Article

Recent studies suggest that the positive emotion induced by pleasant music may
improve cognitive functions. We used the single-subject design to study whether
listening to preferred music may reduce unilateral neglect in two participants
with post-stroke neglect. These participants were instructed to listen to their
preferred music every day for 5 weeks, followed by 2 weeks of follow-up
assessment. Outcome measures involved the Star Cancellation Test, the Line
Bisection Test, and the visual exploration task. A combination of visual analysis
and the two-standard-deviation band method was used for data analysis. Both
participants showed significant intervention-related improvements on all outcome
measures except the Line Bisection Test, on which one participant showed no
improvement. The therapeutic effects were maintained during the follow-up phase.
The findings suggest that positive emotion, evoked by preferred music, may be
used to ameliorate unilateral neglect. Further research using controlled trials
is warranted to validate the findings.

Langue : ANGLAIS