Musical Dual Task Training to Improve Attention Control for Dementia

The Effects of Musical Dual Task Training on Attention Control and Associated Gait Stability of Patients With Mild to Moderate Dementia

The purpose of this project is to determine if the Musical Dual Task Training program improves attention control that influences measures of gait performances under dual tasking, balance, fear of falling, and behavioral disturbance in patients with mild to moderate dementia. This Musical Dual Task Training protocol is structured with musical content and patients are required to do musical tasks including singing and playing instruments contingent on visual or auditory cues while walking. This paradigm is designed to include music making because it involves great demands on attention and memory that might elicit experience-dependent plasticity in the brain. Musical Dual Task Training is proposed to strengthen brain networking for attention control that consequently may improve the gait performances in patients with dementia, as indicated by reducing dual task cost on gait.

60 minute individual session once a week across 2 months for a total of 8 sessions.Each session will be led by a qualified music therapist. Within the Musical Dual Task Training session, participant will be asked to sing familiar songs, play simple percussive musical instruments such as paddle drums and shakers, sing while walking, and play instruments while walking.

60 minute individual session once a week across 2 months for a total of 8 sessions.Each session will be led by a qualified music therapist. Within the walking and talking session, participant will be asked to read a newspaper article prior to a walk and have a conversation with the music therapist based on the content of the news while walking.

Trail Making Test Part A requires the participants to draw lines to connect a set of 25 circles as fast as possible following the sequential order of numbers (1,2,3…25) while still maintaining accuracy. Trail Making Test Part B is in a same format, but participants are required to alternates between numbers and letters (1, A, 2, B, etc.). The circles in Part B include both numbers (1 - 13) and letters (A - L). Results for both Part A and Part B are reported as the number of seconds required to complete the task. Higher scores indicate greater impairment.

Inclusion Criteria: a mild to moderate dementia diagnosis with Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) score: .5, 1, or 2 ability to walk 10 meters independently without the use of a walker or cane, or the assistance by another person Exclusion Criteria: other known neurologic disorders such as stroke or Parkinson's disease significant orthopedic, visual, and hearing impairment that hinders ambulation