Link between music, brain topic of lecture honoring Hammond

Learning how the brain processes music can help researchers understand brain disorders and develop possible treatments for them, according to a Canadian neuroscientist.

Christo Pantev, Canada’s research chair in human cortical plasticity at the University of Toronto, will lecture about “Music and the Brain: The Concert of the Cortical Neurons and the Competition for Cortical Space” at 8 p.m. Dec. 9 at Duncan Recital Hall, Alice Pratt Brown Hall. The lecture is being given in honor of former Shepherd School of Music Dean Michael P. Hammond and is funded by the Deschko Family.

“The Shepherd School of Music is pleased to present this lecture in memory of the late Michael Hammond,” said Anne Schnoebelen, interim dean of the Shepherd School of Music and the Joseph and Ida Kirkland Mullen Professor of Music. “The series’ topic, ‘Music and the Brain,’ was a particular interest and passion of Hammond’s, and we are proud to have one of the leading researchers in the field as our inaugural speaker.”

Pantev’s research involves developing a more effective means of measuring brain activity, examining brain functional organization and plasticity and evaluating brain recovery and rehabilitation after stroke. His work has shown that learning a skill may help a person postpone development of a mental illness.

Pantov’s research examines the neurons of a brain when it is active. He plans to form a scientific basis for developing diagnoses and treatment of people with strokes, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and depression.

“We are going to understand mechanisms of music perception and processing in the brain and to derive some possible therapeutic treatments, especially in musicians and in mental diseases,” he said.

Pantev, who works at the University of Toronto’s Rotman Research Institute for Neuroscience and the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, is currently working on a research project funded by the Foundation for Music Research to examine children’s brains when they begin studying music.

He hopes the research will provide the answers to the following questions:

• How does the functional activity of the brain differ between musicians and nonmusicians?
• Are brain attributes associated with musical skill the product of musical training?
• If training is found to modify brain development, are there benefits of musical training for cognitive and perceptual skills beyond those involved in music performance?
• Does musical experience have life- enhancing effects in the elderly brain?

Pantev said that finding out how music can affect the brain is crucial.

“This connection is important, since it belongs to our culture and mental development,” he said. “The music belongs to our culture and developed even before language developed, and it has a certain impact on our brain. The connection is not fully understood yet and we are using newly developed neuroimaging methods to get information about this connection.”