Biology subjects

Belden, A.

Publications and source records attributed to Belden, A..

6 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2024

Network connectivity differences in music listening among older adults following a music-based intervention

Music-based interventions are a common feature in long-term care with clinical reports highlighting musics ability to engage individuals with complex diagnoses. While these findings are promising, normative findings from healthy controls are needed to disambiguate treatment effects unique to pathology and those seen in healthy aging. The present study examines brain network dynamics during music listening in a sample of healthy older adults before and after a music-based intervention. We found intervention effects from hidden Markov model-estimated fMRI network data. Following the intervention, participants demonstrated greater occupancy (the amount of time a network was occupied) in a temporal-mesolimbic network. We conclude that network dynamics in healthy older adults are sensitive to music-based interventions. We discuss these findings implications for future studies with individuals with neurodegeneration.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

Creative tempo: Spatiotemporal dynamics of the default mode network in improvisational musicians

The intrinsic dynamics of human brain activity display a recurring pattern of anti-correlated activity between the default mode network (DMN), associated with internal processing and mentation, and task positive regions, associated with externally directed attention. In human functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data, this anti-correlated pattern is detectable on the infraslow timescale (<0.1 Hz) as a quasi-periodic pattern (QPP). While the DMN is implicated in creativity and musicality in traditional time-averaged functional connectivity studies, no one has yet explored how creative training may alter dynamic spatiotemporal patterns involving the DMN such as QPPs. In the present study, we compare the outputs of two QPP detection approaches, sliding window algorithm and complex principal components analysis (cPCA). We apply both methods to an existing dataset of musicians captured with resting state fMRI, grouped as either classical, improvisational, or minimally trained non-musicians. The original time-averaged functional connectivity (FC) analysis of this dataset used improvisation as a proxy for creative thinking and found that the DMN and visual networks (VIS) display higher connectivity in improvisational musicians. We expand upon this datasets original study and find that QPP analysis detects convergent results at the group level with both methods. In improvisational musicians, dynamic functional correlation in the group-averaged QPP was found to be increased between the DMN-VIS and DMN-FPN for both the QPP algorithm and complex principal components analysis (cPCA) methods. Additionally, we found an unexpected increase in FC in the group-averaged QPP between the dorsal attention network and amygdala in improvisational musicians; this result was not reported in the original seed-based study of this dataset. The current study represents a novel application of two dynamic FC detection methods with results that replicate and expand upon previous seed-based FC findings. The results show the robustness of both the QPP phenomenon and its detection methods. This study also demonstrates the value of dynamic FC methods in reproducing seed-based findings and their promise in detecting group-wise or individual differences that may be missed by traditional seed-based resting state fMRI studies.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2023

Graph Theoretical Network Structures Underlie Age-Related Differences in the Functional Connectome During Rest and Music Listening

Aging is associated with decreased functional connectivity within the default mode network, as well as auditory and reward systems which are involved in music listening. Understanding how music listening affects network organization of the aging brain, both globally and specific to the brain networks, will have implications for designing lifestyle interventions that tap into distinct networks in the brain. Here we apply graph-theory metrics of modularity, global efficiency, clustering coefficients, degrees, and betweenness centrality to compare younger and older adults (YA/OA, N=24 per group) in fMRI connectivity during rest and a music listening task. Results show a less modular but more globally efficient connectome in OAs, especially during music listening, resulting in main effects of group and task, as well as group-by-task interactions. ROI analyses indicated that the posterior cingulate is more centrally located than the medial prefrontal cortex in OAs. Overall, reduced modularity and increased global efficiency with age is in keeping with previously-observed functional reorganizations, and interaction effects show that age-related differences in baseline network organization are reflected in, potentially magnified by, music listening.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2023

Auditory and Reward Connectivity in Young and Older Adults During Music Listening and Rest

The intrinsic organization of functional brain networks is known to change with age, and is affected by perceptual input and task conditions. Here, we compare functional activity and connectivity during music listening and rest between younger (N=24) and older (N=24) adults, using whole brain regression, seed-based connectivity, and ROI-ROI connectivity analyses. As expected, activity and connectivity of auditory and reward networks scaled with liking during music listening in both groups. Younger adults show higher within-network connectivity of auditory and reward regions as compared to older adults, both at rest and during music listening, but this age-related difference at rest was reduced during music listening, especially in individuals who self-report high musical reward. Furthermore, younger adults showed higher functional connectivity between auditory network and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) that was specific to music listening, whereas older adults showed a more globally diffuse pattern of connectivity, including higher connectivity between auditory regions and bilateral lingual and inferior frontal gyri. Finally, connectivity between auditory and reward regions was higher when listening to music selected by the participant. These results highlight the roles of aging and reward sensitivity on auditory and reward networks. Results may inform the design of music- based interventions for older adults, and improve our understanding of functional network dynamics of the brain at rest and during a cognitively engaging task.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2021

Music-Based Intervention Connects Auditory and Reward Systems

Listening to pleasurable music is known to engage the brains reward system. This has motivated many cognitive-behavioral interventions for healthy aging, but little is known about the effects of music-based intervention (MBI) on activity and connectivity of the brains auditory and reward systems. Here we show preliminary evidence that brain network connectivity can change after receptive MBI in cognitively unimpaired older adults. Using a combination of whole-brain regression, seed-based connectivity analysis, and representational similarity analysis (RSA), we examined fMRI responses during music listening in older adults before and after an eight-week personalized MBI. Participants rated self-selected and researcher-selected musical excerpts on liking and familiarity. Parametric effects of liking, familiarity, and selection showed simultaneous activation in auditory, reward, and default mode network (DMN) areas. Functional connectivity within and between auditory and reward networks was modulated by participant liking and familiarity ratings. RSA showed significant representations of selection and novelty at both time-points, and an increase in striatal representation of musical stimuli following intervention. An exploratory seed-based connectivity analysis comparing pre- and post-intervention showed significant increase in functional connectivity between auditory regions and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Taken together, results show how regular music listening can provide an auditory channel towards the mPFC, thus offering a potential neural mechanism for MBI supporting healthy aging.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2020

Resting-State Connectivity of Auditory and Reward Systems in Alzheimer's Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment

Music-based interventions have become increasingly widely adopted for dementia and related disorders. Previous research shows that music engages reward-related regions through functional connectivity with the auditory system. Here we characterize intrinsic connectivity of the auditory and reward systems in healthy aging, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) - a predementia phase of cognitive dysfunction, and Alzheimers disease (AD). Using resting-state fMRI data from the Alzheimers Database Neuroimaging Initiative, we tested functional connectivity within and between auditory and reward systems in older adults with MCI, AD, and age-matched healthy controls (N=105). Seed-based correlations were assessed from regions of interest (ROIs) in the auditory network, i.e. anterior superior temporal gyrus (aSTG), posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG), Heschls Gyrus, and reward network (i.e., nucleus accumbens, caudate, putamen, and orbitofrontal cortex [OFC]). AD individuals were lower in both within-network and between-network functional connectivity in the auditory network and reward networks compared to MCI and healthy controls. Furthermore, graph theory analyses showed that MCI individuals had higher clustering, local efficiency, degrees, and strengths than both AD individuals and healthy controls. Together, the auditory and reward systems show preserved within- and between-network connectivity in MCI relative to AD. These results suggest that music-based interventions have the potential to make an early difference in individuals with MCI, due to the preservation of functional connectivity in reward-related regions and between auditory and reward networks at that initial stage of neurodegeneration.

neuroscience↗