CAN RHYTHM HEAL?

Matthew Collier Date of Presentation: 16th December 2016 Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of BA (Hons)

University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Swansea

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Faculty  of  Art  and  Design    This  dissertation  is  presented  in  partial   fulfillment  of  the  requirements  for  a  BA  (Hons)  Degree  in:    MUSIC  TECHNOLOGY        

Certificate  of  Authenticity    I   certify   that   this   dissertation   is   entirely  my   own  work   with   respect   to   the   research,  organisation   and   writing   involved.   It   is   appropriately   referenced   where   necessary.   I  understand   there   is  a  university  policy  on  plagiarism  and   that   sanctions  will  be   set   in  place.      

Signature:        

Name:  MATTHEW  COLLIER    

Date:  16th  December  2016          

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Summary of Topic

Our human relationship to rhythm and its use in a variety of therapeutic settings will

be examined. The neurobiological influence of rhythm and its affects on behaviour

will be investigated.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 5 WHAT IS RHYTHM? ................................................................................ 6 PARKINSON’S DISEASE ......................................................................... 9 SPEECH AND LANGUAGE IMPAIRMENTS ......................................... 13 AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER ......................................................... 18 BIOLOGICAL RESPONSES TO DRUMMING ....................................... 23 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................ 24 REFERENCES ....................................................................................... 26

Word count: 5,007

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Introduction

Rhythm inhabits all of our worlds, it surrounds us and it’s within us. Rhythms in

motion, rhythm in time, rhythm in sounds, invisible rhythms and grand rhythms. It

seeps into our unconscious; we are driven to dance, but can it heal us? Why does

the simple repetition of pattern affect us? What can be discovered about how our

brains process and respond to rhythmic sounds?

Renowned ethnomusicologist Curt Sachs held the belief that “Rhythmical structure of

verses and melodies was nothing but a transfusion from the moving body, although

we might add, from a body consciously moving under the firm control of the mind.”

(Sachs, 1962: 112) But what happens if your body is not under the firm control of

your mind? Can rhythm be utilized to gain an element of control?

This research seeks to gain a critical perspective of the beneficial effects hearing

rhythm has on people with a variety of acquired and developmental neurobiological

conditions. The reasons for, and effectiveness of, rhythm-based therapies will be

explored, explained and evaluated, thereby shedding light on the neurological

processes involved in rhythm cognition.

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What is rhythm?

“The dance is the highest symbol of life itself” (Campbell, 1991: 98)

The word rhythm derives from the ancient Greek ‘Rhythmos’; then its literal meaning

would have been in describing a measured flow or movement. The Greeks

commonly applied the term in the context of dance, whereby it refers to momentary

positions taken by dancers in the course of their performance (Hope, 2007). Our

contemporary understanding of rhythm is applied in many contexts; the movement of

the planets, the oscillation of an atom, waves on a seashore, the turning of the

seasons, and of course in music and dance. Regardless of context we all understand

its description as a repeated pattern of sound or movement.

Given that the creation of complex rhythms can be derived from utilising nothing

more than one’s own body, it could be concluded that the creation and use of

rhythms by humans is rooted in our ancient history. All cultures across the globe,

both ancient and modern, display a tradition of making and playing drums. From

twenty first century Samba Bands performing on the streets of Rio de Janeiro to the

sacred drumming of Priestesses in the temples of ancient Mesopotamia, the 120

beats-per-minute of modern dance music to the archaic and complex polyrhythms of

the Malinké and Fulani peoples in Guinea. The sound of humans creating rhythms is,

and was, ubiquitous.

Rhythm use can be observed in a multitude of creatures; the ability to move through

air, in water and on land requires synchronised physical motion, however, “these

actions are the products of central pattern generation and are not dependent on

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externally supplied timing signals in order to run their rhythmic course.” (Merker,

2009: 5) The idea that there are central pattern generators within the brain

responsible for the coordination of habituated motor functions, such as breathing and

walking, has long been established in neuroscience (Buzsáki, 2006). Central pattern

generators require no neurologic input, and work below conscious perception and

without cognitive learning (Thaut, 2016).

