Shape, drawing and gesture

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mats B. Küssner
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Psychology ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
Musical Experience ◽  
Personal Factors ◽  
Musical Excerpts ◽  
Gesture Studies ◽  
Sound Features ◽  
Critical Overview ◽  
And Task

This chapter provides a critical overview of how people map sound features and musical excerpts onto the visual, visuo-spatial and kinaesthetic domains. Starting with a brief discussion of why cross-modal correspondences may exist in the first place, the chapter illuminates the rationale of traditional paradigms in experimental psychology before highlighting the revelatory potential of cross-modal drawing and gesture studies, both with children and adults. The influence of personal factors such as musical training as well as experimental factors pertaining to the type of stimulus, setting, instruction and task are highlighted and considerations for future experiments within the embodied cognition research programme are provided. It is concluded that studying systematically the perceived shapes of sound and music by means of drawings and gestures is an overdue step towards understanding linear and spatial aspects of human musical experience.

Musical training improves memory for instrumental music, but not vocal music or words

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 150-159
Author(s):  
Jonathan M. P. Wilbiks ◽  
Sean Hutchins
Keyword(s):  
Instrumental Music ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Vocal Music ◽  
Verbal Material ◽  
The Other ◽  
Musical Experience ◽  
Facilitative Effect ◽  
Musical Excerpts ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Brain

In previous research, there exists some debate about the effects of musical training on memory for verbal material. The current research examines this relationship, while also considering musical training effects on memory for musical excerpts. Twenty individuals with musical training were tested and their results were compared to 20 age-matched individuals with no musical experience. Musically trained individuals demonstrated a higher level of memory for classical musical excerpts, with no significant differences for popular musical excerpts or for words. These findings are in support of previous research showing that while music and words overlap in terms of their processing in the brain, there is not necessarily a facilitative effect between training in one domain and performance in the other.

WHY ARE LEXICAL TONES DIFFICULT TO LEARN?

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricky KW Chan ◽  
Janny HC Leung
Keyword(s):  
Incidental Learning ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Musical Experience ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Lexical Tones ◽  
Tone Discrimination ◽  
Level Tone

AbstractL2 sounds present different kinds of challenges to learners at the phonetic, phonological, and lexical levels, but previous studies on L2 tone learning mostly focused on the phonetic and lexical levels. The present study employs an innovative technique to examine the role of prior tonal experience and musical training on forming novel abstract syllable-level tone categories. Eighty Cantonese and English musicians and nonmusicians completed two tasks: (a) AX tone discrimination and (b) incidental learning of artificial tone-segment connections (e.g., words beginning with an aspirated stop always carry a rising tone) with synthesized stimuli modeled on Thai. Although the four participant groups distinguished the target tones similarly well, Cantonese speakers showed abstract and implicit knowledge of the target tone-segment mappings after training but English speakers did not, regardless of their musical experience. This suggests that tone language experience, but not musical experience, is crucial for forming novel abstract syllable-level tone categories.

scholarly journals Attentional modulation of neural phase is enhanced by short-term training and linked to musical experience

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aeron Laffere ◽  
Fred Dick ◽  
Adam Tierney
Keyword(s):  
Selective Attention ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Neural Mechanism ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Musical Experience ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Attention Task ◽  
Auditory Stream ◽  
Reliable Marker

AbstractHow does the brain follow a sound that is mixed with others in a noisy environment? A possible strategy is to allocate attention to task-relevant time intervals while suppressing irrelevant intervals - a strategy that could be implemented by aligning neural modulations with critical moments in time. Here we tested whether selective attention to non-verbal sound streams is linked to shifts in the timing of attentional modulations of EEG activity, and investigated whether this neural mechanism can be enhanced by short-term training and musical experience. Participants performed a memory task on a target auditory stream presented at 4 Hz while ignoring a distractor auditory stream also presented at 4 Hz, but with a 180-degree shift in phase. The two attention conditions were linked to a roughly 180-degree shift in phase in the EEG signal at 4 Hz. Moreover, there was a strong relationship between performance on the 1-back task and the timing of the EEG modulation with respect to the attended band. EEG modulation timing was also enhanced after several days of training on the selective attention task and enhanced in experienced musicians. These results support the hypothesis that modulation of neural timing facilitates attention to particular moments in time and indicate that phase timing is a robust and reliable marker of individual differences in auditory attention. Moreover, these results suggest that nonverbal selective attention can be enhanced in the short term by only a few hours of practice and in the long term by years of musical training.

