Schedule of Events | Symposia

Synchronized music and rhythmic visual stimulation increases theta-gamma phase-amplitude coupling in Mild Cognitive Impairment

Poster Session A - Saturday, March 29, 2025, 3:00 – 5:00 pm EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom
Also presenting in Data Blitz Session 2 - Saturday, March 29, 2025, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm EDT, Independence Ballroom.

Arun Asthagiri¹, Benjamin M. Kubit¹, Xiaotong Wu¹, Ji Chul Kim², Edward W. Large², Psyche Loui¹; ¹Northeastern University, ²University of Connecticut

Gamma sensory stimulation has emerged as a promising non-invasive treatment for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), shown to mitigate neurodegeneration in mouse models (Iaccarino et al, 2016) and support cognition in older adults (Chan et al., 2022). Working memory decline in aging is causally related to decreased theta-gamma coupling (Reinhart & Nguyen, 2019), especially with AD (Goodman et al., 2018). While direct neural stimulation (for example, using transcranial alternating-current stimulation) has been shown to improve theta-gamma coupling (Reinhart & Nguyen, 2019), music provides an affordable, and typically more enjoyable, alternative for entraining theta-band brain activity at frequencies that reflect the perceived beat (Tichko et al., 2022). Here, we present results from an audiovisual intervention that uses musical rhythm to drive delta-theta frequencies and modulate visual gamma stimulation. We hypothesize that (1) music entrains neural oscillations in theta band, (2) entrained theta frequencies are coupled to gamma activity, and (3) theta-gamma coupling increases from pre to post intervention. In an ongoing clinical trial, 21 participants with mild cognitive impairment (scoring >=0.5 on Clinical Dementia Rating Scale) used the intervention at home for 8 weeks. Completion rates were high (87%) and preliminary results showed that the music and gamma light stimulation successfully entrained music-specific delta and theta frequencies. Furthermore, the intervention facilitated phase-amplitude coupling between the targeted theta and gamma frequencies, which increased from pre to post intervention in frontocentral electrodes. Overall, the results suggest that the gamma music-based intervention leverages musical rhythm to enhance cross-frequency coupling that is disrupted in AD patients.

Topic Area: EXECUTIVE PROCESSES: Development &aging