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 and cerebral benefits in 6-8-year-old children from participating in collective art training over 2 years: 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.
Key publications
Cognitive enrichment through art: a randomized controlled trial on the effect of music or visual arts group practice on cognitive and brain development of young children
Increased functional connectivity in the right dorsal auditory stream after a full year of piano training in healthy older adults
Music interventions in 132 healthy older adults enhance cerebellar grey matter and auditory working memory, despite general brain atrophy
Tracking Training-Related Plasticity by Combining fMRI and DTI: The Right Hemisphere Ventral Stream Mediates Musical Syntax Processing
Contact
Faculté de psychologie et scie
Université de Genève
Haute Ecole de Santé de Genève
Email: clara.james@hesge.ch/clara.james@unige.ch