NUIG Study on effects of music on ageing brain - Participants required

NUI Galway study is seeking participants aged 60-85 years to join an experimental study on the effects of listening to music

An ongoing ageing research project at NUI Galway is looking for additional participants to take part in the study. This study is part of a larger ongoing project at the University, which commenced in 2013, exploring the functions and effects of listening to music on the ageing brain with both younger and older adults.

The project is now seeking participants aged 60-85 years to join an experimental study on the effects of listening to music. Participants will spend two hours in a lab carrying out a variety of verbal and numerical tasks while listening to music and having their brain waves measured by electroencephalography (EEG).

Jenny Groarke, a musician and PhD student in the School of Psychology at NUI Galway, said: “We will examine whether listening to music improves emotional, social or cognitive functioning, which we hope can be used to benefit older adults in the future.”

An important factor in the current research is the role of choice in music listening. Almost all previous studies on the effects of music have been carried out with adolescents or young adults, and most researchers have chosen classical music for participants to listen to. The researchers at NUI Galway have concluded the first part of this study with 18-30 year-olds and noted some interesting age differences in music choices.

Participants are asked to choose music for a couple of different scenarios, while socialising or working for example. Whatever the situation, it seems Ed Sheeran is a popular choice, with 25% of the young adults in the study choosing at least one of his hits. While younger people are tending to listen to their favourite music regardless of the situation, older people are demonstrating greater variety and sophistication when choosing music for different contexts.

The study will run until Christmas and those interested in participating must complete the questionnaire of adaptive music listening functions, and sign up for the experiment at www.sgiz.mobi/s3/AFML

Alternatively, participants can request a paper version of the questionnaire by contacting Jenny Groarke on jenny.groarke@gmail.com and for more information on participating in the research visit www.adaptivefunctionsofmusic.com

View full Press Release here

Brain scans show cause of seasonal affective disorder

Scientists say they have identified the underlying reason why some people are prone to the winter blues, or seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

People with Sad have an unhelpful way of controlling the "happy" brain signalling compound serotonin during winter months, brain scans reveal.

As the nights draw in, production of a transporter protein ramps up in Sad, lowering available serotonin.

The work was presented this week at the ECNP congress in Berlin. Source: European College of Neuropsychopharmacology

The University of Copenhagen researchers who carried out the trial say their findings confirm what others have suspected - although they only studied 11 people with Sad and 23 healthy volunteers for comparison.

Using positron emission tomography (PET) brain scans, they were able to show significant summer-to-winter differences in the levels of the serotonin transporter (SERT) protein in Sad patients.

The Sad volunteers had higher levels of SERT in the winter months, corresponding to a greater removal of serotonin in winter, while the healthy volunteers did not.

Lead researcher, Dr Brenda Mc Mahon, said: "We believe that we have found the dial the brain turns when it has to adjust serotonin to the changing seasons.

"The serotonin transporter (SERT) carries serotonin back into the nerve cells where it is not active - so the higher the SERT activity, the lower the activity of serotonin."

Prof Siegfried Kasper, of the European College of Neuropsychophar­macology, which this year is holding its annual congress in Berlin, said: "SERT fluctuations associated with Sad have been seen in previous studies, but this is the first study to follow patients through summer and winter comparisons.

"It seems to offer confirmation that SERT is associated with Sad."

There are a range of treatments available for Sad, such as light therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy.

"We know that eating a balanced diet, cutting down on caffeine and getting some exercise can help, as can spending as much time as possible outdoors because - even when it's overcast - light will be higher than indoors."

Sad affects about two million people in the UK, and more than 12 million people across northern Europe.

View Research Study here: Seasonal difference in brain serotonin transporter binding predicts symptom severity in patients with seasonal affective disorder. 

View BBC article here

Brain Research Funding Received

A professor of brain research at Dublin's Trinity College is to receive €1.2m in funding over six years to study the systems that support memory in the brain.

Professor Shane O'Mara is the first Irish-based recipient of a Senior Investigator Award.  The award is a joint scientific funding initiative between Science Foundation Ireland, the Health Research Board and the Wellcome Trust Biomedical Partnership.

The scheme aims to support exceptional, world class researchers investigating important questions in health and disease.

Professor O'Mara will work in partnership with Professor John Aggleton from Cardiff University to figure out how interactions between differing brain areas, support normal memory and what happens to memory, when brains are damaged.

View article on RTE/Health