Mickey
Hart and Dr. Adam Gazzaley Make History Through Visualizing and Sonifying Brain
Activity in Real Time for Live Audience
SAN FRANCISCO, CA- Mickey Hart, Grateful Dead percussionist,
and neurologist Adam Gazzaley, M.D., Ph.D., professor at the University of
California San Francisco made history by becoming the first to sonify and
visualize brain activity in real time in front of a live audience. The
two did so at the closing session of Life @50+, the AARP National Event &
Expo in New Orleans on September 22nd. Click the video below or go HERE to see
footage from the event.
Dr. Gazzaley has extensively studied how the brain handles
memory, attention and aging. Gazzaley awed the crowd midway through the
session by strapping an EEG on Hart as he paced, clutching a drum, while images
of the rhythms coursing through his brain were displayed on the giant screens
throughout the hall. As the audience looked on, Gazzaley explained what
was happening, adjusting to show more or fewer rhythms coursing through
Mickey’s brain. “This is scary,” Mickey joked.
"It all comes down to vibration and the rhythm of
things," Hart says of his collaboration with Dr. Gazzaley. "Can you
imagine being able to entrain with these rhythms and focus on a certain part of
the brain? To be able to see what part of the brain lights up while you
play a certain instrument, a certain rhythm at a certain amplitude. What
does the brain look like before, during, and after an auditory driving
experience?" Hart continues, "This is about breaking the rhythm code,
our genome project. Once we know what rhythm truly does, then we'll be
able to control it, and use it medicinally for diagnostics, for health reasons.
To be able to reconnect the synapses, the connections that are broken in
Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, that's where we are heading.” It's just the
beginning, as far as Hart is concerned. "I've been working in my field for
many years and so has Adam, it's a handshake between science and art. Life is
all about rhythm, and the brain is Rhythm Central."
Credit: Christopher McDaniel
“There are many simultaneous rhythms in the brain,”
Gazzaley explained. “The rhythms of your brain are now understood to be a
critical factor in perception, decision making, memory, attention and language.
Moreover, the rhythms in different brain areas synchronize, allowing them to
communicate with each other like kids on a swing. Brain rhythms are also
related to many brain diseases, the most obvious being Parkinson’s and
Tinnitus, where you see a tremor and hear a ringing in your ear. You might not
think of depression, ADHD, schizophrenia or Alzheimer’s disease, but they all
reveal changes in the brain’s rhythms.”
Hart demonstrated the natural power of group rhythmic
entrainment by leading a 1,000 person drum circle. Hart and Gazzaley’s
collaboration reinforced recent studies that show that playing a musical
instrument can exercise and strengthen the aging brain. Their mission is
to raise money to launch additional research on the positive interplay between
rhythm, music and cognitive health, and once and for all prove what many
already know.
Credit: Tamarind Jones
Rhythm is a fundamental aspect of the universe at every
level, and serves as a critical foundation for life on this planet. As we now
understand it, brain function itself is dependent on complex rhythms of
activity, which guides interactions between brain regions to generate
synchronized neural networks from which our minds emerge. The goal of this
collaborative project, Rhythm and the Brain, is to advance our understanding of
the role of rhythm in higher-order brain function and also how we can influence
brain rhythms through novel interventions (e.g., neuromodulation, rhythm
training, video game training, neurofeedback). The ultimate goal is to improve
cognition and mood in the healthy and impaired, thus positively impacting the
quality of our lives.
