Neuropsychological impact and mechanisms of creative movement: Implications for rehabilitation for aging, neurodegenerative disease, and neurotrauma

Abstract

Throughout humanity's existence, dance and creative movement have been used to express concepts, attitudes, and emotions, as well as to develop skills. Dance offers a paradigm to investigate neuroplasticity associated with learning sensorimotor interactions, and how these interactions enhance health, psychosocial, cognitive, and motor function, including for older individuals with neurotrauma and neurodegenerative disease. This collection explores the science of learning to move and its impact on cognition, how the neuropsychological aspects of the creative movement process is manifested in the brain, and how creative movement or dance can be harnessed to enhance health, cognitive function, and quality of life.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease; aging; creative movement; dance; music; neurodegenerative; neuropsychological; rehabilitation.