Editorial: Neuro-Education and Neuro-Rehabilitation

The latest advances in cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, and cognitive neuroscience has brought from science fiction to reality the possibility of influencing our brain activity (Owen et al., 2010; Glannon, 2014; Gruzelier, 2014a). Better understanding of brain functioning and brain plasticity has allowed neuroscientists to transfer findings from fundamental research to education and to the rehabilitation of learning disabilities (Besson et al., 2011; Goswami, 2016). The emerging fields of neuro-education and neuro-rehabilitation aim at creating effective and safe programs to improve brain functioning related to specific perceptive, cognitive, emotional, and motor abilities. Some attempts to achieve these goals take advantage of the use of natural mechanisms, such as those mediating the interactions between brain and arts (Särkämö et al., 2008; Bringas et al., 2015). Others use experimental designs to make the brain aware of its own activity, creating the so-called neurofeedback loop (Gruzelier, 2014b). Succeeding in these goals would constitute an achievement of high societal impact (Davidson and McEwen, 2012; Vuilleumier et al., 2014). This Frontiers Research Topic brings together 16 articles that cover a broad scope of topics in the relatively young but very dynamic fields of neuro-education and neuro-rehabilitation. Contributed by world-renowned scientists in cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, and cognitive neuroscience, often experts in different types of learning disorders, this E-book is organized around three main themes: neuro-education, neuro-rehabilitation and basic research with relevance to both fields. Each theme includes Review articles covering the state-of-the-art of knowledge in a specific sub-domain, Original Research articles reporting new discoveries and Opinion and Hypothesis and Theory articles adding exciting new ideas and approaches for neuro-educational and neuro-rehabilitation methods. In the first part, dedicated to neuro-education, Ylinen and Kujala review the impact of auditory or phonological training on the level of performance in various tasks and on the neural basis of behavior in children with dyslexia, children with specific language impairment and children with language-learning impairment. François et al. review the efficacy of musical training for language learning. They highlight several studies showing that learning to play a musical instrument can induce substantial neuro-plastic changes in cortical and subcortical regions of motor, auditory and speech processing networks. They show evidence that musical training can be an alternative, low-cost and effective method for the treatment of language-learning impaired populations, as well as for patients with stroke or Parkinson Disease. Direct support for the use of musical training for the rehabilitation of children with dyslexia is …