Tunes that turn back time

As Joanna Culligan strummed her guitar, leading a music therapy group in song, a look of recognition flashed across the face of a participant.

The man has Alzheimer’s disease and was hesitant to join group activities and programs. But as he listened to Culligan sing the 1926 tune “When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin’ Along,” his demeanor shifted. It wasn’t just a song to him. It was the key to a memory that had long been locked away.

When the song was over, he told Culligan, advanced instructor of human development and family sciences, that he felt transported to a moment in his childhood.

“He goes, ‘I was laying on the carpet in my childhood home with my dad reading the newspaper,’” Culligan said. “‘And he was whistling that song.’”

Culligan loves the light bulb moments that music facilitates for people with Alzheimer’s disease. She loves a lot of other things about it, too, such as the community it builds and the impact it has on participants’ overall well-being. Her passion led her to establish a lab in 2019 focused on this very kind of research – how music influences the emotions of people with Alzheimer’s disease through data collection and analysis in a variety of settings. The lab is called the Investigating Musical Approaches in Geriatrics in Neurological Exploration (IMAGINE) Lab.

“One of my favorite parts is when people say they can’t connect with someone, and then all of the sudden the person opens up because they are reminded of something,” Culligan said. “And more often than not, they feel compelled to share it. We just had to unlock it.”

Culligan hopes the lab’s research will change how medical providers approach Alzheimer’s treatment, along with helping caregivers address the negative moods and emotions commonly associated with the disease. Another one of her favorite parts of the experience, she said, is connecting with other researchers, such as those at Carilion Clinic in Roanoke, who are passionate about the power of music.

“The hope is that eventually people will recognize that music makes a difference, even on the darkest days,” she said. “Music works faster than any drug. If you turn on a song it will turn your day around. So why are we not harvesting that?”

There are about 7.2 million Americans with Alzheimer’s disease, according to the Alzheimer’s Association, a figure that is expected to rise to nearly 13 million by 2050.

Brain imaging suggests music can increase people’s ability to engage socially, while decreasing their perception of pain and depression. Playing instruments, such as the drums, is also beneficial for blood circulation and coordination, Culligan said.

The lab is housed within the Engagement Center for Creative Aging in Wallace Hall on campus, where Culligan is the therapeutic program manager and serving as the interim director. There, she provides group music therapy to individuals involved in the center’s adult day services, using instruments such as egg shakers, xylophones, drums, and adapted handbells.

“We’ll start making music together, and without fail, I’ll see people tapping their toes,” she said. “Once I see you tapping your toes, I know I’ve got you. It’s about giving permission back to people to engage in music. I don’t care what your voice sounds like. It’s good for you. So have fun and do it.”

While many of lab’s participants are involved in the Engagement Center for Creative Aging, research and data collection often takes place outside of normal operations with the consent of participants and their caregivers. Culligan is currently recruiting participants for the lab’s next round of data collection, which will use video and motion capture tools to study nonverbal communication cues as individuals engage with music. In the past, they have used EEG caps to monitor brainwaves.

“It’s about meeting these people as humans so that we can get the human data right,” Culligan said. “Verbal communication becomes a challenge with dementia, but people are still communicating nonverbally if you look at movement analysis.”

Violet Zaleski '23 is a research assistant for the lab and a certified nurse assistant at the center. She graduated with a degree in human nutrition, foods, and exercise and a minor in adaptive brain and behavior. The team also includes a media engineer and technologist and several undergraduate student researchers.

Zaleski, who collects and analyzes data, said she joined the lab because she wanted to learn more about non-pharmacological approaches to dementia and because she wanted to connect college students with older adults. She is currently applying to medical schools and hopes to apply much of what she’s learned through the lab to her career as a physician.

One of her biggest takeaways, she said, is the impact Alzheimer’s has on caregivers.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, there are about 12 million Americans providing unpaid care for people with Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia.

“Even just asking, ‘How are you?’ to caregivers can lift a load off of them,” Zaleski said. “Maybe they need to vent that day. It’s really about compassion and understanding and just being a nice human being.”

Zaleski is also a co-investigator for The Beat Goes On community choir, which the center and the lab launched last year. The choir welcomes community members, students, and individuals with dementia and their caregivers to participate in a concert. The team uses smart devices to measure stress levels and distributes “feelings inventories” to participants to gauge moods and stress levels before and after practices and performances. Culligan said the results show that the participants generally feel happier and less stressed after singing. Rehearsals for the 2025-26 choir season begin in September.

For Culligan, the work is also personal. When she was in graduate school, her mother was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Culligan said taking a musical approach to caregiving was “almost like a musical balm” that helped her mother stay relaxed as Culligan introduced self-care tasks. 

"Instead of walking up and putting a toothbrush in her mouth, I would walk up brushing my teeth, humming a little ditty," she said. "She would see me brushing and hear me humming and smile. Then when I would offer her a toothbrush, she would accept it and smile and brush herself, and we would be playful and giddy together.”

Her mother began experiencing symptoms in her early 50s and passed away at age 69. Culligan said she feels privileged to work with the community and hopes to dispel misconceptions about people living with dementia.

“They all have such rich histories,” she said. “A lot of people think there’s just nothing there anymore. But that just isn’t true.”