Audible and visible rhythm generation, known as synchronous chorusing, is an

instinctual behaviour found in the animal kingdom; crickets, fireflies, frogs, and

katydids all emit rhythmic signals, usually in the quest to attract the opposite sex

during mating season (Greenfield, 1994). What distinguishes these displays is that

they are group behaviours, and for these signals to remain synchronised predictive,

isochronous, timing must be present, thereby making the “next beat in the sequence

perfectly predictable.” (Merker, 2009: 5) This ability recognises the core feature of

rhythm; it’s the interval between the beats that creates the pattern, and thus a

repeated sequence of spaces punctuated by beats constitutes rhythm (Merchant,

2015).

An ability to perceive a rhythm appears innate in some creatures, and having an

awareness of rhythmic stimuli appears to offer certain survival advantages and thus

be naturally selected for. The most primitive of organisms need to synchronise their

biological rhythms to environmental cycles for survival (Clayton, 2004). And in more

developed organisms the ability to detect, and react to, ecological and environmental

rhythms is utilised in more complex activities, such as hunting or predator avoidance.

These powers of detection would also extend an evolutionary advantage (Phillips-

Silver, 2010). This perception can extend simultaneously across multiple, and

uniquely evolved, sensory pathways.

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We humans inhabit a world where rhythm surrounds us, ours is both a subconscious

and conscious relationship. Beat perception is a “cognitive ability that allows the

detection of a regular pulse (or beat) in music and permits synchronous responding

to this pulse during dancing and musical ensemble playing.” (Merchant, 2015: 1)

Meaning that not only do we have the ability to distinguish rhythm, but we also

possess an additional rhythmic trait; we have the capacity to entrain to the beat.

The Dutch physicist Christian Huygens was fascinated to observe that the two

pendulums clocks that hung in his hallway would eventually synchronise their motion,

regardless of their starting positions. After researching this phenomenon, he declared

in 1666 that Entrainment had been discovered. Entrainment is a natural law “which

describes the interaction and consequent synchronization of two or more rhythmic

processes or oscillators.” (Clayton, 2004: 2) The fields of astronomy, neurology,

biology, psychology, pharmacology, medicine, sociology and chemistry have all

scientifically validated its existence. In the context of music, “the synchronization of

bodily rhythms with music entails entrainment phenomena at different levels of the

organism, which can take place at the motor level, the autonomic physiological level,

the attentional level, and even the social level.” (Trost, 2014: 56) If rhythm and

entrainment can have such an expansive physiological connection with people, then

it is worthy of exploration in the context of therapy.

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Parkinson’s Disease

“Rhythm is the artful motion of bodies” Plato

(Filmer, 2003: 91)

Parkinson’s is a progressive neurological condition. Currently one in every five

hundred people has the condition, equating to 127,000 people in the United

Kingdom. Loss of nerve cells in the brain causes Parkinson’s; the main symptoms

are tremor, rigidity and slowness of movement, and there is currently no known cure

(NHS UK, 2016). A range of treatments and therapies are applied to the condition,

including drugs that seek to increase depleted levels of dopamine in the brain and

stimulate the areas were dopamine works. Drugs are also used to repair certain

nerve cells and mitochondria, and to alleviate debilitating symptoms. Therapies

include occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, physiotherapy, and

complementary therapies, which include acupuncture, reflexology and music therapy.

The majority of these applied therapies seek to help with mobility, relaxation, speech,

motor symptoms and pain relief (Parkinson's UK, 2016). The most important issues

requiring research to help improve the quality of life for Parkinson’s sufferers are

deemed to be problems with mobility, stress and anxiety, uncontrollable movements,

memory problems, sleep and relaxation, and dexterity (Parkinson's UK, 2016).

Music therapy used to help Parkinson’s sufferers has traditionally centred on aims of

“improving movement and speech, and help people to relax or talk about feelings or

ideas they have.” (Parkinson's UK, 2015: 53) It focuses on relational and emotional

well-being. However, contemporary view points believe rhythm could have a role to

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play in rehabilitation, and here lies a distinction between relational and rehabilitative

approaches using music therapy; relational aims at psychological improvements

through empathetic relationships, the rehabilitative approach seeks to address motor,

cognitive and sensory function caused by neurological damage (Raglio, 2015). Thaut

et al state “The insights from rhythmic auditory-motor studies led to a complete re-

conceptualization of the role of complex auditory stimuli such as music for therapy

and rehabilitation.” (Thaut, 2015: 3) Rehabilitative rhythmic auditory stimulation

approaches applied in the context of Parkinson’s disease targets the control of motor

timing functions in the brain, and thus helping with coordinated tasks such as

walking.

