Pleasant Music Improves Explicit but Not Implicit Processing in Spatial Neglect and Extinction

Journal

Psychomusicology

Year

2020

Abstract

To date, a small number of studies have shown that patients with visual neglect can benefit from listening to pleasant music as demonstrated by achieving better performance in star cancellation (SCT) and visual search tasks, which are explicit tests of visual-spatial awareness. Even though the clinical condition often improves with time, signs of extinction frequently persist in patients: [...]in neglect, unilaterally and bilaterally presented stimuli are not perceived on the impaired hemifield, whereas in extinction, detection of the affected hemifield is only impaired with bilateral presentation. [...]Särkämö et al. put forward the idea that music recruits brain areas involved in attention, working memory, semantic and syntactic processing and imagery. [...]the authors hypothesized that music could have had a positive effect on the brain plasticity of their stroke patients by activating and stimulating regions around the lesion as well as regions in the contralesional hemisphere that are usually more plastic during the early poststroke recovery stage. Effects of Musical Interventions on Explicit Tasks in Neglect As Pfeiffer and Sabe (2015) suggested, despite music having significant clinical applicability in the treatment of patients with stroke or other acquired brain injuries, research on this topic is still in its infancy. [...]only a relatively small number of studies focused on the effect of music and other auditory stimulation on neglect patients in particular.

Music and Health Institute Terms

Cognitive Abilities; Music and Cognition; Music Listening; Music Perception; Receptive Music Methods; Stroke

Indexed Terms

Brain research; Chen, Huang; Extinction; Hemispatial neglect; Listening; Memory; Neglect; Neuroplasticity; Perceptions; Psychology; Rehabilitation; Semantics; Stroke

Study Type

Editorial, Opinions, Position Papers

Document Type

Article

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