On functional MRI tests, which can image the brain in real-time, music lit up specific parts of the brain, including the amygdala and hippocampal regions, thought to be involved in emotional regulation and memory, as well as the occipital region tied to visual processing and focus.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was fascinating to see that music really generates very well-defined hubs in the brain,\u201d Mintzer said. That in turn can stimulate other areas of the brain through a process called entrainment, where the energy or stimulation of one can lead to the stimulation of nearby entities.<\/p>\n
The concept goes back more than three centuries to Dutch mathematician and astronomer Christiaan Hyugens, who invented the pendulum clock<\/a> in 1656. About a decade later, Hyugens observed that if two pendulum clocks hung on the same wooden beam, they would eventually become synchronized<\/a> and swing in concert with each other.<\/p>\n The same principle of physics also has been shown to affect biological systems, and that could explain the awakening of the brain in severe dementia patients when music reaches parts of the organ yet untouched by the disease, Mintzer said.<\/p>\n The key now is finding the right tone, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe next research is for us to find a Rosetta Stone of music,\u201d Mintzer said. \u201cIn other words, which kinds of tones and frequencies stimulate which areas of the brain.\u201d<\/p>\n In the meantime, because there are almost no side effects from a music intervention for dementia patients, families can try this now, Mintzer said. The key is finding music that a patient is familiar with and that has meaning to them. Families could report their findings about the results, said Mintzer, who envisions citizen-scientists helping to crowdsource the investigation, in the way that bird counts are done.<\/p>\n Interventions also are good for those who have yet to encounter cognitive problems, he said. Lifestyle factors, such as adhering to the Mediterranean diet, can reduce risk of dementia up to 30 percent.<\/a> The Lancet Commission on dementia prevention identified more than a dozen lifestyle factors<\/a> that could help reduce risk of dementia by up to 45 percent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On functional MRI tests, which can image the brain in real-time, music lit up specific parts of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386275,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[8264,156,157,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-386274","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-alzheimer","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-music","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}