Research summary
Understanding how the brain processes music has significant implications for the fields of neuroscience and medicine. As Canada Research Chair in Music, Neuroscience and Health, Dr. Michael Thaut aims to uncover the ways in which music can be harnessed to enhance brain function, offering new possibilities for rehabilitation and therapy for people with neurological disorders.
Thaut and his research team are studying how the brain processes music and how those processes can retrain an injured brain and stimulate brain development. Their findings will enhance our knowledge of the neural basis of music perception and cognition and expand the use of music into rehabilitation and therapy for people with neurological disorders. Thaut’s team is also exploring how music can facilitate brain training and recovery in the areas of neuro-cognition (to treat traumatic brain injury, autism and Alzheimer’s disease), neuro-motor control (for Parkinson’s disease and stroke), and neurolinguistic applications (for speech motor disorders).