Neurophysiological Synchrony Between Children With Severe Physical Disabilities and Their Parents During Music Therapy

Abstract

Although physiological synchronization has been associated with the level of empathy in emotionally meaningful relationships, little is known about the interbrain synchrony between non-speaking children with severe disabilities and their familial caregivers. In a repeated measures observational study, we ascertained the degree of interbrain synchrony during music therapy in 10 child-parent dyads, where the children were non-speaking and living with severe motor impairments. Interbrain synchrony was quantified via measurements of spectral coherence and Granger causality between child and parent electroencephalographic (EEG) signals collected during ten 15-min music therapy sessions per dyad, where parents were present as non-participating, covert observers. Using cluster-based permutation tests, we found significant child-parent interbrain synchrony, manifesting most prominently across dyads in frontal brain regions within β and low γ frequencies. Specifically, significant dyadic coherence was observed contra-laterally, between child frontal right and parental frontal left regions at β and lower γ bands in empathy-related brain areas. Furthermore, significant Granger influences were detected bidirectionally (from child to parent and vice versa) in the same frequency bands. In all dyads, significant increases in session-specific coherence and Granger influences were observed over the time course of a music therapy session. The observed interbrain synchrony suggests a cognitive-emotional coupling during music therapy between child and parent that is responsive to change. These findings encourage further study of the socio-empathic capacity and interpersonal relationships formed between caregivers and non-speaking children with severe physical impairments.

In sync with your child: The potential of parent–child electroencephalography in developmental research

“…So far, correlation approaches have been used in parent–child studies (Atzaba‐Poria et al., 2017; Krzeczkowski et al., 2020) to compute how behavior and brain activity covary within the dyad. Causal measures (e.g., Granger) have been used to compute the direction of influence from the adult on the child (or vice versa) (Leong et al., 2017; Samadani et al., 2021; Santamaria et al., 2020). Specifically, if one signal X (e.g., the mother EEG) influences a second signal Y (e.g., the child EEG), then trying to predict the signal Y based on a combination of X and Y's past should give better results than when trying to predict Y based on Y's past alone.…”

EEG Hyperscanning and Qualitative Analysis of Moments of Interest in Music Therapy for Stroke Rehabilitation – A Feasibility Study

“…However, bringing the 'lab to the field' can also imply focussing on a common aspect of children's music therapy in a laboratory research setting. A recent study [70] was creating an experimental setting which resembled a setting in which parents would join a MT session or watch a session behind an observation window while waiting. The researchers measured the dual-EEG of a child and the parent while the parent was watching the facial expressions of their child participating in music therapy on a video screen in another room.…”

“…The parents 'had exclusively a frontal view of the faces of their children. This design was adapted to emulate current clinical practice' [70] (Samadani et al, 2021, p. 3). This research setting allowed good data recording control (at least on the side of the sitting parent), and enabled analysing the interbrain synchrony between parent-child dyads during parents observing their child's facial expressions.…”

Mechanistic research approaches in music therapy for pain: Humanizing and contextualized options for clinician-researchers

“…This approach aligns musical interaction with physiological changes as they occur over time, providing a structure to investigate mechanisms of change ( 37 ). Several examples include analysis of EEG and ECG and clinical improvisation between client-therapist dyads in stroke rehabilitation ( 15 ), EEG and music-evoked imagery between a participant-therapist dyad in a psychotherapy session ( 39 ), EEG and active music therapy between children and their observing parents ( 40 ), and EEG and active music therapy between a participant and clinician and the participant's observing parent ( 41 ). Understanding how individual brains relate to interactive, relational therapies can help shape the therapeutic approach.…”