The region of the brain that has been identified as the source of our beat perception

is in the basal ganglia and is called the putamen, and this is an area of the brain that

receives damage as a

consequence of Parkinson’s

disease (Grahn, 2009). The

function of rhythmic auditory

stimulation in treating

Parkinson’s disease is to assist

the deficient internal clock,

offering an external timing

device by which patients can pace to. This serves to help regulate gait disturbances

caused by neurological damage (Murgia, 2015). Gait disturbance can manifest a

variety of issues including decreased hip, knee, trunk and pelvis range of motion,

action freezing, poor balance and excessiveness slowness (Thaut, 2016). The

Figure 1. Putamen Figure  1  

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practical application of this therapy seeks to improve a persons control over gait

performance.

Rhythmic auditory stimulation gait training consists of six steps; firstly an assessment

of the patients’ current gait parameters, primarily to measure their cadence or rate of

steps per minute. Secondly the therapist will set an external timing device, such as a

metronome, to the client’s measured cadence and will begin to play an instrument or

recorded music at that particular tempo. Next, when it has been observed that the

patient has perceived and entrained to that rhythm, the therapist will then begin to

increase the tempo of the music in increments of five to ten per cent. Repeating this

exercise over time has been shown to significantly improve gait control (Thaut,

2015). The fourth step in gait training involves using the same methodology but

applied in different contexts; changing direction, adjusting pace, walking on uneven

surfaces, negotiating obstacles, ascending and descending stairs, and with the

absence of a walking aid. The fifth step aims to remove the rhythmic auditory

stimulation, encouraging the patient to internalise the rhythmic cueing. Lastly, a

reassessment of the patients gait parameters to ascertain the level of any

improvement in performance (Thaut, 2016). A study by Kadivar et al researched

rhythmic auditory stimulation on functional performance in Parkinson’s patients, and

concluded “significant functional improvements relative to baseline were maintained

longer for the RAS participants than the no RAS participants.” (Kadivar, 2011: 633)

This therapy achieves positive results in the context of improving gait control in

Parkinson’s disease sufferers because rhythm activates neural circuits involved in

motor processing, and these neuroanatomical connections allow auditory rhythm to

cue movement. The presence of regular beats in auditory stimuli is also believed to

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increase activity in the putamen, which compensates for the lack of dopaminergic

stimulation (Nombela, 2013).

This therapeutic approach highlights the close neurological connections between our

auditory system and motor system. When auditory neurons within the brain are

stimulated they entrain the firing pattern of motor neurons, a process called neural

entrainment. Auditory stimulation also primes the motor system in readiness for

movement, and the influence of rhythmic auditory stimulation creates anticipatory

timescales. Anticipation is deemed crucial in improving movement quality, “Rhythm

provides precise anticipatory time cues for the brain to plan ahead and be ready.

Furthermore, successful movement anticipation is based on foreknowledge of the

duration of the cue period.” (Thaut, 2015: 2)

The rhythmic auditory stimulation gait training described here has also been applied

with success in additional therapeutic contexts; children with Spastic Cerebral Palsy

(Kwak, 2007), Multiple Sclerosis sufferers (Baram, 2007), and with Stroke and

traumatic brain injury victims (Thaut, 2015). Further research in rhythmic auditory

stimulation has yielded the hypothesis that ecological sounds, such as recorded

footsteps, could enhance the therapy process results due to the awakening of mirror

neurons within the brain (Murgia, 2015).

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Speech and Language Impairments

Speech disorders are described as a difficulty producing speech sounds correctly,

pronunciation difficulties or stuttering are examples. A language disorder can affect

the understanding of others, or inhibit the sharing of ideas, feelings and thoughts.

