Thursday, March 19, 2015

Dance and the brain: a review

With all this proof of dancing being good for you, why the hell doesn't your doctor have a stroke protocol for it?
Dancing Makes You Smarter? How Dancing may Prevent Dementia


New framework for rehabilitation – fusion of cognitive and physical rehabilitation: the hope for dancing
The latest here:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nyas.12632/abstract?

  1. Falisha J. Karpati1,2,*,
  2. Chiara Giacosa1,3,
  3. Nicholas E.V. Foster1,4,
  4. Virginia B. Penhune1,3 and
  5. Krista L. Hyde1,2,4
Article first published online: 13 MAR 2015
DOI: 10.1111/nyas.12632
© 2014 New York Academy of Sciences.
Issue
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

Volume 1337, The Neurosciences and Music V pages 140–146, March 2015


Keywords:

  • dance;
  • brain plasticity;
  • action observation;
  • neuroimaging
Dance is a universal form of human expression that offers a rich source for scientific study. Dance provides a unique opportunity to investigate brain plasticity and its interaction with behavior. Several studies have investigated the behavioral correlates of dance, but less is known about the brain basis of dance. Studies on dance observation suggest that long- and short-term dance training affect brain activity in the action observation and simulation networks. Despite methodological challenges, the feasibility of conducting neuroimaging while dancing has been demonstrated, and several brain regions have been implicated in dance execution. Preliminary work from our laboratory suggests that long-term dance training changes both gray and white matter structure. This article provides a critical summary of work investigating the neural correlates of dance. It covers functional neuroimaging studies of dance observation and performance as well as structural neuroimaging studies of expert dancers. To stimulate ongoing dialogue between dance and science, future directions in dance and brain research as well as implications are discussed. Research on the neuroscience of dance will lead to a better understanding of brain–behavior relationships and brain plasticity in experts and nonexperts and can be applied to the development of dance-based therapy programs.

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