60 research outputs found
Musical practice and cognitive aging: two cross-sectional studies point to phonemic fluency as a potential candidate for a use-dependent adaptation
Because of permanent use-dependent brain plasticity, all lifelong
individuals' experiences are believed to influence the cognitive aging quality.
In older individuals, both former and current musical practices have been
associated with better verbal skills, visual memory, processing speed, and
planning function. This work sought for an interaction between musical practice
and cognitive aging by comparing musician and non-musician individuals for two
lifetime periods (middle and late adulthood). Long-term memory, auditory-verbal
short-term memory, processing speed, non-verbal reasoning, and verbal fluencies
were assessed. In Study 1, measures of processing speed and auditory-verbal
short-term memory were significantly better performed by musicians compared
with controls, but both groups displayed the same age-related differences. For
verbal fluencies, musicians scored higher than controls and displayed different
age effects. In Study 2, we found that lifetime period at training onset
(childhood vs. adulthood) was associated with phonemic, but not semantic,
fluency performances (musicians who had started to practice in adulthood did
not perform better on phonemic fluency than non-musicians). Current frequency
of training did not account for musicians' scores on either of these two
measures. These patterns of results are discussed by setting the hypothesis of
a transformative effect of musical practice against a non-causal explanation
Musical experience prior to traumatic exposure as a resilience factor: a conceptual analysis
Resilience mechanisms can be dynamically triggered throughout the lifecourse by resilience factors in order to prevent individuals from developing stress-related pathologies such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Some interventional studies have suggested that listening to music and musical practice after experiencing a traumatic event decrease the intensity of PTSD, but surprisingly, no study to our knowledge has explored musical experience as a potential resilience factor before the potential occurrence of a traumatic event. In the present conceptual analysis, we sought to summarize what is known about the concept of resilience and how musical experience could trigger two key mechanisms altered in PTSD: emotion regulation and cognitive control. Our hypothesis is that the stimulation of these two mechanisms by musical experience during the pre-traumatic period could help protect against the symptoms of emotional dysregulation and intrusions present in PTSD. We then developed a new framework to guide future research aimed at isolating and investigating the protective role of musical experience regarding the development of PTSD in response to trauma. The clinical application of this type of research could be to develop pre-trauma training that promotes emotional regulation and cognitive control, aimed at populations at risk of developing PTSD such as healthcare workers, police officers, and military staffs
Boosting Autobiographical Memory and the Sense of Identity of Alzheimer Patients Through Repeated Reminiscence Workshops?
peer reviewedDespite severe amnesia, some studies showed that Alzheimer Disease (AD) patients with moderate to severe dementia keep a consistent, but impoverished representation of themselves, showing preservation of the sense of identity even at severe stages of the illness. Some studies suggest that listening to music can facilitate the reminiscence of autobiographical memories and that stimulating autobiographical memory would be relevant to support the self of these patients. Consequently, we hypothesized that repeated participation to reminiscence workshops, using excerpts of familiar songs as prompts would participate to the enrichment of autobiographical memories, self-representation and sense of identity. We included a group of 20 AD patients with severe dementia residing in nursing homes. Their performances were compared to a control group of 20 matched (age, education, mood) healthy residents living in the same institutions. The experiment was conducted in three phases over a 2-week period. On phase 1, an individual assessment of sense of identity was proposed to each participant. On phase 2, participants joined musical reminiscence workshops (six sessions over 2 weeks for AD patients and 3 sessions over a week for controls). During the third phase (12 days after the first assessment), individual evaluation of autobiographical memory and a second assessment of sense of identity were proposed. Our results showed that, despite their massive amnesia syndrome, autobiographical memories of AD reached at the end of the 2 weeks the number and quality of those of matched controls. Moreover, we confirmed a continuity of self-representation in AD patients with a stable profile of the answers between the first and second individual assessments of sense of identity. However, the increase in number and episodic quality of autobiographical memories was not accompanied by an enrichment of the sense of identity. In a complementary study, new patients participated in the same paradigm, but using movie extracts as prompts, and showed very similar effects. We discuss all of these results with regard to the literature showing the significant impact of repetition on the reactivation of memory traces even in very amnestic AD patients at severe stages of the disease
Recognition-based memory through familiarity assessment in severe Alzheimerâs disease
peer reviewe
Dementia beyond 2025: knowledge and uncertainties
