Mozart's music affects the frontal theta activity related to response suppression in SHE patients

522 

Abstract Submission 

Chenxi Qiu¹, Ying Liu¹, Xinjian Su¹, Sijia Guo¹, Xiaoting Hao², Jing Lu¹

¹School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China, ²Department of Neurology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

Chenxi Qiu  
School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Chengdu, China

Ying Liu  
School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Chengdu, China

Xinjian Su  
School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Chengdu, China

Sijia Guo  
School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Chengdu, China

Xiaoting Hao  
Department of Neurology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University
Chengdu, China

Jing Lu  
School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Chengdu, China

As reported, focal frontal lobe lesions have impaired Stroop performance indexing the response suppression^{1, 2}, which has been shown reflected by frontal theta oscillation in the research on adults³. As the rarer frontal lobe epilepsy (FLE)⁴, patients with sleep-related hypermotor epilepsy (SHE) have worse cognitive deficits related to frontal lobe, such as attention, executive functioning, and response inhibition⁵. Meanwhile, as an effective means, music may increase response suppression function in adults by reducing theta oscillation⁶. Among them, music composed by Mozart has been widely used in potential music therapy for epileptic patients⁷. However, whether Mozart's music can improve response suppression function in SHE patients, and the mechanism of how it works still need to be explored. Therefore, we measured the effects of Mozart's music on the behavioral and electroencephalographic parameters of SHE patients, nocturnal epilepsy (NE) patients, and healthy controls (HCs). This study provided evidence for the mechanism that how music interventions affect response suppression function in SHE patients.

22 SHE patients, 21 NE patients, and 21 healthy controls were enrolled. Patients executed a visual GoNoGo task of 12 min (pre-test), followed by approximately 8 min of Mozart's music while wearing the earphones, and finally another 12 min of the GoNoGo task (post-test). Electroencephalogram (EEG) and behavior data such as accuracy rates and reaction times were recorded. We used the non-parametric test to assess the behavior data of response suppression between three groups in the pre-test and between the pre- and post-test in each group. Then we segmented the consistent EEG data into 1000ms epochs and performed time-frequency analysis in frontal electrodes. The paired t-test was used to indicate the changes between Go and NoGo trials at pre-and post-test.

The different accuracy and reaction times of the GoNoGo tasks in three groups before listening to Mozart's music are shown in Figure 1. The multiple comparisons results showed that the SHE group had a slower reaction time than the other two groups (WSHE vs NE=14.26, WSHE vs HCs=16.77, p<0.05), and the accuracy shows no significance in the three groups. After Mozart's music stimulus, the SHE group had the higher accuracy (W= 130.0, p<0.05) and faster reaction time (W= -110.0, p<0.05), other two groups had no significant alteration. Time-frequency results were illustrated in Figure 2, which indicated that the theta power in the frontal region decreased in the SHE group from 0ms to 500ms at NoGo minus Go trials (t=2.14, p<0.05). Meanwhile, there was no significant difference in theta power in the frontal region in the NE and HCs groups.

Studies found that the focal frontal lobe lesions in SHE patients were potentially accompanied by a decrease in response suppression^{1, 2, 5}. However, SHE patients showed higher accuracy and faster reaction time after Mozart's music stimulus, which indicated that Mozart's music improved the inhibitory control ability. Besides, the Mozart's music reduced the frontal theta power in the SHE patients. Previously, the abnormal frontal theta power were observed of SHE patients in the interictal period⁸, this is related to response suppression function in adults. It suggested that this abnormal activity in SHE patients may also reflect response suppression function. Meanwhile, some studies reported that frequent responses make patients susceptible to false alarms⁹ and it may contribute to the higher frontal theta power which likely reflect the coding of a "surprise signal". Therefore, the decrease it might illustrate the reduction of "surprise" in SHE patients. In conclusion, our findings contribute to a better understanding of inhibitory control ability in SHE patients and mechanisms by which musical interventions affect response suppression in them.

Psychiatric (eg. Depression, Anxiety, Schizophrenia) ¹

Executive Function, Cognitive Control and Decision Making

Music ²

Other - SHE; Mozart's music; Theta oscillation; Response suppression