In a neuromusic state of mind - Third international conference examines interactions between music and the brain

The effects of musical experience in young children and the role of music in the rehabilitation of stroke patients will be among the many topics on the agenda as experts from around the world gather at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, for the international conference The Neurosciences and Music III: Disorders and Plasticity, June 25 to 28.

The conference is a partnership between Italy’s Fondazione Mariani, the International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), as well as McGill University, which is co-hosting the meeting, the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, and Université de Montréal.

Organized and supported by the Fondazione Mariani, the conference will revolve around seven symposia in which the world’s foremost researchers will present their most significant and sometimes controversial research findings. Every lecture will relate to the main theme of the conference: the study of perception and processing of music in physiologic and pathologic conditions, with special focus on cerebral plasticity mechanisms – the way the human brain changes through experience and the acquisition of new knowledge or skills.

“The decision to focus on disorders and plasticity was based on the current strong interest of neuroscience experts in brain plasticity and, in particular, on the study of how the musician’s brain processes musical information,” explained neuroscientist Dr. Robert Zatorre, a member of the scientific committee for the conference.

In addition to the symposia, the program includes two poster sessions and a workshop on methodological aspects of research, addressed to those seeking more in-depth information on research design in the field of neurosciences.

Keynote lecturer Steven Mithen, author of the book Singing Neanderthals: The origins of music, language, mind and body, will provide insights into the anthropological dimension of the relationship between music and neurosciences on Friday, June 27, from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. in McGill University’s Leacock Building, 855 Sherbrooke St. W, Montreal.

Registration is open at www.fondazione-mariani.org. The detailed program is also available online.

The Fondazione Mariani, a non-profit reference organization in paediatric neurology, is committed to the study of the relationship between music and neurosciences. Its first two editions of “The Neurosciences and Music,” held in Venice in 2002 and in Leipzig in 2005, led to the publication of important works in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.