About us – Musiquence

Bringing patients and their communities together

About our project

Musiquence is a platform designed for cognitive stimulation purposes, which allows the creation of gamified activities.

In addition to cognitive stimulation, this platform can be used in a variety of contexts, such as, for example, health interventions (rehabilitative processes and motor and sensory stimulation), entertainment activities, auxiliary tools in the context of special education, among others.

The versatility of its application is largely due to its high level of customization – technological and content – as this platform is, on the one hand, compatible with different technologies; and, on the other, customizable in terms of content (e.g., images, sounds, instructions).

Thus, Musiquence allows:

Implement customizable activities that, depending on the configuration, can stimulate the most varied cognitive abilities – orientation, memory, language, attention and executive functioning – and motor skills; as well as functionality, through tasks based on activities of daily living (ADL);
Create entertainment activities, using personalized content, adapted to the user’s preferences and interests;
Facilitate learning processes, through adapting content and technology to the needs presented;
Use an auditory learning system (A-LearningSys) to stimulate clinical populations while performing tasks.

Furthermore, Musiquence is clinically validated, based on studies carried out with the population with dementia and the psychiatric population.

Team

Luís Ferreira

Developer

Sergi Bermúdez

Developer

Mónica Spínola

Psychologist

Developer

Luís Ferreira

I graduated in Interactive Design (University of Madeira) and have a Master in Entertainment Technologies (Carnegie Mellon University).

In 2021, I completed the PhD in Digital Media at the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of Universidade Nova de Lisboa (FCT – UNL), where I developed a platform that uses elements such as music and reminiscence for cognitive stimulation called Musiquence.

I’m currently a professor at the University of Madeira, where I actively collaborate on research projects at the NeuroRehabLab and NovaLincs.

My role consists, above all, in developing serious games and studying their impact on clinical populations (e.g., Neurological and Psychiatric).

scroll to read more

Developer

Sergi Bermúdez

I am currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Informatics Engineering and Interactive Media Design at the University of Madeira, researcher and coordinator of NeuroRehabLab - N-LINCS Madeira, and president of the International Society for Virtual Rehabilitation (ISVR).

I am a telecommunications engineer from the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC) and a PhD from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ). I have been a researcher at several institutes in Europe and the USA, including the Laboratoire de Production Microtechnique at EPFL (Lausanne), the Institute of Neuroinformatics at ETHZ (Zurich), at the Institute for Audiovisual Studies of the Department of Technology at Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona), and visiting researcher at the Quality of Life Technologies and Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh).

At NeuroRehabLab (https://neurorehabilitation.m-iti.org) I carry out research at the intersection of technology, neuroscience and clinical practice to find new solutions to improve the quality of life of people with special needs.

scroll to read more

Psychologist

Mónica Spínola

Currently, I work as a Clinical Psychologist at Casa de Saúde Câmara Pestana (https://cscp.irmashospitaleiras.pt/) and I am attending the PhD in Neuropsychology at the University of Coimbra, where I had the opportunity to complete the Integrated Master in Clinical and Health Psychology - Subarea of specialization in Clinical Psychogerontology.

In terms of research, I dedicate myself to the study of Neuropsychological Assessment and Rehabilitation, being associated with NeuroRehabLab (https://neurorehabilitation.m-iti.org/) and the research groups “Neuropsychological Assessment in Aging Processes” (NAAP) and “Psychological Assessment and Psychometrics Laboratory” (PsyAssessmentLab).

I am a trainer in the field of Clinical Neuropsychology at ForYourMind (https://www.foryourmindform.com/).

scroll to read more