Rani, Nur Syairah Ab
(2021)
Emanation of brain frontal midline
and brain mental theta signals as the
source to explore the neural
substrates of melodic and rhythmic
holy quran.
Masters thesis, Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Abstract
Frontal midline theta (FMT) and frontal mental theta, as recorded from
electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) respectively,
had been regarded as the neural substrates for the cognitive brain function that
correlate with the positive effects of music and meditation-related complementary
therapy. Similar positive effects are also linked with the listening and recitation of
rhythmic, melodic Holy Quran. However, limited studies on brainwave, in particular
alpha wave, had been previously reported in the setting of Quranic verse recitation,
with no previous study exists in relation to theta brainwave to our best knowledge. In
this study, we explored the potential involvement of the frontal midline theta (FMT)
(EEG) and frontal-mental theta (MEG) signals as the neural substrates in mapping
the cerebral representations of the melodic and rhythmic Quran recitation among
Muslim and non-Muslim groups. Following an informed consent and psychological
State Trait Anxiety Instrument (STAI) profile, a total of 30 healthy subjects were
recruited into the study as dual faith groups (Muslim, n=15 and non-Muslim, n=15).
Each subject underwent a simultaneous EEG-MEG recording whilst being exposed
to a random, passive listening of different known styles of Quranic recitation of
Ayatul Kursi verse (namely Murattal Asim, Murattal Susi, Tarannum Asli and Hadr)
as well as non-Quranic rhythms (namely Arabic News, Arabic Poem, Harekrishna
and Monochord). Raw EEG-MEG data were analysed using Brainstorm with
MATLAB, based on 20 brain regions of interest (ROI) for cerebral localization
which included ACCpre, ACCsub, MCC, PCC, AMYG, PFCventmed, SFG, FMG
and SFGmedial. The STAI scores indicated no significance differences found among
groups and gender, with one subject (Muslim group) with very high STAI score (and
was excluded from subsequent analysis as an outlier). In resting state condition, the
source estimation for FMT in EEG data showed both groups had similar activations
at SFGmedial while frontal mental MEG data indicated that the Muslim group had
activation at MCC compared to non-Muslim which had activation at ACC and PCC.
In Quranic recitation styles (Muslims group), MCC involved in Murattal Asim style
(moderate tempo), FMG, ACC, MCC in Murattal Susi (moderate tempo), PCC and
MCC in Tarannum Asli (slow tempo) and PCC, MCC in Hadr (fast tempo). In
contrast, for the non-Muslim group, Murattal Asim has activation at PCC, Murattal
Susi in ACC and PCC, Tarannum Asli and Hadr has similar finding in PCC. For
correlation analysis among brain ROI, EEG data showed all 20 ROIs in FMT with
strong, positive correlations. For MEG data, Muslim group showed strong, positive
correlations in selected ROIs for the different Quranic recitation styles, and likewise
the case for non-Muslim group but with key differences for certain recitation styles
and ROIs. In Muslim groups, AMYG, SFG, ACCsup, ACCsub were activated during
Murattal Asim, Murattal Susi and Hadr styles while MCC and PCC involved in
Tarannum Asli recitation (slow tempo). In non-Muslims group, ACCpre,
ACCsup,SFG, PFCventmed, AMYG were found activated during Murattal Asim,
Murattal Susi and Hadr while SFG and ACCpre involved in Tarannum Asli
recitation (slow tempo). In comparison between group and within Quranic and non-
Quranic stimuli, mix ANOVA on EEG data showed no significant difference
between the groups and within stimuli while MEG data indicated a significant
difference between group in right PCC, and in the interaction among stimuli and
group in left AMYG. Overall, both Muslims and non-Muslims groups showed
different neural representation in several brain areas. FMT (EEG) and frontal mental
theta (MEG) signals represent the novel underlying neural substrates of the Quranic
recitation in different styles which involved brain ROI for cognitive functions such
as emotion, decision making, rewarding stimuli and planning. The source estimation
of EEG showed a slight difference compared to MEG as sensitivity of EEG mainly at
scalp surface while MEG can capture the potential signals from the deep brain areas.
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