Adults and children can have speech and language impairments, and they can be the

result of trauma, medical problem, or indeed have no known cause (American

Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2016). A 2001 study found that most

children with speech and language impairments also have a diagnosis of

developmental coordination disorder, defined as movement difficulties out of

proportion with general development and intelligence (Hill, 2001). SLI frequently

presents in parallel with motor co-ordination deficits, with this co-occurrence present

in ninety per cent of patients during one study (Corriveau, 2009). Aligned with this, it

has also been noted that children with speech and language impairments have

difficulties with auditory cues to the rhythmic timing of language (Corriveau, 2009).

People with developmental dyslexia also exhibit these same neurological

impairments in timing cognition (Thomson, 2006).

In 2009 a study was carried out to explore possible links between motor and auditory

rhythmic timing issues in children with speech and language impairments. The

results confirm “that at least part of the comorbidity between language and motor

impairment found in some children with SLI results from a rhythmic processing

deficit.” (Corriveau, 2009) So how can rhythmic auditory stimulation be employed in

the treatment of children with speech and language impairments? One methodology

is rhythmic speech cueing, which seeks to improve fluency, pause time, articulatory

rate and intelligibility of speech. This therapy seeks to improve speech performance

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by patients reading and talking whilst also tapping in time with an auditory rhythm.

However for this treatment to function properly the patient is required to exhibit

rhythm entrainment ability, if audio-motor entrainment is impaired rhythmic speech

cueing will not be effective (Mainka, 2016). A different approach was employed in an

experiment conducted to ascertain how rhythmic auditory stimulation influences

syntactic processing in children with developmental language disorders. During tests,

children with and without SLIs and dyslexia listened to regular and irregular rhythm

patterns, they were then shown grammatically correct and incorrect written

sentences, and were subsequently asked to make grammatical judgements on what

they had read. It was proposed that external timing cues help to synchronize internal

and external oscillators and thus “allows orienting attention over time and allows

developing expectations about the temporal occurrence of a next event, which then

facilitates processing of events at expected time points and facilitates segmentation

and structural, temporal integration.” (Przybylski, 2013: 122) Data collected from this

study did confirm the expectation that the application of rhythmic auditory stimulation

improved syntactic performance. Interestingly, it also discovered the control group

who presented with no SLI or dyslexia also benefited, “As speech is inherently tied to

time and requires temporal processing and cognitive sequencing, this modulation of

temporal attention benefits both the healthy and impaired brain.” (Przybylski, 2013:

128) In relation to the treatment of speech and language impairments, it seems

“Vocal learning requires a tight coupling between auditory input and motor output in

order to match vocal production to a desired model.” (Patel, 2006: 101) Thus

practicing therapeutic exercises under the influence of rhythmic auditory stimulation

is deemed to be beneficial as it helps to integrate auditory, motor and language

neurological processing, with one neurologic music therapist stating, “rhythm can be

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extremely useful for promoting speech production and anticipation of response.”

(LaGasse, 2016: 199)

The neurological basis of music and language are closely linked, with neuroimaging

studies suggesting that “neural circuitries established for language may have been

recycled during evolution for musicality, or vice versa that musicality served as a

springboard for language emergence”. (Peretz, 2015: 1) There is much evidence to

suggest that there exists substantial neural overlap between speech and language

processing, and that this sharing is crucial in explaining transfer effects between

music and language, meaning that in evolutionary terms “musicality may have

preceded language, and language may build on the natural disposition for

musicality.” (Peretz, 2015: 1) Linked to this theory of language, musicality and

neurological evolution, research has been carried out to establish if there is a link

between rhythmic motor entrainment and vocal mimicry across species (Schachner,

2009). This study tested the hypothesis that entrainment evolved as a by-product of

vocal mimicry, with the prediction that only vocal mimicking animals have the ability

to physically synchronise with an auditory pulse, to entrain. Vocal mimics in the

animal kingdom are humans, songbirds, parrots, humming-birds, cetaceans, seals,

elephants, and bats. After conducting tests with live animals and scrutinising video

footage, the researchers concluded that indeed, “Only vocal mimicking species

showed evidence of entrainment.” (Schachner, 2009: 834) In anatomical terms, birds

appear to have evolved this ability due to evolutionary modifications in the basal

ganglia region of the brain, the same area that is proven to be influential in human

beat perception and entrainment, and the same area that is deficient in Parkinson’s

disease sufferers. Neurobiological research indicates that vocal learning is

associated with the basal ganglia as it plays a key role in mediating between auditory

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input and motor output during learning (Doupe, 2005). As Professor of Psychology

Aniurddh Patel puts it “Importantly, the basal ganglia are involved in motor control

and sequencing meaning that a brain structure involved in perceptually keeping the

beat is also involved in the coordination of patterned movement.” (Patel, 2006: 101)

Analysing the results of all these tests in unison reveals that auditory beat perception

and entrainment are essential neurological requirements for language and movement

development and control. If the parts of the brain that influence these abilities are

functionally deficient then problems with motor coordination and language use can

ensue.

