Neural Correlates of the Musicianship Advantage to the Cocktail Party Effect.

Prior research has indicated musicians show an auditory processing advantage in phonemic processing of language. The aim of the current study was to elucidate when in the auditory cortical processing stream this advantage emerges in a cocktail-party-like environment. Participants (n = 34) were aged 18-35 years and deemed to be either a musician (10+-year experience) or nonmusician (no formal training).

Gamma neuromodulation improves episodic memory and its associated network in amnestic mild cognitive impairment: a pilot study.

Amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) is a predementia stage of Alzheimer's disease associated with dysfunctional episodic memory and limited treatment options. We aimed to characterize feasibility, clinical, and biomarker effects of noninvasive neurostimulation for aMCI. 13 individuals with aMCI received eight 60-minute sessions of 40-Hz (gamma) transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) targeting regions related to episodic memory processing.

Enhancing cognitive control in amnestic mild cognitive impairment via at-home non-invasive neuromodulation in a randomized trial.

Individuals with multi-domain amnestic mild cognitive impairment (md-aMCI) have an elevated risk of dementia and need interventions that may retain or remediate cognitive function. In a feasibility pilot study, 30 older adults aged 60-80 years with md-aMCI were randomized to 8 sessions of transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) with simultaneous cognitive control training (CCT). The intervention took place within the participant's home without direct researcher assistance.

Musical Training Facilitates Exogenous Temporal Attention via Delta Phase Entrainment within a Sensorimotor Network.

Temporal orienting of attention plays an important role in our day-to-day lives and can use timing information from exogenous or endogenous sources. Yet, it is unclear what neural mechanisms give rise to temporal attention, and it is debated whether both exogenous and endogenous forms of temporal attention share a common neural source. Here, older adult nonmusicians ( = 47, 24 female) were randomized to undergo 8 weeks of either rhythm training, which places demands on exogenous temporal attention, or word search training as a control.

How musical rhythm training improves short-term memory for faces.

Playing a musical instrument engages numerous cognitive abilities, including sensory perception, selective attention, and short-term memory. Mounting evidence indicates that engaging these cognitive functions during musical training will improve performance of these same functions. Yet, it remains unclear the extent these benefits may extend to nonmusical tasks, and what neural mechanisms may enable such transfer.

Individual differences in neuroanatomy and neurophysiology predict effects of transcranial alternating current stimulation.

Background: Noninvasive transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) research has been plagued with inconsistent effects. Recent work has suggested neuroanatomical and neurophysiological variability may alter tES efficacy. However, direct evidence is limited.

Multimodal sensory integration: Diminishing returns in rhythmic synchronization.

Synchronizing movements with events in the surrounding environment is a ubiquitous aspect of behavior. Experiments studying multimodal integration and rhythmic synchronization tend to focus on how bimodal (e.g.