Hooked on a Feeling: Influence of Brief Exposure to Familiar Music on Feelings of Emotion in Individuals with Alzheimer’s Disease

Music-Evoked Autobiographical Memories are Associated with Negative Affect in Younger and Older Adults

BACKGROUND

Music evokes strong and persistent emotional responses. However, the mechanisms underlying the emotional effects of music, particularly in older adults, are largely unknown. One purported mechanism by which music evokes emotions is through memory - that is, music evokes personal, autobiographical memories that then lead to emotional responses.

METHOD

Here, we investigated whether memory-evoking music induces stronger and longer-lasting emotional responses than non-memory-evoking music, and whether these emotional responses differ between younger and older adults. Older (N = 30) and younger adults (N =30) listened to two blocks of self-selected music (one block of memory-evoking music and one block of familiar but non-memory-evoking music). Participants reported their emotions prior to and at three timepoints post-listening.

RESULTS

Older adults reported higher levels of positive affect than younger adults. For both groups, positive affect increased after listening to both memory-evoking and non-memory-evoking music. However, negative affect only increased after listening to memory-evoking music.

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that both memory-evoking and non-memory-evoking music generate strong emotions in younger and older adults, but music that conjures personal memories is more likely to elicit mixed emotions. Our results have important clinical implications when designing music-based interventions for mood and affect, particularly in older adult populations.

Music Therapy Increases Social and Emotional Well-Being in Persons With Dementia: A Randomized Clinical Crossover Trial Comparing Singing to Verbal Discussion

The number of people living with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) is growing proportional to our aging population. Although music-based interventions may offer meaningful support to these individuals, most music therapy research lacks well-matched comparison conditions and specific intervention focus, which limits evaluation of intervention effectiveness and possible mechanisms. Here, we report a randomized clinical crossover trial in which we examined the impact of a singing-based music therapy intervention on feelings, emotions, and social engagement in 32 care facility residents with ADRD (aged 65-97 years), relative to an analogous nonmusic condition (verbal discussion). Both conditions were informed by the Clinical Practice Model for Persons with Dementia and occurred in a small group format, three times per week for two weeks (six 25-minute sessions), with a two-week washout at crossover. We followed National Institutes of Health Behavior Change Consortium strategies to enhance methodological rigor. We predicted that music therapy would improve feelings, positive emotions, and social engagement, significantly more so than the comparison condition. We used a linear mixed model approach to analysis. In support of our hypotheses, the music therapy intervention yielded significant positive effects on feelings, emotions, and social engagement, particularly for those with moderate dementia. Our study contributes empirical support for the use of music therapy to improve psychosocial well-being in this population. Results also highlight the importance of considering patient characteristics in intervention design and offer practical implications for music selection and implementation within interventions for persons with ADRD.

Multi-Modal Integration of EEG-fNIRS for Characterization of Brain Activity Evoked by Preferred Music

Music can effectively improve people's emotions, and has now become an effective auxiliary treatment method in modern medicine. With the rapid development of neuroimaging, the relationship between music and brain function has attracted much attention. In this study, we proposed an integrated framework of multi-modal electroencephalogram (EEG) and functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) from data collection to data analysis to explore the effects of music (especially personal preferred music) on brain activity. During the experiment, each subject was listening to two different kinds of music, namely personal preferred music and neutral music. In analyzing the synchronization signals of EEG and fNIRS, we found that music promotes the activity of the brain (especially the prefrontal lobe), and the activation induced by preferred music is stronger than that of neutral music. For the multi-modal features of EEG and fNIRS, we proposed an improved Normalized-ReliefF method to fuse and optimize them and found that it can effectively improve the accuracy of distinguishing between the brain activity evoked by preferred music and neutral music (up to 98.38%). Our work provides an objective reference based on neuroimaging for the research and application of personalized music therapy.

Dimensional and Discrete Emotional Reactivity in Alzheimer's Disease: Film Clips as a Research Tool in Dementia

BACKGROUND

No studies have been conducted to date on the dimensional and discrete classification of emotions to study the emotional reactivity of older adults with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Additionally, the presentation of film clips with affective content is currently one of the most effective and widely used Mood Induction Procedures (MIPS). However, it has been scarcely used in AD patients.

OBJECTIVE

Based on the dimensional and discrete models of emotion, this study examines the emotional reactivity of older adults with AD, using a popular set of film clips to induce emotions.

METHODS

We compared the responses of older adults aged over 65-years with mild to moderate AD (n = 15) and a healthy comparison group (n = 17) to six target emotions: disgust, fear, anger, sadness, amusement, and tenderness.

RESULTS

The results showed significant differences in the reactivity of fear, anger, and sadness between AD patients and healthy comparison group. However, the responses of the two groups to positive film clips were similar. Only in the amusement clip did the AD participants show a higher intensity response.

CONCLUSION

These findings suggest that the characteristic loss of cognitive abilities in AD is related to a reduction in the ability to react to emotional stimuli, especially negative ones. However, these abilities seem to be preserved when it comes to positive emotions. Future research is necessary to investigate whether the positivity effect is present in AD patients.

The Seven Selves of Dementia

The self is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon, encompassing a variety of cognitive processes and psychosocial influences. Considering this, there is a multiplicity of "selves," the current review suggesting that seven fundamental self-processes can be identified that further our understanding of the experience of dementia. These include (1) an embodied self, manifest as corporeal awareness; (2) an agentic self, related to being an agent and influencing life circumstances; (3) an implicit self, linked to non-conscious self-processing; (4) a critical self, which defines the core of self-identity; (5) a surrogate self, based on third-person perspective information; (6) an extended self, including external objects or existences that are incorporated into the self; and, finally, (7) an emergent self, a property of the self-processes that give rise to the sense of a unified self. These are discussed in relation to self-awareness and their use in making sense of the experience of dementia.