Test results also hint that vocal mimicry preceded entrainment in evolutionary terms,

with musicality and then language evolving and adapting upon these established

neurological pathways. Researching the evolutionary roots of human rhythmicity has

been the focus of scientific study involving primate rhythmic cognition. African great

apes (gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos) have long been observed in the wild

drumming on their bodies and on resonant objects using their feet and hands (Fitch,

2015). However, this doesn’t in itself signify rhythmic entrainment; “sustained

patterns are not heard nor any attempt at group synchronisation.” (Merker, 2009: 6)

Test analysis seems to support the assertion that the last common ancestor of

humans and great apes had evolved neurologic rhythmic recognition some seven

million years ago in the forests of Africa; “Drumming is thus a clear candidate for a

homologous behavioural component of the entire African great ape clade, of which

humans are one member.” (Fitch, 2015: 6) However, great apes do not display vocal

mimicry, nor do they do they display beat perception synchronization. It could be that

because they missed this first evolutionary step of vocal mimicry, they have not

acquired entrainment, music or language and thus leave humans unique in primate

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behaviour.

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Autism Spectrum Disorder

“What a man danced, that was his tribe, his social custom, his religion.” (Ellis, 1983:

479)

Autism spectrum disorder is a pervasive developmental neurological dysfunction, and

being a spectrum, “there is not one way of being autistic.” (Berger, 2002: 26) It is

characterised as a neurologically atypical state, and is a lifelong condition. Key

features of ASD include ritualistic behaviours, internal preoccupation, speech deficits,

self-stimulation, intellectual dysfunction, sensory-integrative dysfunction,

communication deficits, and an inability to express normal affective relationships. A

core feature of ASD is an absence of Theory of mind. Theory of mind essentially

describes empathy; people with ASD lack an understanding that other people have

thoughts, beliefs, emotions and intentions.

All animals function via a mechanism of receiving sensory information, neurologically

processing that stimulus, then outputting action through the body. This process

happens through the stimulation of sensory neurons and motor neurons within the

brain. A key part in this process chain is called sensory integration, namely the

neurological action of organising uncoordinated sensory input, which in turn creates

useful, adaptive responses. It is every creature’s survival mechanism (Berger, 2002).

In people with ASD this mechanism of sensory integration is dysfunctional in a

variety of aspects, and that can lead to mental and physical impairments. It should be

noted that every individual possesses a unique neurological make-up, and sensory

integration abilities are thus individual. However, issues arise when the manifestation

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of sensory integration processing elicits atypical behavioural responses, especially in

a social context where norms of behaviour apply.

It appears that atypical behaviour stems from “erroneous sensory interpretations of

environmental and systemic conditions that thrust the Central Nervous System’s

sympathetic system into action from which the person cannot easily modulate.”

(Berger, 2012: 2) The central nervous system’s sympathetic system regulates a

person’s fight or flight responses to sensory input, in people with ASD this response

is continually primed resulting in elevated levels of anxiety. To test the efficiency of

rhythm based interventions on alleviating anxiety, a 2012 study monitored children

diagnosed with ASD carrying out a variety of repetitive motor tasks in synchrony with

a sixty beats per minute auditory rhythm, with repetition over an eight-week trial

period. All participants showed improvements to varying degrees with the report

concluding that “highly structured rhythmic interventions at a slow tempo can yield

levels of systemic pacing, motor planning, visual contact, attention, reduction of

anxiety and repetitive behaviours, and functional adaptation.” (Berger, 2012: 1)

