a pilot sample and then a separate primary experimental sample with this paradigm, and used iterative mathematical modeling to determine if RPT relationships were observed with high R² fits. We further assessed the extent of heterogeneity in the rank ordering of keypress-based responses across subjects. As expected, individual rank orderings of preferences were quite heterogeneous, yet we observed mathematical patterns fitting these data similar to those observed previously with visual stimuli. These patterns in music preference were recurrent across two cohorts and two stimulus sets, and scaled between individual and group data, adhering to the requirements for lawfulness. Our findings suggest a general neuroscience framework that predicts human approach/avoidance behavior, while also allowing for individual differences and the broad diversity of human choices; the resulting framework may offer novel approaches to advancing music neuroscience, or its applications to medicine and recommendation systems.

Listening to Rhythmic Music Reduces Connectivity within the Basal Ganglia and the Reward System

Music can trigger emotional responses in a more direct way than any other stimulus. In particular, music-evoked pleasure involves brain networks that are part of the reward system. Furthermore, rhythmic music stimulates the basal ganglia and may trigger involuntary movements to the beat. In the present study, we created a continuously playing rhythmic, dance floor-like composition where the ambient noise from the MR scanner was incorporated as an additional instrument of rhythm. By treating this continuous stimulation paradigm as a variant of resting-state, the data was analyzed with stochastic dynamic causal modeling (sDCM), which was used for exploring functional dependencies and interactions between core areas of auditory perception, rhythm processing, and reward processing. The sDCM model was a fully connected model with the following areas: auditory cortex, putamen/pallidum, and ventral striatum/nucleus accumbens of both hemispheres. The resulting estimated parameters were compared to ordinary resting-state data, without an additional continuous stimulation. Besides reduced connectivity within the basal ganglia, the results indicated a reduced functional connectivity of the reward system, namely the right ventral striatum/nucleus accumbens from and to the basal ganglia and auditory network while listening to rhythmic music. In addition, the right ventral striatum/nucleus accumbens demonstrated also a change in its hemodynamic parameter, reflecting an increased level of activation. These converging results may indicate that the dopaminergic reward system reduces its functional connectivity and relinquishing its constraints on other areas when we listen to rhythmic music.

Measuring the representational space of music with fMRI: a case study with Sting

Functional brain imaging has revealed much about the neuroanatomical substrates of higher cognition, including music, language, learning, and memory. The technique lends itself to studying of groups of individuals. In contrast, the nature of expert performance is typically studied through the examination of exceptional individuals using behavioral case studies and retrospective biography. Here, we combined fMRI and the study of an individual who is a world-class expert musician and composer in order to better understand the neural underpinnings of his music perception and cognition, in particular, his mental representations for music. We used state of the art multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA) and representational dissimilarity analysis (RDA) in a fixed set of brain regions to test three exploratory hypotheses with the musician Sting: (1) Composing would recruit neutral structures that are both unique and distinguishable from other creative acts, such as composing prose or visual art; (2) listening and imagining music would recruit similar neural regions, indicating that musical memory shares anatomical substrates with music listening; (3) the MVPA and RDA results would help us to map the representational space for music, revealing which musical pieces and genres are perceived to be similar in the musician's mental models for music. Our hypotheses were confirmed. The act of composing, and even of imagining elements of the composed piece separately, such as melody and rhythm, activated a similar cluster of brain regions, and were distinct from prose and visual art. Listened and imagined music showed high similarity, and in addition, notable similarity/dissimilarity patterns emerged among the various pieces used as stimuli: Muzak and Top 100/Pop songs were far from all other musical styles in Mahalanobis distance (Euclidean representational space), whereas jazz, R&B, tango and rock were comparatively close. Closer inspection revealed principaled explanations for the similarity clusters found, based on key, tempo, motif, and orchestration.

Exploring the effect of sound and music on health in hospital settings: A narrative review

BACKGROUND

Sound in hospital space has traditionally been considered in negative terms as both intrusive and unwanted, and based mainly on sound levels. However, sound level is only one aspect of the soundscape. There is strong evidence that exploring the positive aspect of sound in a hospital context can evoke positive feelings in both patients and nurses. Music psychology studies have also shown that music intervention in health care can have a positive effect on patient's emotions and recuperating processes. In this way, hospital spaces have the potential to reduce anxiety and stress, and make patients feel comfortable and secure. This paper describes a review of the literature exploring sound perception and its effect on health care.

DATA SOURCES AND REVIEW METHODS

This review sorted the literature and main issues into themes concerning sound in health care spaces; sound, stress and health; positive soundscape; psychological perspective of music and emotion; music as a complementary medicine for improving health care; contradicting arguments concerning the use of music in health care; and implications for clinical practice. Using Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, ProQuest Central, MEDLINE, and Google, a literature search on sound levels, sound sources and the impression of a soundscape was conducted. The review focused on the role and use of music on health care in clinical environments. In addition, other pertinent related materials in shaping the understanding of the field were retrieved, scanned and added into this review.