French adaptation of a film music stimulus set: Normative emotional ratings of valence and arousal prompted by music excerpts

2021 ◽  
pp. 030573562110506
Author(s):  
Clémence Nineuil ◽  
Delphine Dellacherie ◽  
Séverine Samson
Keyword(s):  
Sex Education ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Film Music ◽  
French Population ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Stimulus Set ◽  
Musical Excerpts ◽  
Valence And Arousal ◽  
Music Stimulus

The aim of this study was to obtain French affective norms for the film music stimulus set (FMSS). This data set consists of a relatively homogeneous series of musical stimuli made up of film music excerpts, known to trigger strong emotion. The 97 musical excerpts were judged by 194 native French participants using a simplified normative procedure in order to assess valence and arousal judgments. This normalization will (1) provide researchers with standardized rated affective music to be used with a French population, (2) enable the investigation of individual listeners’ differing emotional judgments, and (3) explore how cultural differences affect the ratings of musical stimuli. Our results, in line with those obtained in Finland and Spain, demonstrated the FMSS to be robust and interculturally valid within Western Europe. Age, sex, education, and musical training were not found to have any effects on emotional judgments. In conclusion, this study provides the scientific community with a standardized-stimulus set of musical excerpts whose emotional valence and arousal have been validated by a sampling of the French population.

Long-term pitch memory for music recordings is related to auditory working memory precision

2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (4) ◽  
pp. 879-891 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen C Van Hedger ◽  
Shannon LM Heald ◽  
Howard C Nusbaum
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Fluid Intelligence ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Musical Experience ◽  
Musical Note ◽  
Pitch Information ◽  
Memory Precision ◽  
Music Recordings

Most individuals have reliable long-term memories for the pitch of familiar music recordings. This pitch memory (1) appears to be normally distributed in the population, (2) does not depend on explicit musical training and (3) only seems to be weakly related to differences in listening frequency estimates. The present experiment was designed to assess whether individual differences in auditory working memory could explain variance in long-term pitch memory for music recordings. In Experiment 1, participants first completed a musical note adjustment task that has been previously used to assess working memory of musical pitch. Afterward, participants were asked to judge the pitch of well-known music recordings, which either had or had not been shifted in pitch. We found that performance on the pitch working memory task was significantly related to performance in the pitch memory task using well-known recordings, even when controlling for overall musical experience and familiarity with each recording. In Experiment 2, we replicated these findings in a separate group of participants while additionally controlling for fluid intelligence and non-pitch-based components of auditory working memory. In Experiment 3, we demonstrated that participants could not accurately judge the pitch of unfamiliar recordings, suggesting that our method of pitch shifting did not result in unwanted acoustic cues that could have aided participants in Experiments 1 and 2. These results, taken together, suggest that the ability to maintain pitch information in working memory might lead to more accurate long-term pitch memory.

scholarly journals Visual search of illusory contours: an attempt of automatization

Psihologija ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 295-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vasilije Gvozdenovic
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Experimental Research ◽  
Experimental Psychology ◽  
Illusory Contour ◽  
Task Type ◽  
Parallel Search ◽  
Illusory Contours ◽  
Serial Search ◽  
Experimental Trials ◽  
And Task

Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, University of Belgrade Recent research, which was mostly focused on assessing the types of visual search of illusory contours, showed that visual search is dependent on factors like target configuration and task type. Some experimental research supports the theory of parallel search while other research supports the theory of serial search of illusory contours. The inconsistency is most likely due to the fact that various types of illusory contour configurations were used in set creation. Up to this point, our research indicated that the serial search is used in most cases. Some exceptions of search type have been proven in some modification of task type but nevertheless the search profile remained serial. In this article, we are reporting on two visual search experiments. The first experiment was an investigation of a specific feature of a Kanisza type illusory triangle, orientation. The validity of the profile defined in the first experiment was tested in our second experiment with an attempt to automatize the visual search by the multiplication of the initial experimental trials. Our results confirmed that, regardless of the number of experimental trials, the visual search profile remains serial.

scholarly journals Algorithmic Music for Therapy: Effectiveness and Perspectives

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (19) ◽  
pp. 8833
Author(s):  
Alfredo Raglio ◽  
Paola Baiardi ◽  
Giuseppe Vizzari ◽  
Marcello Imbriani ◽  
Mauro Castelli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Musical Training ◽  
Music Listening ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Musical Excerpts ◽  
Algorithmic Music ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Therapy Effectiveness ◽  
Listening Experience ◽  
The One

