Research team receives NIA grant to help mitigate effects of
age-related cognitive decline and hearing loss
The National Institute on Aging awarded Professor Susanne Jaeggi a five-year, $2.6 million grant to test the benefits of a music-based intervention on speech-in-competition abilities in an older adult population, including individuals that may be at risk of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
Speech-in-competition refers to an individual’s ability to pick out a target voice or conversation in a noisy sound environment – for example, being able to have a conversation with someone across from you in a loud restaurant. Difficulties with speech-in-competition abilities are a common challenge among older adults, which can lead to social isolation and decreased cognitive engagement, and they are associated with an increased risk of developing dementia. “I am very excited about this project” Jaeggi said. “This is a true multi-disciplinary endeavor taking place at the intersection of Psychology, Neuroscience, Computer Science, Psychoacoustics, Gerontology, and Education, and I hope that our results will further underscore the importance of experiences and lifelong learning to maintain cognitive health as we age.” Fourth-year doctoral student Alexandria Weaver has been spearheading the work that led to this grant since she started her graduate program at UCI, and she has been supported by the prestigious NSF GRFP to focus on this topic. She has been working on the development of a prototype of the intervention with a cohort of undergraduate students and a composer, and she will continue to coordinate the project moving forward. |
“I came to work with Prof. Jaeggi because of her work with cognitive training and executive functions, and my interests in music training/experiences also meet at that intersection of executive functioning,” Weaver said. “This has developed from our shared interests in aging, cognition, and training, and her ongoing collaboration with UC Riverside Professor and project Co-PI, Aaron Seitz.”
Seitz directs the UC Riverside Brain Game Center and has been collaborating with Jaeggi on several projects to test and disseminate evidence-based, scientifically optimized brain fitness games that assist people in real-life activities.
Seitz directs the UC Riverside Brain Game Center and has been collaborating with Jaeggi on several projects to test and disseminate evidence-based, scientifically optimized brain fitness games that assist people in real-life activities.
In this new project, Jaeggi and the research team aim to uncover the underlying mechanisms driving the potential effects of music on cognitive functions. There is evidence suggesting that musical training is associated with cognitive advantages in older adults, including preserved ability for speech-in-competition. However, to date, there is extremely limited knowledge and lack of experimental evidence explaining how music might benefit speech-in-competition abilities, along with more basic auditory processes and/or cognitive functions.
In a first step, the research team will recruit 90 individuals aged 65 or older and who have no symptoms of dementia. This group will complete a variety of cognitive tasks assessing working memory and attention as well as undergo testing of hearing thresholds and other auditory processing skills. They will then complete a music-based intervention over the course of several weeks. Afterwards, the research team will test for intervention-specific changes in speech-in-competition abilities and examine whether auditory processing, attention and working memory contribute to any benefits. Participants will be able to complete all assessment and intervention procedures at home using tablets. |
To learn more about the study and/or to participate, you can contact the team at wmplab@uci.edu or call 949-824-2439.
The grant, Following the Sound of Music – Comparing the Effects of Music vs. Non-Music Based Interventions on Auditory and Cognitive Processing in Older Adults, is part of the National Institutes of Health’s Sound Health initiative. Launched in 2017, Sound Health is a partnership between the NIH and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in association with the National Endowment for the Arts, that explores the brain’s relationship with music. Jaeggi focuses her research on executive functions and their malleability across the lifespan. She is the director of the Working Memory & Plasticity Lab, and is currently PI on a nationwide project that seeks to understand how brain exercises produce cognitive benefits. In September, she received the School of Education’ Faculty Mentorship Award for Inclusive Excellence. |
"I am very excited about this project. This is a true multi-disciplinary endeavor taking place at the intersection of Psychology, Neuroscience, Computer Science, Psychoacoustics, Gerontology, and Education, and I hope that our results will further underscore the importance of experiences and lifelong learning to maintain cognitive health as we age.” - Professor Susanne Jaeggi |
In May, Weaver received the Jared M. Roberts Memorial Award from the UCI Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, conferred on an “exceptional graduate student for outstanding scholarship and collegiality.”
In addition to UC Riverside’s Seitz, Erick Gallun, Professor at Oregon Health & Science University, whose expertise is in psychoacoustics and age-related hearing decline, is also part of the investigator team.
In addition to UC Riverside’s Seitz, Erick Gallun, Professor at Oregon Health & Science University, whose expertise is in psychoacoustics and age-related hearing decline, is also part of the investigator team.