Longitudinal changes in auditory and reward systems following receptive music-based intervention in older adults

Abstract

Listening to pleasurable music is known to engage the brain’s 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 brain’s 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 8-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.

Generating New Musical Preferences From Multilevel Mapping of Predictions to Reward

“…In Study 9, we related exposure and prediction error to fMRI activity in the reward system. Twenty-one young adults participated in the same study design as in Study 7 outside of the scanner and then listened to the eight melodies from Study 8 during fMRI as part of a larger scale study in the lab looking at effects of music-based interventions in young adults and older adults (Quinci et al, 2022). Whole-brain, univariate analyses showed greater activation for melodies that did not elicit prediction errors compared with those that did in the right HG (Fig.…”

“…7a), suggesting that the auditory cortex is sensitive to prediction errors. Given previous evidence showing that coactivation of the reward and auditory brain areas is associated with musical preferences and learning (Quinci et al, 2022), we also assessed the degree to which functional connectivity between these regions is modulated by predictive coding. The functional connectivity between auditory and reward areas was quantified by correlating the time series of β values extracted from HG (a sphere around the central voxel from the whole-brain analysis from Fig.…”

Asymmetries and hemispheric interaction in the auditory system of elderly people

“…Answering the open questions will help to develop diagnostic methods and treatment for age-related hearing impairment that are caused at least partly by changes in the division of labor between hemispheres with aging. Possible interventions should strengthen interhemispheric connectivity or adjust lateralization of auditory processing, e.g., by music-based intervention (Quinci et al, 2022 ), listing training with contralateral noise (Brechmann and Angenstein, 2019 ; Stadler et al, 2023 ) or transcranial stimulation.…”

Elevator music as a tool for the quantitative characterization of reward

“…Here, we provide a proof‐of‐concept experiment showcasing how elevator music can be used as a control stimulus in studies assessing musical reward. In experiments assessing musical reward, it is common to ask participants to listen to self‐selected music in order to maximize the reward response 10,13,17,40 . Thus, in this in‐person proof‐of‐concept experiment, participants listened to both self‐selected rewarding songs and elevator music, which were presented in random order.…”