Train the Brain With Music: Brain Plasticity and Cognitive Benefits Induced by Musical Practice in Elderly People

Overview

This longitudinal study aims to countervail age-related cognitive and cerebral decline in healthy retired people through intensive piano / keyboard music practice in Switzerland and Germany.

Full Title of Study: “Train the Brain With Music: Brain Plasticity and Cognitive Benefits Induced by Musical Practice in Elderly People in Germany and Switzerland”

Study Type

  • Study Type: Interventional
  • Study Design
    • Allocation: Randomized
    • Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
    • Primary Purpose: Prevention
    • Masking: None (Open Label)
  • Study Primary Completion Date: July 31, 2021

Detailed Description

Recent data suggest that music making might prevent cognitive decline in the elderly. However, experimental evidence remains sparse and no information on the neurophysiological basis has been provided, although cognitive decline is a major impediment to healthy aging. This study combines for the first time protocolled music practice in elderly with cutting-edge neuroimaging. The investigators propose a multi-site Hannover-Geneva longitudinal randomized intervention study in altogether 100 retired healthy elderly (64-76) years, 70 Geneva, 100 Hannover), offering either piano instruction or instruction on musical culture for one year. Participants will be tested at 3 time points on cognitive, perceptual and motor abilities as well as via wide-ranging functional and structural neuroimaging data (Magnetic Resonance Imaging, MRI). The research team expects positive transfer effects from intensive piano training not only on subjective well-being, but also on executive functions, working memory, hearing in noise and relationships of these behavioral features with morphological and functional brain plasticity. This study may therefore for the first time be demonstrate, that music making can provoke important societal impacts by diminishing cognitive and perceptual-motor decline underpinned by functional and structural brain plasticity.

Interventions

  • Behavioral: musical practice
    • Intensive weekly musical keyboard training over 12 months
  • Behavioral: music education
    • Recreative weekly musical courses without practice over 12 months

Arms, Groups and Cohorts

  • Experimental: musical practice
    • Intensive weekly musical keyboard training over 12 months
  • Active Comparator: music education
    • Recreative weekly musical courses without practice over 12 months

Clinical Trial Outcome Measures

Primary Measures

  • Continuous Echo-Planar Imaging (EPI)
    • Time Frame: 18 months (4 measurements over time)
    • Resting state functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), informs on functional connectivity
  • Magnetization-Prepared 2 Rapid Acquisition Gradient Echo (MP2RAGE)
    • Time Frame: 18 months (4 measurements over time)
    • Magnetic Resonance Imaging measure, allows to image gray matter
  • functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)
    • Time Frame: 18 months (4 measurements over time)
    • Functional Imaging of a tonal Working Memory task, allows to study involved networks
  • Magnetic Resonance Diffusion Tensor Imaging (MR-DTI)
    • Time Frame: 18 months (4 measurements over time)
    • Diffusion weighted echo-planar gradient echo sequence, allows to image white matter and structural connectivity
  • Magnetic Resonance Arterial Spin Labeling (MR-ASL)
    • Time Frame: 18 months (4 measurements over time)
    • Blood perfusion assessment
  • Behavioral Battery (cognitive function)
    • Time Frame: 18 months (4 measurements over time)
    • Comprehensive cognitive testing, full battery will be provided on request; involves Basic cognition, Executive Function, Fluid Intelligence, Verbal Memory

Secondary Measures

  • Behavioral Battery (sensorimotor function)
    • Time Frame: 18 months (4 measurements over time)
    • Sensorimotor testing, full battery will be provided on request; involves manual dexterity and hearing tests

Participating in This Clinical Trial

Inclusion Criteria

  • Healthy right-handed volunteers, between 64 and 76 years of age, native French speakers. No regular musical practice over the lifespan. Only retired individuals may participate. Exclusion Criteria:

  • Impaired/not-corrected auditory or visual accuracy, neurological diseases in the present or the past, cardiovascular diseases, excessive hypertension, obesity, diabetes mellitus, beginning dementia, mild cognitive impairment, clinical depression.

Gender Eligibility: All

Minimum Age: 64 Years

Maximum Age: 76 Years

Are Healthy Volunteers Accepted: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Investigator Details

  • Lead Sponsor
    • School of Health Sciences Geneva
  • Collaborator
    • Swiss National Science Foundation
  • Provider of Information About this Clinical Study
    • Principal Investigator: Clara E James, Full Professor – School of Health Sciences Geneva
  • Overall Official(s)
    • Eckart Altenmüller, PhD, Principal Investigator, Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover

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