Objective: This pilot study aimed to investigate whether patients with PD have deficits in the perception of melody, rhythm, and musical excerpt recognition as measured by the Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusia test (MBEA). Another objective was to explore the possible correlation of musical perception with other cognitive functions.

Background: According to recent studies, patients with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) indicate difficulties in rhythm perception and production.

Method: Musical perception was assessed in 10 patients with PD and 10 healthy older adults. In addition, a neuropsychological assessment was performed including Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination, Digit Span forward & backward, and Hopkin’s Verbal Learning test – revised (HVLT-R).

Results: Patients with PD performed worse than healthy individuals in the perception of melody, musical excerpt recognition, and rhythm perception test. Consequently, the control group indicated higher scores in all musical perception scores than patients with PD. A strong positive correlation was found between the musical excerpt recognition and the total score of the verbal episodic memory test (HVLT-R) [rho (28) =.619], the short-term verbal memory (Digit Span Forward) [rho (28) =.481], and the verbal working memory test (Digit Span Backward) [rho (28) =.643].

Conclusion: Not only the perception of rhythm but also the perception of melody and memory recognition seems to be affected in PD. Musical recognition is also strongly related to verbal episodic, short-term verbal, and verbal working memory tests.

References: Golden, H.L., Clark, C.N., Nicholas, J.M., Cohen, M.H., Slattery, C.F., Paterson, R.W., Foulkes, A.J., Schott, J.M., Mummery, C.J.,Grahn J.A, Brett M. Rhythm and beat perception in motor areas of the brain. J Cogn Neurosci. 2007 May;19(5):893-906
Harrington D.L., Haaland K.Y., Hermanowicz N. Temporal processing in the basal ganglia. Neuropsychology. 1998 Jan;12(1):3-12.
Peretz I., Champod A.S., Hyde K. Varieties of musical disorders. The Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusia. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2003 Nov;999:58-75.
Zatorre RJ, Chen JL, Penhune VB. When the brain plays music: auditory-motor interactions in music perception and production. Nat Rev Neurosci 2007; 8: 547–58.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/musical-perception-in-parkinsons-disease-a-pilot-study/