Age-related cognitive decline and neurodegeneration. Mental and Behavioural Disorders
Conditions
Interventions
Cognitively healthy non-musicians over 50 years will be recruited and screened for cognitive impairment and 65 years. Pseudo-random numbers will be used to generate randomised group allocation per str
Sponsors
Cardiff University
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
50 Years to 99 Years
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria: 1. >50 years old 2. Fluent English speakers 3. Have normal/corrected-to-normal vision and hearing 4. Have less than 4 years of formal musical or dance training 5. Are not involved in any musical activities 6. Have no neurological or psychiatric history that could affect learning (e.g., dementia, stroke or traumatic brain injury, depression requiring hospitalisation) 7. No self-reported difficulty with hand movement 8. No self-reported learning disabilities
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria: 1. Impaired hearing or vision 2. Neurological diagnosis 3. Current involvement in other cognitive training or musical activities (e.g., choir singing, dance or exercise to music classes) 4. More than 4 years of formal music or dance lessons 5. Currently taking psycho-reactive medications which affect memory performance 6. Participants with MRI contra-indications (e.g., pacemakers, stents, cochlear implants, or other metal in the body such as metallic plates, screws or clips) will not be scanned, but will still be eligible for training and cognitive and motor testing
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| 1.Recruitment rate = 100 x (number of participants who provided consent / number of participants eligible) % 2.Retention rate = 100 x (number of participants who complete follow-up testing / number of participants who provided consent) 3.Adherence rate (frequency) = 100 x (number of days’ practice logged / 40 days) % 4.Adherence rate (duration) = 100 x (number of minutes practice logged / (40 days x 30 minutes average session duration = 1,200 minutes) % 5.Acceptability of the intervention is assessed using an evaluation survey consisting of 27 x 6-point Likert scale items on how participants perceived the quality, difficulty level and content of the training. Four qualitative questions are also included to ask participants for their individual feedback. | — |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| 1. Processing speed measured as the number of correct responses within 90 seconds on the symbol-digit test from the WAIS-III. 2. Inhibitory control for motor responses measured as the rate of correct responses and latencies on the Go/No-go test. 3. Inhibitory control for distractor information measured as the number of correct responses and latencies on a computerised Stroop task for congruent versus incongruent trials. 4. Working memory capacity measured as the number of correct responses on the digit span task (forward and backward conditions) from the WAIS-III. 5. Updating of working memory measured as the error rates on the N-back. 6. Visual attention and attention-switching measured by completion times on the Trail-Making Task Parts A and B respectively. 7. Verbal fluency measured by the number of correct responses provided on the letter, category and category-switching subtests of the D-KEFS verbal fluency test. 8. Verbal memory measured as the total number of words recalled on the California Verbal Learning Test - II. 9. Musical abilities measured as score from the micro-PROMS which assess a participant's ability to detect changes in samples of music. 10. Piano performance measured as the number of correct notes and timing accuracy measured whilst playing 5-finger scales using a MIDI-keyboard and Reaper, compared with a reference. 11. Changes in grey matter microstructure assessed by the soma size and soma density metrics from the Soma And Neurite Density Imaging (SANDI) model which will be applied to multi-shell high angular resolution diffusion imaging data (msHARDI) collected using ultra-high gradients of the Siemens Connectom. 12. Changes in white matter microstructure assessed using the Neurite Orientation Dispersion and Density Imaging (NODDI) model which provides the isotropic signal fraction (ISOSF) as an estimate of free water, intracellular signal fraction as an estimate of axon density, and the orientation dispersion index (ODI) as an estimate of a | — |
Countries
United Kingdom, Wales
Contacts
Public ContactFionnuala Rogers
Outcome results
None listed