Rhythmic auditory stimulation appears to help with sensory integration through a

mechanism of system pacing, and increasing the brains ability to predict events

present in a patterned, repetitive sequence thus decreasing anxiety. Professor of

neurology, Oliver Sacks, states in his book Musicophilia, that humans, when listening

to auditory rhythms, not only entrain with the beat but also respond by mentally

anticipating the rhythmic pattern (Sacks, 2007). We have an ability to mentally

internalize a pattern and thus begin to predict it’s unfolding through time. Displaying

an inability to recognize, internalize and produce a synchronized rhythmic pattern is

seen as a “manifestation of communication deficit.” (Pavlicevic, 1997: 42) And it has

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been posited that a display of disorganized rhythm and synchrony can be early signs

of ASD in children (Trevarthen, 2005).

Autism Spectrum Disorder is a developmental condition with many children on the

spectrum showing a difficulty in mimicry and action imitation (Ramachandran, 2011).

Imitation is key to typical child development; children learn form observing and

mentally integrating the actions of others, in readiness to perform that same action.

Coordinating ones own actions to another is called joint action, and linked with this is

joint attention, which allows for the sharing of a “perceptual common ground.”

(Sebanz, 2006: 70) Brain development through imitation enables humans to interact

in joint activity such as language communication, and to also perceive a common

reality. People who lack theory of mind, as in ASD, have difficulty in perceiving and

imitating the actions and intentions of others, and therefore joint attention and joint

action are problematic.

As humans we typically find synchronizing our actions comes naturally; when we

walk together, toil together, dance together. We seem to have an innate ability to

‘lock’ together in sound or movement. This ability is not unique to humans, it can be

found at work in the natural world. Where humans are unique is in using rhythmic

synchrony in social contexts, we are the only animals “known to feature tactus based

behavioural group synchrony as part of its ethogram, principally in the form of a

cross-culturally universal propensity to occasionally gather for rhythmic group singing

and dancing.” (Merker, 2009: 5)

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Our relationship with auditory rhythm develops during childhood; as infants we will

move to audible rhythms but not ‘stay in time’, between the ages of two and five we

begin to develop the ability to maintain a regular beat, and by age seven we can hold

a regular pulse, but mainly within the tempo ranges that resembles our own

‘spontaneous motor tempo’ (our natural movement speed). Adult-like rhythmic

abilities emerge around the age of nine (Large, 2015). An interesting observation is

that young children can find it difficult to follow an audible rhythmic pattern presented

by a machine but achieve better understanding when the action is part of a socially

engaging activity. This makes sense when it is considered that prior to the invention

of sound recording and reproduction technology, “every musical context involving

synchronized motor movements implied some form of social activity.” (Kirschner,

2009: 301) A shared intentionality combined with joint attention. In many existing

indigenous cultures, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, music is predominantly social

in nature. This means any societal gathering will feature heard rhythms and “the

prominence of the beat has a unifying effect for the group.” (Pavlicevic, 1997: 41)

Participating in rhythm based physical and social activity, such as group drumming,

offers people with ASD therapeutic possibilities in the areas of action and attention

focus, imitating, alleviation of anxiety, audio-motor entrainment and coordination,

sensory integration, social cognition and language skills. “When the body is

rhythmically organised, it appears that physiological responses become more

manageable.” (Berger, 2002: 114)

Much debate still surrounds the origins and neurological mechanisms at work in

Autism Spectrum Disorder, research is very much on-going and new approaches and

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theories are progressing and being debated. An area of considerable focus began

with the discovery of the mirror-neuron system in our brains. During neurological

research on primates in the early 1990s, a team of scientists at the University of

Parma documented how certain neurons in macaque brains fired not only whilst

undertaking a physical action, but also while watching another monkey perform the

same action (Ramachandran, 2011). Mirror neuron activity in human brains

automatically allows us to mentally experience another person’s emotions, intentions

and actions. The activity of mirror neurons ties in with the theory of mind; it is our

human ability to imitate on an innate, multi-sensory and highly sophisticated level that

creates empathy, entrainment and social intelligence. It has been hypothesized that it

is dysfunction in the mirror neuron system in people with ASD that is characterised

by a lack of theory of mind, and in addition a deficit of social cognition (Pineda,

2009). The resulting social interaction emanating through rhythmic entrainment can

provide a direction for rhythm-based interventions in ASD therapy. Group drumming

or group activities centered on rhythmic stimulation can bring an awareness of

shared action and intentionality.

