Neural Correlates of Multisensory Stimulation in Healthy Older Adults

Detailed Summary

The goal of this study is to examine changes in the brain, behavior, and personal experience when music is used to guide learning of finger movement sequences (compared to visual stimuli alone) in healthy older adults. The main research questions this study aims to answer are: 1. Is auditory-based motor training associated with increased structural integrity of brain white matter tracts (connecting auditory-motor regions) compared to motor training with visual cues only? 2. Is auditory-based motor training (as compared to visual clues only) associated with increased brain cortical thickness, and changes in brain activation while performing a task in the MRI and while at rest, in auditory and sensorimotor regions? 3. Does auditory-based motor training lead to greater motor improvement on the trained task compared to a visually cued motor training? 4. Does auditory-based motor training lead to greater improvement on thinking, movement, and self-reported wellbeing measures, compared to visual cues alone? In an 8-week home training, participants will be randomized into either the music-cued motor learning (Experimental Group) or visually cued only condition (Control Group), participants will complete the following measures before-and-after the training is administered at week 1 and in the end of the 8-week trial: * MRI scans (structural and functional) * Behavioral measures (motor, cognition) * Questionnaires administered pre-and-post training (psychosocial functioning). * Questionnaires administered once only (personality traits, musical background) * In between measures, participants will follow an online computer-based training at home of 20 minutes per session, 3 times per week for 8 weeks, for a total of 24 sessions constituting 8 hours of training.

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Interventions