Music and Medicine Faculty Receive $2.25M NIH Grant to Study Music as a Cognitive Intervention in Older Adults
Monday, November 06, 2017
Dr. Jerri Edwards (left) and Dr. Jennifer Bugos (right) have collaborated on interdisciplinary research projects since 2011. Their latest project is funded by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Aging and is their most extensive undertaking yet.
Dr. Jerri Edwards, professor of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences, and Dr. Jennifer Bugos, associate professor of music education, have received a grant of $2.25 million from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Aging to study music training as a cognitive intervention in older adults with and without mild cognitive impairment.
This extensive and well-funded three-year study titled "Interventions to Attenuate Cognitive Decline" aims to build upon existing pilot studies, which show preliminary evidence on how music training may improve cognitive abilities in older adults who are non-musicians.
The research project studies adults age 60 and over with a focus on identifying how music training influences those with and without mild cognitive impairment 鈥� a condition Edwards describes as being "in-between" normal aging and dementia. Edwards, who is overseeing the cognitive measures of the study, says this may be an ideal time to intervene with brain-training.
"An ultimate goal is to be able to delay dementia by intervening," said Edwards, principal investigator in the study. "Not everyone who has mild cognitive impairment gets dementia, some get better, but they are at a higher risk of dementia than older adults who have not reached that stage of cognitive decline."
According to the Alzheimer's Association, long-term studies show that as many as 15 to 20 percent of those aged 65 and older may have mild cognitive decline. Bugos enjoys the chance to help those who are at this critical stage.
"It's like a dream to be able to apply the research that I've worked on for years to individuals who have mild cognitive impairment," said Bugos. "To have the opportunity to see if music may be a cognitive intervention for those at the very beginning stages of mild cognitive impairment 鈥� it's exciting."
As co-investigator, Bugos is responsible for music training and for ensuring the training follows standardized protocols. Her previous research includes pilot studies on the outcomes of music training on certain age groups, including older adults, middle-aged adults, and preschool children, as well as an ongoing study on those formally diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.
Other USF collaborators include Dr. Jennifer Lister, assistant dean of undergraduate