Bill Thompson: "Why is music therapeutic for neurological disorders?"

Bill Thompson, Macquarie University (Australia): "Why is music therapeutic for neurological disorders?"

Abstract
Music has cognitive, psychosocial, behavioral and motor benefits for people with neurological disorders such as dementia, stroke, Parkinson’s disease and Autism Spectrum Disorder. During this presentation, professor Bill Thompson will discuss seven properties or ‘capacities’ of music that interact with brain function and contribute to its therapeutic value. Specifically, in its various forms, music can be engaging, emotional, physical, personal, social and persuasive, and it promotes synchronization of movement. Thompson will review evidence of reliable benefits of music and will also present a model, the Therapeutic Music Capacities Model, which links individual properties of music to therapeutic mechanisms. The model accounts for the profound value that music affords human health and well-being, and provides a framework for the development of non-pharmaceutical treatments for neurological disorders.