Appendix 3.03 Survey of The Neurosciences
and Music III Conference 2008
Disorders and Plasticity
Part VI. Listening to and Making Music Facilitates Brain Recovery Processes
(56
-65)
Title, Category
Aim
Mus. Material, Cultural Ref.
Technology & Procedure
Main focus of interest
Conclusion
*56. Koelsch
(374
-384)
Music therapy and neuroscience
Cat. 12: Therapy
Cat. 18: Bodily impact 57. Schlaug et al.
(385
-394)
White-
matter plasticity in
chronic Broca’s aphasia
Cat. 11: Deficit Cat. 12: Recovery
, therapy
- Altenmüller et al.
(39
5-405)
Neural reorganization induced by music
-supported therapy
Cat. 12: Therapy
, recovery
Cat. 17: Sensory
-motor
- Thaut et al.
(406
-416)
Neurologic music therapy and cognitive rehabilitation
Cat. 12: Therapy
, recovery
Brief overview of factors
contributing to the effects of music
-therapeutic work.
Review of neuroscientific studies using music to investi
gate emotion, perception
action mediation (”mirror func
tion”), and social cognition
To test whether melodic intonation therapy (MIT) for aphasic patients administered in an intense fashion would lead to changes in white
matter tracts, particularly the Arcuate Fasciculus (AF)
To assess whether a new treatment of music
-supported
therapy
(MST)
leads to neural
reorganization and motor recov
ery in patients after
stroke
To examine the immediate effec
ts of neurologic music
therapy
(NMT) on cognitive
functioning and emotional adjustment with brain
-injured
persons
Different kinds of musical material. CR:
One study:
Western non
-tonal
Task material:
MIT: (1) Melodic intonation (singing) using two pitches, to exaggerate the normal melodic content of speech.
(2) rhythmic tapping of each syllable, using the patient’s left hand
. CR: Neutral
Task material:
MST:
Exercises on a MIDI
piano and an 8
-pad electronic
drum set. Beginning with 1 tone, systematically increased to songs of 5
-8 tones.
Instructor plays first, patient repeats.
CR: Western
Task material:
Training exercises based on interactive group improvi
sations with a focused func
tional content: a) emotional adjustment b) executive func
tion c) attention d) memory
CR:
Neutral
Comprehensive review of various studies.
53 references.
Technologies: PET, fMRI, EEG, MEG
6 patients with nonfluent aphasia due to left-
hemi-
sphere stroke,
and relatively
preserved comprehension.
Structural MRI with Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) before and after 75 therapy sessions
32 patients received
MST
plus conv
entional treatment.
30 patients
only conventional
treatment
. EEG recordings,
and behavioral tests of motor functions
31 treatment participants, 23 controls. Treatment: 4 sessions on 4 different days
.
Pre/post assessments by means of well-
established
tests
Music listening and music production activate a multitude of brain structures
involved in
cognitive, sensori
-motor,
and
emotional processing.
Modulation of
(1)
Attention
(2)
Emotion
(3)
Cognition
(4)
Behavior
(5)
Communication
Recovery through the right hemisphere. Possible effect of tapping the left hand, which may engage a right
-hemi-
spheric sensorimotor network.
Connections between the temporal and the frontal lobes
EEG: Therapy
-induced
changes in Event
-Related
Desynchronization /
Synchro-
nization (ERD / ERS)
Assessment of a) depression, anxiety, hostility, sensation seek
ing, positive affect. b)
mental flexibility. c) attention. d) memory: Auditory Verbal Learning Test
It is likely that the engage
ment of these processes by music can have beneficial effects on the psychological and physiological health of individuals, although the mechanisms underlying such effects are currently not well understood
All pa
tients showed a
significant increase in the absoloute number of fibers in the right AF
. Several
studies have shown that motor and linguistic cortical functions are closely linked
MST leads to marked improvements of motor func
tion after stroke.
These
are accompanied by electro
physiological changes indicating a better cortical connectivity
Treatment participants showed improvement in executive function and overall e
motional
adjustment, a
nd lessening
of depression, sensation seeking and anxiety