Item Details

title

THE EFFECTS OF IMPROVISATIONAL DANCE ON FUNCTIONAL NETWORK STRUCTURE AND CONNECTIVITY IN PEOPLE WITH DEMENTIA

author

Thumuluri, Deepthi

abstract

By the year 2030, Americans over the age of 65 will constitute 21% of the population1. This growing aging population requires that the decrease in quality of life observed in dementia and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) be better understood and addressed. Aging and AD have well-studied cognitive implications2, 3 as well as mood4 and mobility5 deficits that directly impact quality of life3, 6. Resting state functional MRI and graph theory-based network analyses have been used to show age induced deleterious changes7 in both gray8 and white matter9, 10 within the brain. Additionally, neuroimaging has also shown betterment of structural and functional connectivity in older adults after movement and dance11, 12. An improvisational dance intervention provides the positive benefits of a group, low-intensity physical activity well suited for people with dementia. The IMOVE pilot study aimed to study how improvisational dance increased the quality of life of aging and AD related deficits 2, 13-15 experienced by people with dementia (PWD). Ten community dwelling PWD were assigned to either the movement group (MG) or the no contact control group (NC); MG participants participated in a 1-hour long class, twice a week, for eight weeks. Graph theory measures of functional connectivity from resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) demonstrated that an 8-week dance intervention has positive effects on global efficiency and community consistency. Additionally, improvements in functional networks were explored as part of a novel investigation into change in connectivity patterns.

subject

Brain Networks

Dance

Dementia

Functional Connectivity

contributor

Hugenschmidt, Christina E (committee chair)

Laurienti, Paul J (committee member)

Zukowski, Lisa (committee member)

date

2022-05-24T08:35:52Z (accessioned)

2022-05-24T08:35:52Z (available)

2022 (issued)

degree

Neuroscience – MS (discipline)

identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/100724 (uri)

language

en (iso)

publisher

Wake Forest University

type

Thesis