Brain correlates of musical memory processes

ADOLFI F; MIKULAN E; QUINTERO A; HESSE E; SIGMAN M; MANES, F; IBANEZ A

Congreso; Primer Encuentro de Neurociencia Cognitiva (Neurocog); 2015

Several sources of evidence (research on memory, clinical reports across neurodegenerative diseases, and studies on healthy aging) suggest that musical memory may be special. Despite the classical episodic memory impairments in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer?s disease (AD) patients, musical engagement and music seeking appears to be largely preserved. Evidence for spared musical memories have mainly come from clinical observation and studies using questionnaires or behavioral tasks, while direct measures reflecting the brain processes involved are scarce. In this study we benefit from a passive EEG paradigm involving short familiar/unfamiliar melodic stimuli with different types of violations, together with a combined approach featuring event related potentials, connectivity analysis and source reconstruction. We explore (1) the brain correlates associated to the violation of expectations, (2) the temporal development of musical recognition and memory retrieval processes leading up to that point and (3) the possible subserving brain areas and their dynamic coupling. Brain signatures are compared between MCI, frontotemporal dementia (FTD), AD patients, and healthy young/aging subjects. If musical memories are resilient, music could be a prime candidate as a stimulus for cognitive stimulation because familiar tunes evoke autobiographical memories and their associated emotions. (CONICYT/FONDECYT Regular 1130920, FONCyT-PICT 2012-0412/2012-1309, CONICET and INECO Foundation)