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Come tour BRAMS cutting-edge laboratory for background on international conference, Neurosciences and Music III: Disorders and Plasticity, hosted from June 25 to 28

Montreal, June 20, 2008 – Can stroke victims regain lost motor skills by playing the piano? How does music affect newborns? Come question the experts on these and other subjects at a media tour of the Brain, Music and Sound (BRAMS) research centre:

• When: 11 am to noon, Wednesday, June 25; light lunch included.

• Who: Doctors Isabelle Peretz and Robert Zatorre, BRAMS co-directors, on their research and Neurosciences and Music III: Disorders and Plasticity conference.

• What: Music scientists in cutting edge labs featuring a self-playing piano. • Where: BRAMS - Université de Montréal, 1430 du Mont-Royal Blvd., Outremont.

• How: Map to BRAMS.

A world of music experts The special BRAMS tour will kick-start an international conference held in Montreal from June 25 to 28 – The Neurosciences and Music III: Disorders and Plasticity – organized by Fondazione Mariani, BRAMS and partner institutions: the Université de Montréal, ¿´Æ¬ÊÓƵ University and the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital.

The scientific happening, held at ¿´Æ¬ÊÓƵ University, will feature an extensive scientific program delivered by top European and North American researchers. Media are welcome to attend any session. Highlights include:

• Gottfried Schlaug, Harvard University, on how singing can help survivors of brain-damage regain speech.

• Sandra Trehub, University of Toronto, on how profoundly deaf children with cochlear implants enjoy the rhythms of music.

• Patrick C.M. Wong, Northwestern University, on how music training can shape our perception of sounds and facilitate language learning.

Which came first: songs or speech? A keynote lecture, delivered by Steven Mithen, will examine how humans evolved musically. His hypothesis? That music preceded human speech. Mithen, a professor of early prehistory at the University of Reading in England, is the acclaimed author of the book Singing Neanderthals: The origins of music, language, mind and body (Weidenfeld & Nicolson). • Timeline: Friday, June 27, 11:45 am to 12:45 pm; ¿´Æ¬ÊÓƵ University, Leacock Building (855 Sherbrooke St. W), Montreal. Lunch will follow lecture.