RESULTS

The result indicated that not all noises give a negative impression within healthcare soundscapes. Listening to soothing music was shown to reduce stress, blood pressure and post-operative trauma when compared to silence. Much of the sound conveys meaningful information that is positive for both patients and nurses, in terms of soft wind, bird twitter, and ocean sounds.

CONCLUSIONS

Music perception was demonstrated to bring about positive change in patient-reported outcomes such as eliciting positive emotion, and decreasing the levels of stressful conditions. Whilst sound holds both negative and positive aspects of the hospital ecosystem and may be stressful, it also possesses a soothing quality that induces positive feelings in patients. Conceptualizing the nature of sound in the hospital context as a soundscape, rather than merely noise can permit a subtler and socially useful understanding of the role of sound and music in the hospital setting, thereby creating a means for improving the hospital experience for patients and nurses.

Neural Entrainment in Drum Rhythms with Silent Breaks: Evidence from Steady-state Evoked and Event-related Potentials

The fusion of rhythm, beat perception, and movement is often summarized under the term "entrainment" and becomes obvious when we effortlessly tap our feet or snap our fingers to the pulse of music. Entrainment to music involves a large network of brain structures, and neural oscillations at beat-related frequencies can help elucidate how this network is connected. Here, we used EEG to investigate steady-state evoked potentials (SSEPs) and event-related potentials (ERPs) during listening and tapping to drum clips with different rhythmic structures that were interrupted by silent breaks of 2-6 sec. This design allowed us to address the question of whether neural entrainment processes persist after the physical presence of musical rhythms and to link neural oscillations and event-related neural responses. During stimulus presentation, SSEPs were elicited in both tasks (listening and tapping). During silent breaks, SSEPs were only present in the tapping task. Notably, the amplitude of the N1 ERP component was more negative after longer silent breaks, and both N1 and SSEP results indicate that neural entrainment was increased when listening to drum rhythms compared with an isochronous metronome. Taken together, this suggests that neural entrainment to music is not solely driven by the physical input but involves endogenous timing processes. Our findings break ground for a tighter linkage between steady-state and transient evoked neural responses in rhythm processing. Beyond music perception, they further support the crucial role of entrained oscillatory activity in shaping sensory, motor, and cognitive processes in general.

Sex Differences in Music: A Female Advantage at Recognizing Familiar Melodies

Although sex differences have been observed in various cognitive domains, there has been little work examining sex differences in the cognition of music. We tested the prediction that women would be better than men at recognizing familiar melodies, since memories of specific melodies are likely to be learned (at least in part) by declarative memory, which shows female advantages. Participants were 24 men and 24 women, with half musicians and half non-musicians in each group. The two groups were matched on age, education, and various measures of musical training. Participants were presented with well-known and novel melodies, and were asked to indicate their recognition of familiar melodies as rapidly as possible. The women were significantly faster than the men in responding, with a large effect size. The female advantage held across musicians and non-musicians, and across melodies with and without commonly associated lyrics, as evidenced by an absence of interactions between sex and these factors. Additionally, the results did not seem to be explained by sex differences in response biases, or in basic motor processes as tested in a control task. Though caution is warranted given that this is the first study to examine sex differences in familiar melody recognition, the results are consistent with the hypothesis motivating our prediction, namely that declarative memory underlies knowledge about music (particularly about familiar melodies), and that the female advantage at declarative memory may thus lead to female advantages in music cognition (particularly at familiar melody recognition). Additionally, the findings argue against the view that female advantages at tasks involving verbal (or verbalizable) material are due solely to a sex difference specific to the verbal domain. Further, the results may help explain previously reported cognitive commonalities between music and language: since declarative memory also underlies language, such commonalities may be partly due to a common dependence on this memory system. More generally, because declarative memory is well studied at many levels, evidence that music cognition depends on this system may lead to a powerful research program generating a wide range of novel predictions for the neurocognition of music, potentially advancing the field.

Detecting signatures of positive selection associated with musical aptitude in the human genome

Abilities related to musical aptitude appear to have a long history in human evolution. To elucidate the molecular and evolutionary background of musical aptitude, we compared genome-wide genotyping data (641 K SNPs) of 148 Finnish individuals characterized for musical aptitude. We assigned signatures of positive selection in a case-control setting using three selection methods: haploPS, XP-EHH and F_ST. Gene ontology classification revealed that the positive selection regions contained genes affecting inner-ear development. Additionally, literature survey has shown that several of the identified genes were known to be involved in auditory perception (e.g. GPR98, USH2A), cognition and memory (e.g. GRIN2B, IL1A, IL1B, RAPGEF5), reward mechanisms (RGS9), and song perception and production of songbirds (e.g. FOXP1, RGS9, GPR98, GRIN2B). Interestingly, genes related to inner-ear development and cognition were also detected in a previous genome-wide association study of musical aptitude. However, the candidate genes detected in this study were not reported earlier in studies of musical abilities. Identification of genes related to language development (FOXP1 and VLDLR) support the popular hypothesis that music and language share a common genetic and evolutionary background. The findings are consistent with the evolutionary conservation of genes related to auditory processes in other species and provide first empirical evidence for signatures of positive selection for abilities that contribute to musical aptitude.

