Many people consider music to be a mood elevating past-time. It lifts our spirits, brightens our day, and puts smiles on our faces; but could music also be a way to improve cognitive functioning for individuals who suffered mild traumatic brain injuries? Research now shows that there is a strong relationship between musical training and cognitive improvement along with the reorganization of neural networks.
Traumatic brain injuries are a major public health problem worldwide and can result in neurological, cognitive, physiological, psychological, and social dysfunction. Mild traumatic brain injuries can cause microscopic damage to axons, dendrites, and synapses in our brains. They may also result in diffuse axonal injury (DAI) which is a widespread disruption of brain tissue that affects the interconnected processing in our brains. Individuals with this brain injury are inhibited from normal functioning, but research has shown that music-supported cognitive rehabilitation can help these individuals with neurologic rehabilitation.
Our brains are dynamically organized structures that change and adapt as we perform actions repeatedly. When we play instruments, specialized brain networks simultaneously receive and transmit visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic information. This music making provides the brain with an enriched environment that promotes dendritic sprouting essential for synaptic plasticity (changes in synaptic strength that can contribute to learning and memory). Music may engage and connect brain areas that otherwise would not link up with each other. This reorganizing of neural circuits can restore cognitive functions in individuals who are suffering from cognitive defects as a result of mild traumatic brain injuries.
To examine this effect, researchers had individuals diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injury who were at least two years post injury complete an eight-week piano-tuition program. There was also two control groups of healthy individuals who were instructed to either listen to music or not listen to music. Participants who played the piano played with both hands simultaneously to develop equal motor-movements and stimulate inter-hemispheric coordination of motor areas in the brain. Piano playing activates the whole brain because musical elements like pitch, rhythm, and melody are processed in different areas of the brain. The participants’ progress was measured with various neuropsychological tests (Mini Mental Status Test, California Verbal Learning Test, and Stroop Word/Color Test). These tests were used to assess many aspects of the participants’ progress such as memorization, learning strategies, information retrieval, reading speed, and attention. In addition to this, a high-resolution T1-weighted scan was used as well as two task related fMRI sessions. The first task was a pitch discrimination task where participants needed to determine whether the latter of two tones was higher or lower in pitch than the first one. The second task was a Tonika-Dominant-Tonika task which involves passive listening to extracts of classical and popular Western rhythm patterns.
The results of this study conclude that active training of music production influences neural activity and cognitive functioning. There were distinct changes in cognitive performance as well as focal changes in brain activation. Patients scored significantly higher on the California Verbal Learning Test indicating that the piano playing promoted a specific effect on the neural networks in reference to attention, learning strategies, and retrieval of information. Additionally, the fMRI data showed a patient specific change in the Tonika-Dominant-Tonika task. The participants who completed the piano playing intervention demonstrated a significant change of activation within the medial orbitofrontal cortex (a part of the pre-frontal cortex that regulates higher order cognitive processing such as attention, decision-making, impulse control, and social behaviour).
In addition to these test results, participants also completed interviews before and after their piano playing interventions. All patients reported having a positive experience with the intervention. A total of 90% of patients reported progressive improvement in both cognitive and social functioning. Six out of seven participants reported improved mental capacity and a better function of social interaction after the intervention. The intervention also allowed 90% of participants to return to their previous employment from before their accident.
The key findings of this study show clear evidence of a causal relationship between musical training and cognitive improvement in addition to the reorganization of neural networks. There were significant musical-training related effects and enhanced cognitive performance for participants who completed the intervention. We’ve often heard music can heal the soul, but we can now say that music can heal the brain as well.
Souce:
Vik, B. M. D., Skeie, G. O., Vikane, E., & Specht, K. (2018). Effects of music production on cortical plasticity within cognitive rehabilitation of patients with mild traumatic brain injury. Brain injury, 32(5), 634-643.
