Recruiting

Music-Based TherapyMoving Yourself in Space and Time: MYSTIC

Sponsor:

Emory University

Code:

NCT07697664

Conditions

Parkinson's Disease (PD)

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and Related Disorders

Older Adults (60 - 85 Years Old)

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Interventions

Complex Rhythmic Movement Sequences (CRMS) Sessions

Study Details

Brief summary:

This study is being done to answer the question: Do people with Parkinson's benefit from a new stepping therapy, and how do people with Parkinson's best learn new steps and rhythms set to music? Researchers will also compare individuals with Parkinson's Disease with people with Mild Cognitive Impairment, and with people with neither of these conditions.

The purpose of this study is to identify principles of human-music interactions to establish underlying guiding theories for application to music-based rehabilitation for older populations with neurodegenerative disease, leading to more refined and targeted music-based rhythmic movement therapies.

Conditions

Parkinson's Disease (PD)

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and Related Disorders

Older Adults (60 - 85 Years Old)

Study ID

NCT07697664

Start date

Mar 25, 2022

Status verified date

Jul, 2026

Completion date

Dec, 2028

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Dec, 2028

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Inclusion Criteria for Young adults and adults with normal cognition (NC):

18 to 35 Years old
Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score of 26 to 30

Inclusion Criteria for Older Adults:

50 to 79 with or without MCI
50 to 79 years old with Parkinson's disease (PD), who do NOT have impaired decision-making capacity
Participants who achieve less than 150 minutes moderate or 75 minutes vigorous aerobic activity per week (as per the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)),

Exclusion Criteria for all groups:

Acute medical illness requiring hospitalization;
Uncontrolled congestive heart failure;
History of stroke in the past three years;
Inability to perform study procedures;
Medical or physical conditions that would preclude participation (e.g., severe arthritis or mobility problems, uncontrolled hypertension or diabetes, renal failure, history of angina with activity);
On medications that could adversely affect cognition, e.g., antipsychotics, opioids, stimulants, chemotherapy, and neurologic prescriptions to treat Multiple Sclerosis. When applicable, enrollment will be delayed until dosages are stable on e.g., Aricept, Namenda, anticholinesterase inhibitors, for at least 3 months
Psychotic disorders
Confounding neurologic conditions \[e.g., active central nervous system (CNS) opportunistic infections, seizure disorders, head injury with loss of consciousness >30 minutes, intracranial neoplasms, stroke with neurological or neuropsychiatric sequelae\]
Substance Use Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder within six months of evaluation.
Inability to provide informed consent

Study Design

Enrollment

210 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Treatment

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Older adults with MCI

Participants will attend daily (3-5 times/week) lessons that will last 1.5h for a month (e.g., 3-5 weeks) and will receive contact and monitoring from study staff. The Principal Investigator will monitor fidelity via weekly reports from interventionists.

active comparator: Older adults without MCI

experimental: Older adults with PD

Participants will attend daily (3-5 times/week) lessons that will last 1.5 h for a month (e.g., 3-5 weeks) and will receive contact and monitoring from study staff. The Principal Investigator will monitor fidelity via weekly reports from interventionists.

active comparator: Young adults and adults with normal cognition (NC)

Interventions

Complex Rhythmic Movement Sequences (CRMS) Sessions

Researchers will establish complex rhythmic movement sequences (CRMS) as an experimental paradigm to identify spatial and temporal components and learning time courses of complex rhythmic movement.

Participants will dance with new partners every 15-20 minutes, a widely practiced method of the dance community to enhance learning. The class format is:

1. practicing previously learned steps
2. 25-minute warmup, partnering/rhythmic exercises
3. learning new steps
4. combining old and new steps
5. cool down

Participants dance both leading and following roles, learn how to interpret motor goals through touch, and perform activities to foster understanding of the temporal relationship of movement to music.

Primary outcome measure

Four-Square Step Test (FSST) [ Time Frame: Baseline and post-intervention (3 to 5 weeks) ]
Gait Speed [ Time Frame: Baseline and post-intervention (3 to 5 weeks) ]
Body Position Spatial Task (BPST) [ Time Frame: Baseline and post-intervention (3 to 5 weeks) ]
30-Second Sit-to-Stand test [ Time Frame: Baseline and post-intervention (3 to 5 weeks) ]
360 Turn Test (Steps) [ Time Frame: Baseline and post-intervention (3 to 5 weeks) ]
360 Turn Test (Time) [ Time Frame: Baseline and post-intervention (3 to 5 weeks) ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Madeleine E. Hackney, PhD

314-412-4852 mehackn@emory.edu

Locations

Emory University, Executive Park, Wesley Woods

Recruiting

Atlanta, Georgia, United States, 30329

Contacts

Madeleine E. Hackney, PhD

mehackn@emory.edu

More Information

Sponsor

Emory University

Last update posted

Jul 13, 2026

Last verified

Jul, 2026

Keywords

Dance
Music
Therapy
Rehabilitation
Neurodegenerative
Parkinson's
Alzheimer's
Motor learning
Motor control

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by Emory University on 2026-07-13.