Effect of Music on Interbrain Synchrony: A Close Look at Triad of Disabled Children, Parents and Music Therapist

Kids with one, two or three or more disabilities require special care and rehabilitation services. Specifically, for children with severe disabilities who are non-speaking, the opportunities for social interaction and participation are often limited. However, it is believed that these children continue to form relationships with those around them and that the brain encodes these interpersonal connections. One way to study these interpersonal brain connections is to examine the interbrain coordination between children, parents and a therapist. To this goal, we will compare the brain states of children, one of their parents and an attending therapist, in two activity settings: a music session and a story-telling session. These data are being collected at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital. This post-doctoral fellowship will focus on developing advanced machine learning and data mining algorithms to dissect these data. These data are not easily analyzed with conventional methods as they are non-stationary, multi-channel, spatially correlated within-individual, and originating from multiple individuals. The findings from this research will advance the care of children and youth with disabilities globally.

Faculty Supervisor:

Tom Chau

Student:

Javad Rahimipour Anaraki

Partner:

Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation

Discipline:

Engineering - biomedical

Sector:

University:

Program:

Elevate