Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Italy.
Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Italy; Department of Information Engineering, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
Brain Cogn. 2021 Jul;151:105753. doi: 10.1016/j.bandc.2021.105753. Epub 2021 May 18.
Converging evidence suggests a beneficial effect of rhythmic music-therapy in easing motor dysfunctions. Nevertheless, the neural systems underpinning both the direct effect and the influence of rhythm on movement control and execution during training in ecological settings are still largely unknown. In this study, we propose an ecological approach to monitor brain activity and behavioural performance during rhythmic auditory cueing short-term training. Our approach envisages the combination of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), which is a non-invasive neuroimaging technique that allows unconstrained movements of participants, with electronic drum (e-drum), which is an instrument able to collect behavioural tapping data in real time. The behavioural and brain effects of this short-term training were investigated on a group of healthy participants, who well tolerated the experimental settings, since none of them withdrew from the study. The rhythmic auditory cueing short-term training improved beat regularity and decreased group variability. At the group level, the training resulted in a reduction of brain activity primarily in premotor areas. Furthermore, participants with the highest behavioural improvement during training showed the smallest reduction in brain activity. Overall, we conclude that our study could pave the way towards translating the proposed approach to clinical settings.
越来越多的证据表明，有节奏的音乐疗法对缓解运动功能障碍有有益的效果。然而，在生态环境中进行训练时，节奏对运动控制和执行的直接影响以及对运动控制和执行的影响所依赖的神经系统在很大程度上仍然未知。在这项研究中，我们提出了一种生态方法来监测有节奏的听觉提示短期训练期间的大脑活动和行为表现。我们的方法设想了功能近红外光谱（fNIRS）的组合，该技术是一种非侵入性的神经影像学技术，允许参与者不受限制地运动，以及电子鼓（e-drum），它是一种能够实时收集行为敲击数据的仪器。这项短期训练的行为和大脑效应在一组健康参与者中进行了研究，他们很好地耐受了实验环境，因为他们中没有人退出研究。有节奏的听觉提示短期训练提高了节拍的规律性，降低了组间的变异性。在群体水平上，训练导致运动前区的大脑活动减少。此外，在训练过程中行为改善最大的参与者的大脑活动减少最小。总的来说，我们的研究为将所提出的方法转化为临床环境铺平了道路。
