Short communication: Lifetime musical activity and resting-state functional connectivity in cognitive networks

Abstract

Background: Participation in multimodal leisure activities, such as playing a musical instrument, may be protective against brain aging and dementia in older adults (OA). Potential neuroprotective correlates underlying musical activity remain unclear.

Objective: This cross-sectional study investigated the association between lifetime musical activity and resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) in three higher-order brain networks: the Default Mode, Fronto-Parietal, and Salience networks.

Methods: We assessed 130 cognitively unimpaired participants (≥ 60 years) from the baseline cohort of the DZNE-Longitudinal Cognitive Impairment and Dementia Study (DELCODE) study. Lifetime musical activity was operationalized by the self-reported participation in musical instrument playing across early, middle, and late life stages using the Lifetime of Experiences Questionnaire (LEQ). Participants who reported musical activity during all life stages (n = 65) were compared to controls who were matched on demographic and reserve characteristics (including education, intelligence, socioeconomic status, self-reported physical activity, age, and sex) and never played a musical instrument (n = 65) in local (seed-to-voxel) and global (within-network and between-network) RSFC patterns using pre-specified network seeds.

Results: Older participants with lifetime musical activity showed significantly higher local RSFC between the medial prefrontal cortex (Default Mode Network seed) and temporal as well as frontal regions, namely the right temporal pole and the right precentral gyrus extending into the superior frontal gyrus, compared to matched controls. There were no significant group differences in global RSFC within or between the three networks.

Conclusion: We show that playing a musical instrument during life relates to higher RSFC of the medial prefrontal cortex with distant brain regions involved in higher-order cognitive and motor processes. Preserved or enhanced functional connectivity could potentially contribute to better brain health and resilience in OA with a history in musical activity.

Trial registration: German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS00007966, 04/05/2015).

Fig 1. Results of the local (seed-to-voxel) connectivity analysis.

A. The brain map shows the two significant clusters (1 and 2, displayed in red) resulting from seed-to-voxel analysis between the MPFC (DMN seed, displayed in the S3 Fig in S1 File) and all other voxels. The brain maps (left side) show the clusters (voxel-level threshold of p < 0.005 and cluster-level threshold of p < 0.05, FDR-corrected) located in temporal and frontal brain regions (L: left and R: right). B. Cluster 1: located in the right temporal pole (coronal plane, y = 8). D. Cluster 2: located in the right precentral gyrus extending to the superior frontal gyrus (coronal plane, y = -8). C. and E. The corresponding graphs (right side) show higher functional connectivity (mean z scores) between the MPFC (DMN seed) and each cluster in older participants with lifetime musical activity compared to matched controls. Box plots display the median with 95% confidence intervals, interquartile range with lower (25^th) and upper percentiles (75^th), and individual data points within each group. Key: DMN: Default Mode Network, FC: Functional connectivity, FDR: False Discovery Rate, MPFC: Medial Prefrontal Cortex.