Notes That Nurture the Brain
With Researcher Michelle Galper.
The mystery and wonder of the human brain have fascinated Michelle Galper from an early age. While still in grade school she started volunteering at Baycrest in Toronto, interacting with people at all stages of dementia. One person in particular stuck in her mind: a woman who was non-verbal and using a wheelchair who still retained a skill learned in childhood.
She was a pianist growing up, and even though she could not talk and she couldn’t walk, she was able to play the piano so beautifully, indicating that that area of her of her brain was preserved.
“It really drew my attention to the field, both in understanding the older adulthood experience but also things you can do in your life to preserve your cognition.” Those early experiences led her into a career. Ms. Galper, now a second-year PhD student in the University of Toronto’s Department of Psychology, is a researcher in the Einstein Lab.
One of Ms. Galper’s research projects harkens back to her experience with the pianist at Baycrest. She is exploring whether taking piano lessons may have a benefit for a particular cohort of women – those in their 40s or early 50s who have had their ovaries removed. These women have been shown to have a heightened risk of cognitive decline and dementia in later life.
Hormone therapies have been studied as a means of lessening the risk, but Ms. Galper and her colleagues want to find out if there are other possible interventions, which led them to piano training.
It involves the simultaneous engagement of many brain regions, making it a challenging cognitive workout that can help areas of executive function, memory, and motor skills.
Ms. Galper, who studied piano herself, continued, “People say that piano training improves psychological well-being and overall quality of life.”
Studies involving older adults who learn the piano for 12 weeks show improvements in their executive function, working memory, sensorimotor function, and mood. The goal of this project, which is being supported by Women’s Brain Health Initiative through CCNA, is to advance our understanding of cognitive and psychological interventions in this population group and women’s health more broadly.
“When this project was initially brought up, I jumped at the opportunity to get involved,” said Ms. Galper. “I always found the link between music and cognition very exciting, and found the piano to be a fulfilling and challenging instrument; I always felt proud, satisfied, and tired after my lessons. I wanted to be a part of this novel and exciting pilot study to see whether this population group can benefit from this intervention, either cognitively or psychologically.”
As someone who is just beginning her research career, Ms. Galper is grateful for the opportunities provided by the Einstein Lab. “I am completely inspired and so fortunate to be a part of a lab that researches such a broad scope with so many methodologies. I’m learning many scientific skills like neuroimaging, statistics, neuropsychological testing, and qualitative interviewing.”
She aspires to work with older adults with dementia, exploring how to preserve brain health and slow down cognitive decline. “I was always committed to the field of dementia and neurodegenerative diseases, including the biological as well as social risk factors for dementia. And particularly, I was always interested in women’s health. Specifically, what drew me to the lab was the very jarring statistic that two-thirds of Alzheimer’s disease cases are in women. What is it about the female experience that makes that statistic a reality? Through the lab, I wanted to find out.”
In that pursuit, Ms. Galper may have no better model than her grandmother, now in her 105th year.
“I was just always so interested in how she, thank goodness, has been able to really preserve her cognition. She can still do the crossword puzzle, read, and enjoy small things in life. Whenever I asked her, ‘How do you remain so healthy,’ meaning, How’s your brain so healthy at this age? She said, ‘Luck.’ I thought, there’s no way that that’s true! I just watch her habits and know that they have made a difference.”
Source: Mind Over Matter V21