Neuroimaging Studies on Familiarity of Music in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
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Neuroimaging Studies on Familiarity of Music in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder by Carina Patricia De Barros Freitas A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Degree of Philosophy Institute of Medical Science University of Toronto © Copyright by Carina Patricia De Barros Freitas 2020 Neuroimaging Studies on Familiarity of Music in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Carina Patricia De Barros Freitas Doctor of Philosophy Institute of Medical Science University of Toronto 2020 Abstract The field of music neuroscience allows us to use music to investigate human cognition in vivo. Examining how brain processes familiar and unfamiliar music can elucidate underlying neural mechanisms of several cognitive processes. To date, familiarity in music listening and its neural correlates in typical adults have been investigated using a variety of neuroimaging techniques, yet the results are inconsistent. In addition, these correlates and respective functional connectivity related to music familiarity in typically developing (TD) children and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are unknown. The present work consists of two studies. The first one reviews and qualitatively synthesizes relevant literature on the neural correlates of music familiarity, in healthy adult populations, using different neuroimaging methods. Then it estimates the brain areas most active when listening to familiar and unfamiliar musical excerpts using a coordinate-based meta-analyses technique of neuroimaging data. We established that motor brain structures were consistently active during familiar music listening. The activation of these motor-related areas could reflect audio-motor synchronization to elements of the music, such as rhythm and melody, so that one can tap, dance and “covert” sing along with a known song. Results from this research guided our second study. This work investigated the familiarity effect in music listening in both TD and ASD children, using magnetoencephalography (MEG). ii This technique enabled us to study brain connectivity and characterize the networks and frequency bands involved while listening to familiar and unfamiliar songs. TD children recruited a similar brain network as those in typical adults during familiar music listening, in the gamma frequency band. Compared to TD, children with ASD showed relatively intact processing of familiar songs but atypical processing of unfamiliar songs in theta and beta-bands. Atypical functional connectivity of other unfamiliar stimuli has been reported in ASD. Our findings reinforced that processing novelty is a challenge. Overall, this work contributes to the advancement of both fields of music neuroscience and brain connectivity in ASD. iii Acknowledgments First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Evdokia Anagnostou for believing in me and giving me the opportunity to carry out my PhD training at the University of Toronto. Her support, patience and direction were paramount to the successful completion of this project. Her dedication to patients, knowledge, expertise, leadership and hard work have truly inspired me. Also, I am deeply grateful to Dr. Jason P. Lerch, my non-official co-supervisor, member of my PhD committee, for his academic guidance and encouragement during my PhD journey. I would also like to thank my other PhD committee members, Dr. Margot Taylor, Dr. Russell Schachar and Dr. Joyce Chen for their critical feedback toward the improvement of my research. I am also grateful to Dr. Benjamin Dunkley for his tremendous help and collaboration with my research. A special thanks to lab mates and other colleagues at both SickKids and Holland Bloorview Hospital for their technical support, encouragement and creating a positive environment for my work. They have all been wonderful people to work with. I would like to express my appreciation to the Portuguese community who help me recruiting participants for my research. Many thanks to my dear friends Bernadette and Agostinho Gouveia, Natália and Manuel Boita for always being by my side. A huge thank you goes to Dr. Alireza Nouri who inspired me to believe in myself and pursue my dreams. For all his love, support and special moments we shared together. Last but not least, I would like to acknowledge my parents, Néli and Arnaldo. Their unconditional love, kindness and support have been the greatest motivation throughout my life. This thesis is dedicated to you with love and gratitude. Work in this thesis was funded by the Province of Ontario Neurodevelopmental Disorders (POND) grant by Ontario Brain Institute, award from the Autism Research Training Program, awards from the Institute of Medical Science and School of Graduate Studies of the University of Toronto and a PhD scholarship (reference SFRH/BD/116213/216) from the Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT). iv Contributions I, Carina Freitas, was primarily responsible for all aspects of each study in this thesis including planning, execution, analysis and writing of all original research and preparation of manuscripts for publication. The following contributions by other individuals are acknowledged below: Dr. Evdokia Anagnostou served as my primary supervisor and appear as co-author on all studies presented here. Roles included: mentorship, laboratory resources, guidance and assistance in planning, execution, analysis and interpretation of experiments as well as manuscript and thesis preparation. Dr. Jason P. Lerch and Dr. Margot Taylor served as members of my thesis committee and co- authors for Chapter 4 and Chapter 5. Roles included: mentorship, laboratory resources, guidance in planning, execution, analysis, interpretation in addition to manuscript and thesis preparation. Dr. Russell Schachar and Dr. Joyce Chen served as members of my thesis committee and co- authors for Chapter 5. Roles included: mentorship, guidance in planning and in interpretation of results as well as manuscript and thesis preparation. Dr. Benjamin Dunkley and Dr. Benjamin Hunt also served as co-authors for chapter 5 and provided assistance in the MEG data analysis, interpretation of results and manuscript preparation. Enrica Manzatto and Alessandra Burini served as co-authors for Chapter 4 for their contribution in the literature selection, data analysis and results interpretation. Simeon Wong served as a co- author for Chapter 5 for his contribution in programming for MEG data analysis. Dr. Alana Iaboni, Leanne Ristic, Susan Fragiadakis, Stephanie Chow contributed as co-authors for Chapter 5. Their role was to recruit participants and behavioural testing and scoring. Amanda Robertson and Olivia Dell´Unto, research assistants, and Marc Lalancette, Ruth Weiss and Tammy Rayner, technologists who ran the MEG and MRI scanners at the Hospital for Sick Children, assisted with the data collection for Chapter 5. v Table of Contents Acknowledgments.......................................................................................................................... iv Contributions....................................................................................................................................v Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... vi List of Abbreviations ..................................................................................................................... xi List of Tables ............................................................................................................................... xiii List of Figures ................................................................................................................................xv List of Appendices ...................................................................................................................... xvii Chapter 1 General Introduction ...................................................................................................1 1.1 Concepts and Ideas ..............................................................................................................2 1.2 Thesis structure ....................................................................................................................4 Chapter 2 Literature Review ........................................................................................................5 2.1 Music and the brain ..............................................................................................................6 2.1.1 Historical perspectives on neuroscience of music ...................................................6 2.1.2 How the brain processes music listening .................................................................6 2.1.3 Functions of music listening ..................................................................................10 2.1.4 Music listening as a musical competence ..............................................................12 2.1.5 Music as an important factor for human development ..........................................13 2.1.6 Music cognition research in neurodevelopmental disorders ..................................14 2.2 Familiarity ..........................................................................................................................14 2.2.1 Origin, definition and principles of familiarity ......................................................14 2.2.2 Familiarity in music listening ................................................................................15