International audienceGiven that there may well be no significant advances in drug development before 2025, prevention of dementia/AD through the management of vascular and lifestyle-related risk factors may be a more realistic goal than treatment. Level of education and cognitive reserve assessment in neuropsychological testing deserve attention, as well as cultural, social and economic aspects of caregiving. Assistive technologies for dementia care remain complex. Serious games are emerging as virtual educational and pleasurable tools, designed for individual and cooperative skill-building. Public policies are likely to pursue improving awareness and understanding of dementia; providing good quality early diagnosis and intervention for all; improving quality of care from diagnosis to the end of life, using clinical and economic endpoints; delivering dementia strategies quicker, with an impact on more people. Dementia should remain presented as a stand-alone concept, distinct from frailty or loss of autonomy. The basic science of sensory impairment and social engagement in people with dementia needs to be developed. E-learning and serious games programmes may enhance public and professional education. Faced with funding shortage, new professional dynamics and economic models may emerge through coordinated, flexible research networks. Psychosocial research could be viewed as an investment in quality of care, rather than an academic achievement in a few centres of excellence. This would help provide a competitive advantage to the best operators. Stemming from care needs, a logical, systems approach to dementia care environment through organizational, architectural and psychosocial interventions may be developed, to help reduce symptoms in people with dementia and enhance quality of life. Dementia-friendly environments, culture and domesticity are key factors for such interventions
When Music and Long-Term Memory Interact: Effects of Musical Expertise on Functional and Structural Plasticity in the Hippocampus
The development of musical skills by musicians results in specific structural and functional modifications in the brain. Surprisingly, no functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study has investigated the impact of musical training on brain function during long-term memory retrieval, a faculty particularly important in music. Thus, using fMRI, we examined for the first time this process during a musical familiarity task (i.e., semantic memory for music). Musical expertise induced supplementary activations in the hippocampus, medial frontal gyrus, and superior temporal areas on both sides, suggesting a constant interaction between episodic and semantic memory during this task in musicians. In addition, a voxel-based morphometry (VBM) investigation was performed within these areas and revealed that gray matter density of the hippocampus was higher in musicians than in nonmusicians. Our data indicate that musical expertise critically modifies long-term memory processes and induces structural and functional plasticity in the hippocampus
La mémoire sémantique musicale : apport des données de la neuropsychologie clinique et de la neuro-imagerie fonctionnelle
International audienceNeuropsychological clinical dissociations between musical and linguistic skills in brain damage patients suggest the view of an autonomous musical semantic memory. On the basis of these clinical observations, Isabelle Peretz et al. propose the existence of a pure musical lexicon. However, the nature and the organization of musical semantic representations always drive many debates. Does musical knowledgeâs constitute a particular semantic category (like faces), are they purely perceptual representations, and let us must rather speak about musical perceptual memory or musical semantic memory? Moreover, the data resulting from the functional neuroimaging not always clearly highlight a neural specificity during recovery of musical knowledge, and sometimes more support the assumption of a broad covering between verbal and musical semantic memory. We summon up here some clinical observations and functional neuroimaging results allowing to clarify this issue. From these data, and notably our own neuroimaging and Alzheimer Patientâs clinical works, we try to reconcile the apparent discrepancies and to consider the various components of musical semantic memory concept. To summarize, it seems that perceptual level of musical representations are largely sustained by a right temporo-frontal neural network, whereas linguistic and personal autobiographic musical semantic associations are largely driven by a left counterpart temporo-frontal network. These two levels of musical semantic representations, sustained in a bilateral neural distributed network, notably give enlightenment to the remarkable maintenance of musical knowledgeâs in long-term memory for brain damage patients.Les observations de dissociations entre les habiletĂ©s musicales et langagiĂšres chez des patients cĂ©rĂ©brolĂ©sĂ©s suggĂšrent la possibilitĂ© dâune mĂ©moire sĂ©mantique musicale autonome. Sur la base de ces observations cliniques, lâexistence dâun lexique musical pur est ainsi proposĂ©e par Isabelle Peretz et al. Cependant, le format et lâorganisation des reprĂ©sentations sĂ©mantiques musicales suscitent de nombreux dĂ©bats. Les connaissances musicales constituent-elles une catĂ©gorie sĂ©mantique particuliĂšre (Ă lâimage des visages), ou sâagit-il de reprĂ©sentations purement perceptives ? Devons-nous plutĂŽt parler de mĂ©moire perceptive musicale ou de mĂ©moire sĂ©mantique musicale ? De plus, les donnĂ©es issues de la neuro-imagerie cĂ©rĂ©brale fonctionnelle ne mettent pas toujours en Ă©vidence une spĂ©cificitĂ© neurale dans la rĂ©cupĂ©ration de connaissances musicales et vont parfois plus dans le sens dâune hypothĂšse dâun large recouvrement entre mĂ©moire sĂ©mantique verbale et musicale. Nous reprenons ici un certain nombre dâobservations cliniques et de rĂ©sultats de neuro-imagerie fonctionnelle permettant dâĂ©clairer cette question. Ă partir de ces donnĂ©es, et notamment de nos propres recherches en neuro-imagerie, chez des patients atteints de maladie dâAlzheimer, nous tentons de concilier les divergences apparentes et dâenvisager les diffĂ©rentes facettes du concept de mĂ©moire sĂ©mantique musicale
Emotional power of music in patients with memory disorders: clinical implications of cognitive neuroscience.