See hear: psychological effects of music and music-video during treadmill running

BACKGROUND

There is a paucity of work addressing the distractive, affect-enhancing, and motivational influences of music and video in combination during exercise.

PURPOSE

We examined the effects of music and music-and-video on a range of psychological and psychophysical variables during treadmill running at intensities above and below ventilatory threshold (VT).

METHODS

Participants (N = 24) exercised at 10 % of maximal capacity below VT and 10 % above under music-only, music-and-video, and control conditions.

RESULTS

There was a condition × intensity × time interaction for perceived activation and state motivation, and an intensity × time interaction for state attention, perceived exertion (RPE), and affective valence. The music-and-video condition elicited the highest levels of dissociation, lowest RPE, and most positive affective responses regardless of exercise intensity.

CONCLUSIONS

Attentional manipulations influence psychological and psychophysical variables at exercise intensities above and below VT, and this effect is enhanced by the combined presentation of auditory and visual stimuli.

Electrophysiological evidences demonstrating differences in brain functions between nonmusicians and musicians

Long-term music training can improve sensorimotor skills, as playing a musical instrument requires the functional integration of information related to multimodal sensory perception and motor execution. This functional integration often leads to functional reorganization of cerebral cortices, including auditory, visual, and motor areas. Moreover, music appreciation can modulate emotions (e.g., stress relief), and long-term music training can enhance a musician’s self-control and self-evaluation ability. Therefore, the neural processing of music can also be related to certain higher brain cognitive functions. However, evidence demonstrating that long-term music training modulates higher brain functions is surprisingly rare. Here, we aimed to comprehensively explore the neural changes induced by long-term music training by assessing the differences of transient and quasi-steady-state auditory-evoked potentials between nonmusicians and musicians. We observed that compared to nonmusicians, musicians have (1) larger high-frequency steady-state responses, which reflect the auditory information processing within the sensory system, and (2) smaller low-frequency vertex potentials, which reflect higher cognitive information processing within the novelty/saliency detection system. Therefore, we speculate that long-term music training facilitates “bottom-up” auditory information processing in the sensory system and enhances “top-down” cognitive inhibition of the novelty/saliency detection system.

Maladaptive and adaptive emotion regulation through music: a behavioral and neuroimaging study of males and females

Music therapists use guided affect regulation in the treatment of mood disorders. However, self-directed uses of music in affect regulation are not fully understood. Some uses of music may have negative effects on mental health, as can non-music regulation strategies, such as rumination. Psychological testing and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) were used explore music listening strategies in relation to mental health. Participants (n = 123) were assessed for depression, anxiety and Neuroticism, and uses of Music in Mood Regulation (MMR). Neural responses to music were measured in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in a subset of participants (n = 56). Discharge, using music to express negative emotions, related to increased anxiety and Neuroticism in all participants and particularly in males. Males high in Discharge showed decreased activity of mPFC during music listening compared with those using less Discharge. Females high in Diversion, using music to distract from negative emotions, showed more mPFC activity than females using less Diversion. These results suggest that the use of Discharge strategy can be associated with maladaptive patterns of emotional regulation, and may even have long-term negative effects on mental health. This finding has real-world applications in psychotherapy and particularly in clinical music therapy.

A pilot study into the effects of music therapy on different areas of the brain of individuals with unresponsive wakefulness syndrome

The global cerebral network allows music “ to do to us what it does.” While the same music can cause different emotions, the basic emotion of happy and sad songs can, nevertheless, be understood by most people. Consequently, the individual experience of music and its common effect on the human brain is a challenging subject for research. Various activities such as hearing, processing, and performing music provide us with different pictures of cerebral centers in PET. In comparison to these simple acts of experiencing music, the interaction and the therapeutic relationship between the patient and the therapist in Music Therapy (MT) provide us with an additional element in need of investigation. In the course of a pilot study, these problems were approached and reduced to the simple observation of pattern alteration in the brains of four individuals with Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome (UWS) during MT. Each patient had three PET investigations: (i) during a resting state, (ii) during the first exposure to MT, and (iii) during the last exposure to MT. Two patients in the MT group received MT for 5 weeks between the 2nd and the 3rd PET (three times a week), while two other patients in the control group had no MT in between. Tracer uptake was measured in the frontal, hippocampal, and cerebellar region of the brain. With certain differences in these three observed brain areas, the tracer uptake in the MT group was higher (34%) than in the control group after 5 weeks. The preliminary results suggest that MT activates the three brain regions described above. In this article, we present our approach to the neuroscience of MT and discuss the impact of our hypothesis on music therapy practice, neurological rehabilitation of individuals in UWS and additional neuroscientific research.