This study assessed the short-term effects of conventional (i.e., human-composed) and algorithmic music on the relaxation level. It also investigated whether algorithmic compositions are perceived as music and are distinguishable from human-composed music. Three hundred twenty healthy volunteers were recruited and randomly allocated to two groups where they listened to either their preferred music or algorithmic music. Another 179 healthy subjects were allocated to four listening groups that respectively listened to: music composed and performed by a human, music composed by a human and performed by a machine; music composed by a machine and performed by a human, music composed and performed by a machine. In the first experiment, participants underwent one of the two music listening conditions—preferred or algorithmic music—in a comfortable state. In the second one, participants were asked to evaluate, through an online questionnaire, the musical excerpts they listened to. The Visual Analogue Scale was used to evaluate their relaxation levels before and after the music listening experience. Other outcomes were evaluated through the responses to the questionnaire. The relaxation level obtained with the music created by the algorithms is comparable to the one achieved with preferred music. Statistical analysis shows that the relaxation level is not affected by the composer, the performer, or the existence of musical training. On the other hand, the perceived effect is related to the performer. Finally, music composed by an algorithm and performed by a human is not distinguishable from that composed by a human.

scholarly journals Musical experience relates to functional connectivity in older adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 714-714
Author(s):  
Meishan Ai ◽  
Timothy Morris ◽  
Laura Chaddock-Heyman ◽  
Psyche Loui ◽  
Susan Whitfield-Gabrieli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Protective Factor ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Aging Brain ◽  
Musical Experience ◽  
Grey Matter Volume ◽  
Precentral Gyrus ◽  
Age Related

Abstract Previous studies have shown that engaging in musical activities throughout the lifespan may buffer age-related decline in auditory and motor function, as well as in general cognitive function. MRI studies have demonstrated that individuals with musical training and experience exhibited greater grey matter volume and functional connectivity in extensive brain regions, especially in auditory and motor systems, compared to matched controls with no particular musical training or experience. Therefore, musical activity is a potential protective factor for brain health across lifespan. However, how lifespan musical experience shapes functional connectivity in older adults is still unknown. The current analysis investigated whether general musical experience (Goldsmith Music Sophistication Index) is associated with functional connectivity in older adults (age=65.7±4.4, n=69), focusing on seed regions in primary motor areas (bilateral precentral gyrus) and primary auditory regions (bilateral anterior/posterior superior temporal gyrus) and their functional connectivity towards other areas throughout the whole brain. We found that older adults with more musical experience showed greater functional connectivity between anterior superior temporal gyrus and insula (R2=0.10, p=0.01), and between posterior superior temporal gyrus and cerebellum (R2=0.08, p=0.02). However, musical experience and music-related functional connectivity was not significantly correlated with general cognitive functions in our sample. Overall, our findings suggest that older adults with more musical experience might be more efficient in some aspects of auditory processing and auditory-motor skills, but this may not transfer towards domain-general cognitive tests. Our results support the notion that even non-professional engagement in musical experiences may afford benefits to the aging brain.

Self, Interaction, and Task Orientation Inventory Scores Associated With Overt Behavior and Personal Factors

1963 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard M. Bass ◽  
George Dunteman ◽  
Roland Frye ◽  
Robert Vidulich ◽  
Helen Wambach
Keyword(s):  
Task Orientation ◽  
Personal Factors ◽  
Overt Behavior ◽  
And Task

scholarly journals Musical Training Enhances Automatic Encoding of Melodic Contour and Interval Structure

2004 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 1010-1021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takako Fujioka ◽  
Laurel J. Trainor ◽  
Bernhard Ross ◽  
Ryusuke Kakigi ◽  
Christo Pantev
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Pitch Contour ◽  
Musical Experience ◽  
Relative Pitch ◽  
Pitch Structure ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Interval Condition ◽  
Automatic Encoding ◽  
Education Process

In music, melodic information is thought to be encoded in two forms, a contour code (up/down pattern of pitch changes) and an interval code (pitch distances between successive notes). A recent study recording the mismatch negativity (MMN) evoked by pitch contour and interval deviations in simple melodies demonstrated that people with no formal music education process both contour and interval information in the auditory cortex automatically. However, it is still unclear whether musical experience enhances both strategies of melodic encoding. We designed stimuli to examine contour and interval information separately. In the contour condition there were eight different standard melodies (presented on 80% of trials), each consisting of five notes all ascending in pitch, and the corresponding deviant melodies (20%) were altered to descending on their final note. The interval condition used one five-note standard melody transposed to eight keys from trial to trial, and on deviant trials the last note was raised by one whole tone without changing the pitch contour. There was also a control condition, in which a standard tone (990.7 Hz) and a deviant tone (1111.0 Hz) were presented. The magnetic counterpart of the MMN (MMNm) from musicians and nonmusicians was obtained as the difference between the dipole moment in response to the standard and deviant trials recorded by magnetoencephalography. Significantly larger MMNm was present in musicians in both contour and interval conditions than in nonmusicians, whereas MMNm in the control condition was similar for both groups. The interval MMNm was larger than the contour MMNm in musicians. No hemispheric difference was found in either group. The results suggest that musical training enhances the ability to automatically register abstract changes in the relative pitch structure of melodies.

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