Musical Brain / S�r�nade pour un cerveau musicien

Pierre Lemarquis, a neurologist, neurophysiologist and neuropharmacologist, is a former intern and head of clinic at Marseille's teaching hospital. A recipient of the prestigious French Hospital Gold Medal, he is a member of the French Society of Neurology, the Society of Francophone Neurophysiologists and of the New York Academy of Sciences. How does music contribute to safeguarding cognitive capacities? What effects does music have on intellectual skills, social interactions, and level of verbal and non-verbal communication? What are the effects of music on the brains of patients suffering from neurological disorders? How can music enhance patients' relations with the people in their I'mediate environment, with physicians and medical staff? Current knowledge confI'ms the existence of a musical brain that predates language, will outlast it, and is also highly malleable. It is precisely because of the adaptability and relative plasticity of the musical brain that music has such a crucial role to play in medicine, and particularly in neurology. Backed by scientific studies, this book analyses and demonstrates the positive effects of music in neurology. Neuromusicology, a growing discipline in English-speaking countries, is still relatively unknown in France. The author shows the uses of music in treating neurological disorders and in the prevention of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases as well as of cerebral vascular accidents.