 

 

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Biological responses to drumming

At the 2016 British Science Festival, hosted in Swansea University, Dr. Daisy

Fancourt presented a lecture titled “Can music change our immune system?” During

this lecture she highlighted a recent research paper, “Effects of Group Drumming

Interventions on Anxiety, Depression, Social Resilience and Inflammatory Immune

Response among Mental Health Service Users.” (Fancourt, 2016) This research

tracked biological and physiological changes in individuals across ten weeks of

drumming in a social context, and cross-referenced any changes in relation to a non-

participatory group. This scientific study concluded “…that group drumming can

reduce depression and anxiety and improve social resilience in mental health service

users…changes in psychological profiles were found in parallel with reductions in

inflammatory response and a shift towards an anti-inflammatory immune profile”

(Fancourt, 2016: 10) The report concluded that further research is needed to

ascertain the underlying neurobiological mechanisms that influence these beneficial

changes. They had statistically proven a biological reaction to drumming in a social

context, but couldn’t conclude on the reasons.

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Conclusion

The mechanisms at work in some therapeutic applications of rhythmic auditory

stimulation are clearly understood because the condition is fully understood. In

Parkinson’s disease and Speech and language impairments the application of rhythm

during auditory-motor exercises can achieve predictable effects because the cause

of the dysfunction and the reasoning behind the therapy are transparent. However,

as in Autism Spectrum Disorder, the condition is not fully understood therefore some

therapeutic applications could be seen as conjecture; positive results can be noted

but the complex neurobiological interaction is not fully understood. Problems in

achieving predictable, qualitative results are further compounded in the area of ASD

due to the condition manifesting in unique, individualised behaviour. In the example

of altering immune system function, the effect can be clearly noted but the

physiological process is not understood, we haven’t deciphered the interaction. Some

of the therapeutic exercises described here involve listening to rhythm, and some

require playing rhythm. Further exploration may expose whether there are

fundamentally different physiological reactions in each instance, and if one mode is

favoured over another in targeting certain conditions.

Speech and language impairments and ASD are both classed as developmental

conditions, with Parkinson’s and immune system issues being acquired. This

distinction means sufferers have differences in terms of experience and therapy

expectations; in the developmental conditions there is no ‘before and after’ therefore

sufferers may have no concept of what changes are trying to be made. The situation

can be markedly opposite in people with acquired conditions, they have previous

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experience to lend context to their current abilities. Before applying any kind of

therapy it is essential to know what outcomes are trying to be achieved and how

realistic expectations are.

The uniqueness of human neurology manifests in a unique relationship with rhythm.

This research has explored our human relationship with rhythm, it has shown how

rhythm is a conduit through which we stimulate and regulate our senses, actions and

interactions. Rhythm is a universal language, a language we recognised as infants

being rocked in our mothers’ arms, and cognition of rhythm is a core feature of our

survival mechanism; a method by which we navigate and communicate with the

patterns present in our worlds. Our reactions and interactions with rhythm take place

in both the conscious and unconscious realms of perception. Our subconscious

relationship revolves around central nervous system pattern generators and beat

perception; our essential life support systems rely on rhythms as the most efficient

means of function. Our conscious, social reactions to rhythmic stimulation can be

observed in collective actions such as protest, dance and rituals. It is a unifying force

for social cohesion and cultural identity (Phillips-Silver, 2010). Rhythm use in a social

context affords an alternative means of communication and connectedness.

A core aspect of rhythmic entrainment is that it too occurs at both a conscious and

subconscious level, and it is a fundamental feature of being human. Indeed,

“rhythmic entrainment may hold one of the keys not only to the origins of music, but

to human nature itself.” (Merker, 2009: 114) This research has shown that rhythm is

an essential component of many developmental and physiological activities; during

movement, in language use and in social communication. Rhythm acts as an anchor

to which other actions can attach themselves, an anchor that our bodies and minds

require to achieve functioning levels of sensory integration.

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Images

Cover image: Intermediate magnification micrograph of the putamen

Creative Commons Attribution

Figure 1: Putamen

http://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2015/august/images/brain