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Background: Understanding the nature and extent of sensorimotor decline in aging individuals and those with neurocognitive disorders (NCD), such as Alzheimer's disease, is essential for designing effective music-based interventions. Our understanding of rhythmic functions remains incomplete, particularly in how aging and NCD affect sensorimotor synchronization and adaptation to tempo changes. Objective: This study aimed to investigate how aging and NCD severity impact tapping to metronomes and music, with and without tempo changes. Methods: Patients from a memory clinic participated in a tapping task, synchronizing with metronomic and musical sequences, some of which contained sudden tempo changes. After exclusions, 51 patients were included in the final analysis. Results: Participants' Mini-Mental State Examination scores were associated with tapping consistency. Additionally, age negatively influenced consistency when synchronizing with a musical beat, whereas consistency remained stable across age when tapping with a metronome. Conclusions: The results indicate that the initial decline of attention and working memory with age may impact perception and synchronization to a musical beat, whereas progressive NCD-related cognitive decline results in more widespread sensorimotor decline, affecting tapping irrespective of audio type. These findings underline the importance of customizing rhythm-based interventions to the needs of older adults and individuals with NCD, taking into consideration their cognitive as well as their rhythmic aptitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Music-based interventions appear to be efficient approaches to improve emotional, social, and cognitive functioning of patients with neurodegenerative diseases.Objective: Because benefits seem to increase with patient's motor involvement, we studied sensorimotor synchronization (SMS) abilities of patients with cognitive impairments (Alzheimer's disease, vascular and mixed dementia) and of patients with no evidence of cognitive impairments. More specifically, we compared the impact of a live performance by a musician to a video recording on SMS.Methods: SMS to a metronomic or a musical stimulus was assessed while patients watched a live musician or his pre-recorded video.Results: SMS to a metronome was better than to music but this effect was modulated by the social context. While SMS to a metronome was better when facing a video than a live performance, there was no impact of social context on SMS to music. No group differences of SMS were found.Conclusion: The decrease in SMS to a metronome in a live performance may be due to social pressure. Such a pressure might be removed in pleasant social activities, like moving with music in a group, explaining the lack of effect on SMS to music. We found no performance differences in groups, suggesting relatively spared SMS in cognitively impaired patients. By showing that it is possible to encourage patients to synchronize with others, even when facing a video, our results indicate that SMS can be used as a relevant predictor in clinical trials and open up promising therapeutic options for isolated patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]