Neuroimaging studies on familiarity and likeability of music in children with autism spectrum disorder

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Neuroimaging studies on familiarity of music in children with autism spectrum disorder

Publication . Freitas, Carina Patrícia de Barros

The field of music neuroscience allows us to use music to investigate human cognition in vivo. Examining how brain processes familiar and unfamiliar music can elucidate underlying neural mechanisms of several cognitive processes. To date, familiarity in music listening and its neural correlates in typical adults have been investigated using a variety of neuroimaging techniques, yet the results are inconsistent. In addition, these correlates and respective functional connectivity related to music familiarity in typically developing (TD) children and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are unknown. The present work consists of two studies. The first one reviews and qualitatively synthesizes relevant literature on the neural correlates of music familiarity, in healthy adult populations, using different neuroimaging methods. Then it estimates the brain areas most active when listening to familiar and unfamiliar musical excerpts using a coordinate-based meta-analyses technique of neuroimaging data. We established that motor brain structures were consistently active during familiar music listening. The activation of these motor-related areas could reflect audio-motor synchronization to elements of the music, such as rhythm and melody, so that one can tap, dance and “covert” sing along with a known song. Results from this research guided our second study. This work investigated the familiarity effect in music listening in both TD and ASD children, using magnetoencephalography (MEG). This technique enabled us to study brain connectivity and characterize the networks and frequency bands involved while listening to familiar and unfamiliar songs. TD children recruited a similar brain network as those in typical adults during familiar music listening, in the gamma frequency band. Compared to TD, children with ASD showed relatively intact processing of familiar songs but atypical processing of unfamiliar songs in theta and beta-bands. Atypical functional connectivity of other unfamiliar stimuli has been reported in ASD. Our findings reinforced that processing novelty is a challenge. Overall, this work contributes to the advancement of both fields of music neuroscience and brain connectivity in ASD.

2020Doctoral thesis

Open access

Atypical functional connectivity during unfamiliar music listening in children with autism

Publication . Freitas, Carina; Hunt, Benjamin A. E.; Wong, Simeon M.; Ristic, Leanne; Fragiadakis, Susan; Chow, Stephanie; Iaboni, Alana; Brian, Jessica; Soorya, Latha; Chen, Joyce L.; Schachar, Russell; Dunkley, Benjamin T.; Taylor, Margot J.; Lerch, Jason P.; Anagnostou, Evdokia

Background: Atypical processing of unfamiliar, but less so familiar, stimuli has been described in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), in particular in relation to face processing. We examined the construct of familiarity in ASD using familiar and unfamiliar songs, to investigate the link between familiarity and autism symptoms, such as repetitive behavior. Methods: Forty-eight children, 24 with ASD (21 males, mean age = 9.96 years ± 1.54) and 24 typically developing (TD) controls (21 males, mean age = 10.17 ± 1.90) completed a music familiarity task using individually identified familiar compared to unfamiliar songs, while magnetoencephalography (MEG) was recorded. Each song was presented for 30 s. We used both amplitude envelope correlation (AEC) and the weighted phase lag index (wPLI) to assess functional connectivity between specific regions of interest (ROI) and non-ROI parcels, as well as at the whole brain level, to understand what is preserved and what is impaired in familiar music listening in this population. Results: Increased wPLI synchronization for familiar vs. unfamiliar music was found for typically developing children in the gamma frequency. There were no significant differences within the ASD group for this comparison. During the processing of unfamiliar music, we demonstrated left lateralized increased theta and beta band connectivity in children with ASD compared to controls. An interaction effect found greater alpha band connectivity in the TD group compared to ASD to unfamiliar music only, anchored in the left insula.Conclusion: Our results revealed atypical processing of unfamiliar songs in children with ASD, consistent with previous studies in other modalities reporting that processing novelty is a challenge for ASD. Relatively typical processing of familiar stimuli may represent a strength and may be of interest to strength-based intervention planning.

2022Journal article

Open access

Neural correlates of familiarity in music listening: a systematic review and a neuroimaging meta-analysis

Publication . Freitas, Carina; Manzato, Enrica; Burini, Alessandra; Taylor, Margot J.; Lerch, Jason P.; Anagnostou, Evdokia

Familiarity in music has been reported as an important factor modulating emotional and hedonic responses in the brain. Familiarity and repetition may increase the liking of a piece of music, thus inducing positive emotions. Neuroimaging studies have focused on identifying the brain regions involved in the processing of familiar and unfamiliar musical stimuli. However, the use of different modalities and experimental designs has led to discrepant results and it is not clear which areas of the brain are most reliably engaged when listening to familiar and unfamiliar musical excerpts. In the present study, we conducted a systematic review from three databases (Medline, PsychoINFO, and Embase) using the keywords (recognition OR familiar OR familiarity OR exposure effect OR repetition) AND (music OR song) AND (brain OR brains OR neuroimaging OR functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging OR Position Emission Tomography OR Electroencephalography OR Event Related Potential OR Magnetoencephalography). Of the 704 titles identified, 23 neuroimaging studies met our inclusion criteria for the systematic review. After removing studies providing insufficient information or contrasts, 11 studies (involving 212 participants) qualified for the meta-analysis using the activation likelihood estimation (ALE) approach. Our results did not find significant peak activations consistently across included studies. Using a less conservative approach (p < 0.001, uncorrected for multiple comparisons) we found that the left superior frontal gyrus, the ventral lateral (VL) nucleus of the left thalamus, and the left medial surface of the superior frontal gyrus had the highest likelihood of being activated by familiar music. On the other hand, the left insula, and the right anterior cingulate cortex had the highest likelihood of being activated by unfamiliar music. We had expected limbic structures as top clusters when listening to familiar music. But, instead, music familiarity had a motor pattern of activation. This could reflect an audio-motor synchronization to the rhythm which is more engaging for familiar tunes, and/or a sing-along response in one’s mind, anticipating melodic, harmonic progressions, rhythms, timbres, and lyric events in the familiar songs. These data provide evidence for the need for larger neuroimaging studies to understand the neural correlates of music familiarity.

2018Journal article

Open access