International audienceBy adapting methods of cognitive psychology to neuropsychology, we examined memory and familiarity abilities in music in relation to emotion. First we present data illustrating how the emotional content of stimuli influences memory for music. Second, we discuss recent findings obtained in patients with two different brain disorders (medically intractable epilepsy and Alzheimer's disease) that show relatively spared memory performance for music, despite severe verbal memory disorders. Studies on musical memory and its relation to emotion open up paths for new strategies in cognitive rehabilitation and reinstate the importance of examining interactions between cognitive and clinical neurosciences
La mémoire musicale a long terme au cours de l'évolution de la maladie d'Alzheimer
International audienceIn Alzheimer patients with a solid musical background, isolated case-reports have reported the maintenance of remarkable musical abilities despite clear difficulties in their verbal memory and linguistic functions. These reports have encouraged a number of scientists to undertake more systematic studies which would allow a rigorous approach to the analysis of musical memory in Alzheimer patients with no formal musical background. Although restricted in number, the latest data are controversial regarding preserved musical capacities in Alzheimer patients. Our current review of the literature addresses this topic and advances the hypothesis that the processes of musical memory are function of illness progression. In the earlier stages, the majority of evaluations concerned musical episodic memory and suggested a dysfunction of this memory whereas in the moderate and severe stages, musical semantic memory and implicit learning are the majority of investigations and seemed more resistant to Alzheimer disease. In summary, our current review bring to understand the memory circuits involved and highlight the necessity to adapted the investigational tools employed to conform with the severity of the signs and symptoms of progressive Alzheimer disease in order to demonstrate the preserved musical capacities.Quelques cas cliniques prĂ©sentĂ©s dans la littĂ©rature ont mis en Ă©vidence la prĂ©servation de remarquables capacitĂ©s musicales chez des patients Alzheimer anciennement musiciens, cette prĂ©servation contrastant avec des difficultĂ©s mnĂ©siques et langagiĂšres. Ces observations ont naturellement conduit les chercheurs Ă proposer des Ă©tudes plus systĂ©matiques permettant dâĂ©valuer rĂ©ellement les compĂ©tences en mĂ©moire musicale de patients Alzheimer non-musiciens. Ces travaux, actuellement peu nombreux, ne semblent pas apporter des rĂ©ponses claires quant Ă une prĂ©servation des capacitĂ©s en mĂ©moire musicale chez ces patients. La synthĂšse de la littĂ©rature que nous proposons ici nous permet de faire le point sur le sujet, et de proposer une explication possible aux divergences de rĂ©sultats. Ainsi, de cette revue de la littĂ©rature, nous pouvons constater que les processus de mĂ©moire Ă©valuĂ©s varient selon les stades de la maladie. Aux stades prĂ©coces, une Ă©valuation majoritaire de la mĂ©moire Ă©pisodique musicale est proposĂ©e et apparaĂźt dĂ©ficitaire chez ces patients alors quâĂ partir des stades modĂ©rĂ©s de la maladie, les travaux axent leur Ă©valuation sur la mĂ©moire sĂ©mantique et les apprentissages implicites qui se rĂ©vĂšlent rĂ©sister plus longtemps Ă la pathologie. Ces rĂ©sultats nous amĂšnent Ă rĂ©flĂ©chir sur les systĂšmes mnĂ©siques engagĂ©s et sur lâimportance, pour mettre en Ă©vidence des capacitĂ©s musicales prĂ©servĂ©es, dâadapter les outils dâĂ©valuation Ă la sĂ©vĂ©ritĂ© des troubles rencontrĂ©s au cours de la maladie
Multilayer integration and metacognition: an exploratory study
International audienceAn increasing body of research has explored the importance of deliberate practice (Chaffin, 2003) and effective learning strategies to build instrumental performance by heart (Hallam, 1997). Few studies, however, have addressed the way that music itself (style, structure) and the cognitive profile of the musician determine performance and retrieval cues. Performers gradually build a multilayered mental representation of music: eminently multimodal at the cognitive level, visual, motor, auditory, perceptive, emotions (etc.) mental representations constitute the different components or layers of inner audition. We consider that inner audition results from the psychological individuality of the performer and the particular features of repertoire.As a first approach, in this exploratory qualitative study, we investigated the associative nature of inner representations of different types of music, while collecting some elements of the cognitive profile. We studied the memorisation strategies and retrieval structures adopted by expert pianists according to a sample of works involving different hierarchies types of cognitive skills. Our results suggest that inner representation of music is a result of a multimodal and multilayered information processing. The cognitive strategies adopted by the pianist to memorise depended on the musical writing but were also determined by the cognitive profile. A deeper assessment of the individual differences will be tested to further examine associations between creativity, information processing, empathy and personality. This preliminary work supports the interest of approaching cognitive psychology from a musicology perspective and suggests further directions
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