Clara James

Function: Privat-Docent

Group name: Geneva Musical Minds Lab (GEMMI lab)

Group type: Main

Affiliations: Faculty of Psychology and Science of Education

Domains: Development and Plasticity, Sensory and Motor Systems, Perception, Attention and Cognition

Keywords: brain plasticity, child development, countervail cognitive decline, musical and physical training regimens

Research activities

The Geneva Musical Minds Laboratory (GEMMI Lab), led by Clara James, focuses on using music, psychomotor and arts approaches to address age-related cognitive decline and promote child development. Key initiatives include an RCT (SNF 170410) comparing piano practice and music listening in healthy elderly, revealing the positive impact of music practice on age related cognitive decline, with superior brain and behavioral gains for the piano group (https://data.snf.ch/grants/grant/170410). A study on the “Orchestra in Class” program demonstrated broad cognitive and sensorimotor benefits in 10-12-year-old school children (https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2020.00567). Another RCT, funded by Alzheimer Suisse and the Gebauer Foundation, explores the impact of music vs. psychomotor practice on patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), aiming for stabilization or recovery (https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-022-03678-0). Recent funding (SNF 214977) supports an RCT investigating cognitive benefits in 6-8-year-old children from participating in collective art training: Orchestra in Class versus Visual Arts, compared to the standard curriculum. Earlier fundamental work by James (SNF 125050) showed a correlation between musical training intensity and progressive changes in cognition and brain structure in young adults (https://data.snf.ch/grants/grant/125050). The lab’s multi-faceted approach spans across different age groups and cognitive states, making it a pivotal force in the field of cognitive neuroscience and musical engagement.

Site web du groupe

Key publications

Train the brain with music (TBM): brain plasticity and cognitive benefits induced by musical training in elderly people in Germany and Switzerland, a study protocol for an RCT comparing musical instrumental practice to sensitization to music

James, C. E., Altenmuller, E., Kliegel, M., Kruger, T. H. C., Van De Ville, D., Worschech, F., Abdili, L., Scholz, D. S., Junemann, K., Hering, A., Grouiller, F., Sinke, C., & Marie, D., 2020

BMC Geriatr, 20(1), 418. doi:10.1186/s12877-020-01761-y

Electrical Neuroimaging of Music Processing Reveals Mid-Latency Changes with Level of Musical Expertise

James, C.E., Oechslin, M.S., Michel, C. M., & De Pretto M., 2017

Frontiers in Neuroscience 11, 613. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2017.00613.

Tracking Training-Related Plasticity by Combining fMRI and DTI: The Right Hemisphere Ventral Stream Mediates Musical Syntax Processing

Oechslin, M. S., Gschwind, M., & James, C. E., 2018

Cereb Cortex, 28(4), 1209-1218. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhx033.

Music interventions in 132 healthy older adults enhance cerebellar grey matter and auditory working memory, despite general brain atrophy

Marie, D., Müller, C.A.H., Altenmüller, E., Van De Ville, D., Jünemann, K., Scholz, D.S., Krüger, T.H.C., Worschech, F., Kliegel, M., Sinke, C., James, C.E

Neuroimage: Reports, 2023

See the complete list of the publications

Videos

Une nouvelle étude sʹintéresse aux pouvoirs des cours artistiques sur le cerveau des enfants

La musique et le cerveau

Apprendre la musique après 50 ans

Les vers dʹoreille : ces musiques obsédantes qui trottent dans la tête

Contact

Faculté de psychologie et scie
Université de Genève
Haute Ecole de Santé de Genève
Email: clara.james@hesge.ch/clara.james@unige.ch