ABSTRACT

Cognitive stimulation is a fascinating scientific issue, which taps into a crucial aspect of the human brain: its neural and functional plasticity. In patient populations, cognitive stimulation is a non-invasive and non-pharmacological method to recover brain and motor functions after brain injury or delayed mental development. This chapter analyzes why music is particularly useful in treating persons suffering either from sensory impairment or cognitive and motor deficit. It considers the difficulties that affect the daily behaviors of visually impaired persons. The chapter shows different musical solutions adopted as alternative and suitable educational tools. It focuses on the degenerative deficits that characterize Alzheimer's disease and proposes the potential efficacy of music-based experiences. Perception and action are even more deeply entwined and share common resources in functional brain architecture. Such neural machinery shows its effectiveness in music performance—one of the most complex and demanding cognitive challenges that the human mind can undertake.