"The use of familiar music was demonstrated to evoke more emotions and thus result in more engagement from individuals with Parkinson’s in Morris et al.’s (2019) study. Through the use of The Brief Music Experience Questionnaire, they found that participants with Parkinson’s rated “recent, specific, and interactive music listening more positively than the imagined, hypothetical or general music experiences” (Morris et al., 2019, p. 1). Additionally, the familiarity of music was shown to have a greater effect on participants with Parkinson’s over the control group, due to the fact that they have fewer instinctive reactions to music and gain greater pleasure in music they can anticipate and connect to. Another study that took the familiarity of the music being used into account was Fodor et al.’s (2021) study where they took a survey to find the most preferred music genre to be used in the therapy. While classical music was chosen by the majority, the researchers noted that for some patients that did not choose classical music as their preferred music may have experienced better emotional responses and engagement if they instead listened to their preferred music, stating that preferred music induces the activation of the dopaminergic mesolimbic circuit. Familiarity with the music being used may also increase confidence in participants. For example, Susan, in Panebianco et al.’s (2019) study, sang with greater expressive range with familiar music material, showing a greater sense of confidence and freedom."
https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2019.00661 • https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11050569 • https://doi.org/10.2989/18121004.2019.1700618