An fMRI comparison of neural activity associated with recognition of familiar melodies in younger and older adults.

Several studies of semantic memory in non-musical domains involving recognition of items from long-term memory have shown an age-related shift from the medial temporal lobe structures to the frontal lobe. However, the effects of aging on musical semantic memory remain unexamined. We compared activation associated with recognition of familiar melodies in younger and older adults. Recognition follows successful retrieval from the musical lexicon that comprises a lifetime of learned musical phrases. We used the sparse-sampling technique in fMRI to determine the neural correlates of melody recognition by comparing activation when listening to familiar vs. unfamiliar melodies, and to identify age differences. Recognition-related cortical activation was detected in the right superior temporal, bilateral inferior and superior frontal, left middle orbitofrontal, bilateral precentral, and left supramarginal gyri. Region-of-interest analysis showed greater activation for younger adults in the left superior temporal gyrus and for older adults in the left superior frontal, left angular, and bilateral superior parietal regions. Our study provides powerful evidence for these musical memory networks due to a large sample (N = 40) that includes older adults. This study is the first to investigate the neural basis of melody recognition in older adults and to compare the findings to younger adults

Using fsQCA to Illuminate Person Attributes of Music Engagement in Alzheimer's Disease

Preserved engagement with music in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is noteworthy given that such persons lack interest and engagement in the activities of daily life. Because music engagement is associated with increased well-being, illuminating personal attributes that facilitate music engagement is an important step towards utilizing music as a therapeutic tool. Here, we use Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis, a systematic approach to case study series analysis, to explore the role of personal attributes such as musical semantic memories, music perceptual abilities, and overall cognitive status in facilitating music engagement in 15 individuals with a diagnosis of probable AD. Nine different solution terms revealed many different pathways to preserved music engagement in AD. Solutions demonstrated the equifinality of music engagement and the usefulness of the qualitative comparative analysis approach. This article is meant to provide both concrete evidence for the role of different person attributes in music engagement in AD and an illustration of the application of qualitative comparative analysis. We discuss our results using the Comprehensive Process Model as a framework and provide suggestions on how to incorporate qualitative comparative analysis in the research workflow

Memory for Melodies and Lyrics in Alzheimer\u27s Disease

This research addressed the question: is musical memory preserved in dementia, specifically, dementia of the Alzheimer type (AD)? Six tests involving different aspects of melody and language processing were administered to each of five groups of participants: 50 younger adults, 100 older adults, and 50 AD older adults classified into three levels of AD severity—mild, moderate and severe. No test was immune to, but not all tests were equally sensitive to, the presence of dementia. Long-term familiarity for melody was preserved across levels of AD, even at the severe stage for a few individuals. Detecting pitch distortions in melodies was possible for mild and some of the moderate AD participants. The ability to sing a melody when prompted by its lyrics was retained at the mild stage and was retained by a few individuals through the severe stages of AD. Long-term familiarity with the lyrics of familiar melodies was also found across levels of AD. In contrast, detection of grammatical distortions in the lyrics of familiar melodies and the ability to complete familiar proverbs were affected even at the mild stage of AD. We conclude that musical semantic memory may be spared through the mild and moderate stages of AD and may be preserved even in some individuals at the severe stage. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved