Recruiting

Multimodal Musical Stimulation

Sponsor:

Northeastern University

Code:

NCT06229093

Conditions

Aging

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Interventions

Gamma

Synchrony

Study Details

Brief summary:

This is a Stage I randomized, sham-controlled trial on the effects of multimodal musical stimulation on working memory in aging. Neurologically healthy older and younger adults will be tested on working memory and electroencephalography in the first randomized controlled trial of music as a form of brain stimulation, with multimodal musical stimulation and control stimulation conditions. Results will test the causal role of oscillatory mechanisms of the brain on cognition, and will lay the groundwork to the first musical, neurophysiologically targeted, brain-stimulation device for reversing cognitive decline in aging.

Conditions

Aging

Study ID

NCT06229093

Start date

Dec 11, 2022

Status verified date

Jul, 2025

Completion date

Dec 31, 2027

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Dec 31, 2027

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • normal or corrected-to-normal vision
  • no more than mild hearing loss
  • no recent history of neurological or psychiatric disorders, including mood disorders or use of medications that may affect cognition or responsiveness to music.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • moderate or severe hearing loss (40+ dB)
  • visual impairment (including color blindness) that cannot be corrected with glasses or contacts
  • recently changed dosage of cholinesterase inhibitors or psychotropic medication
  • recent history of psychotic or schizophrenic episodes
  • major neurologic diagnosis or other condition that might impair cognition or confound assessments (dementia, ADRD; Parkinson's disease, stroke, brain injury, epilepsy, or recent cardiovascular or neurovascular event)
  • recent history of serious physical trauma or diagnosis of serious chronic health condition requiring medical treatment and monitoring .

Study Design

Enrollment

100 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Basic Science

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

sham comparator: Older Adults (OA)

The assignment of older adults to OA and OAg will be randomized. The within-subjects factor of stimulation modality includes 2 levels, to be administered in counterbalanced order: Visual (V, i.e., lights-only) and Audiovisual (AV, i.e., music-plus-lights). Each subject will be aware that they are receiving V and AV stimulation, and thus infer that we are comparing these two forms of stimulation and therefore assessing the effects of music. However, and important to the design of this study, all subjects will be blinded with respect to their group assignment; i.e., they will not know, until post-study debriefing, about the other arms of the study, and that the gamma-band stimulation is an active ingredient of the intervention.

experimental: Older Adults Gamma (OAg)

The assignment of older adults to OA and OAg will be randomized. The within-subjects factor of stimulation modality includes 2 levels, to be administered in counterbalanced order: Visual (V, i.e., lights-only) and Audiovisual (AV, i.e., music-plus-lights). Each subject will be aware that they are receiving V and AV stimulation, and thus infer that we are comparing these two forms of stimulation and therefore assessing the effects of music. However, and important to the design of this study, all subjects will be blinded with respect to their group assignment; i.e., they will not know, until post-study debriefing, about the other arms of the study, and that the gamma-band stimulation is an active ingredient of the intervention.

Interventions

Gamma

For the OAg group, the visual component of multimodal stimulation will have the same properties as for the other group, except it will also be additionally amplitude-modulated in the gamma-band (30-60 Hz) range, resulting in a detectable flicker over-and-above the beat-level modulation.

Synchrony

For the OA group, the lights will be tuned to delta-band frequencies (1-4 Hz) in the music, which corresponds to the beat-level frequency in most music. Thus, the lights automatically adapt to the rhythm of the music, pulsing on the beat and changing color on strong beats.

Primary outcome measure

  • EEG [ Time Frame: 8 weeks ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Corinna Parrish

781-474-3141c.parrish@northeastern.edu

Locations

Northeastern University

Recruiting

Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02115

Contacts

Corinna Parrish

781-474-3141c.parrish@northeastern.edu

Principal Investigator:

Psyche Loui, PhD

More Information

Sponsor

Northeastern University

Last update posted

Jul 10, 2025

Last verified

Jul, 2025

Keywords

  • Music

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by Northeastern University on 2025-07-10.