scholarly journals Investigating the influence of music training on verbal memory

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (6) ◽  
pp. 814-820 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra C. Taylor ◽  
Stephen A. Dewhurst
Keyword(s):  
Verbal Memory ◽  
Visual Imagery ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Word List ◽  
Auditory Imagery ◽  
Music Training ◽  
Word Lists ◽  
Neural Factors

Previous research has shown that musical training is associated with enhanced verbal memory. The current study investigated the generality of this association by presenting undergraduates who had received musical training ( n = 20) and undergraduates with no formal music training ( n = 20) with four types of word list; high visual imagery, high auditory imagery, high tactile imagery, and abstract. Those who had received music training showed enhanced memory for all word lists, suggesting that music training leads to a general enhancement in verbal memory that is not restricted to specific types of words (e.g., those invoking auditory imagery). The findings support previous research in showing that music training enhances cognitive skills beyond those that are specific to the domain of music. The possible cognitive and neural factors underpinning this effect are discussed.

scholarly journals Auditory and Visual Mental Imagery in Musicians and Nonmusicians

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Talamini ◽  
Julia Vigl ◽  
Elizabeth Doerr ◽  
Massimo Grassi ◽  
Barbara Carretti
Keyword(s):  
Mental Imagery ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Visual Imagery ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Visual Images ◽  
Auditory Imagery ◽  
Visual Mental Imagery ◽  
Formally Trained

The present research investigated auditory and visual mental imagery and how this ability differs in people with and without musical training. In a first part, the characteristics of a new auditory imagery self-report questionnaire (the Vividness of Auditory Imagery Questionnaire, VAIQ) were reported. The questionnaire was composed of 16 items assessing mental vividness of auditory everyday sounds and it was administered to 147 participants, demonstrating good psychometric properties. In a second part, self-reported vividness of auditory and visual images was assessed in people with and without music expertise. Thirty-six formally trained musicians, 33 self-taught musicians, and 33 nonmusicians completed the questionnaires. The newly built questionnaire VAIQ and the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ, Marks, 1973) were administered. Music aptitude and general cognitive abilities were also assessed in all participants as control measures. We observed that both groups of musicians self-reported greater vividness of mental imagery for auditory nonmusical sounds than nonmusicians, but not for visual images. The study confirmed that music expertise is linked to enhanced self-reported auditory mental imagery for everyday sounds, illustrating that such advantage is selective for auditory imagery; no difference concerning visual imagery between the groups of musicians and nonmusicians emerged.

Musicians show greater cross-modal integration, intermodal integration, and specialization in working memory than non-musicians

2020 ◽  
pp. 030573561989608 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rielle Gagnon ◽  
Elena Nicoladis
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Verbal Memory ◽  
Instrumental Music ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Visual Memory ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Motor Memory ◽  
Central Component ◽  
Music Training ◽  
Components Analysis

Theories of working memory (WM) often distinguish between a central component and peripheral components for verbal and visual information. In the present study, we tested whether musicians differed from non-musicians on WM capacity and structure, with a particular focus on motor memory. We compared individuals with instrumental music training ( n = 91) to those without musical training ( n = 99) on seven WM tasks, measuring visual, verbal, and motor memory. The results showed that the musicians only rarely outperformed non-musicians on WM tasks. As for memory structure, a principal components analysis revealed that the seven tasks loaded onto different components for non-musicians and musicians. In musicians, scores loaded onto three components that represent motor–visual memory, verbal memory, and memory for the movements of others. In contrast, there were only two extracted components for non-musicians. These results suggest that music training leads to greater cross-modal and intermodal integration in WM, as well as specialization within motor memory.

Self-Report Imagery Questionnaire Scores and Subtypes of Social-Desirable Responding

2008 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 181-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Allbutt ◽  
Jonathan Ling ◽  
Thomas M. Heffernan ◽  
Mohammed Shafiullah
Keyword(s):  
Visual Imagery ◽  
Correlational Analysis ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Auditory Imagery ◽  
Auditory Modality ◽  
Visual Thinking ◽  
Thinking Style ◽  
Social Desirable Responding

Allbutt, Ling, and Shafiullah (2006) and Allbutt, Shafiullah, and Ling (2006) found that scores on self-report measures of visual imagery experience correlate primarily with the egoistic form of social-desirable responding. Here, three studies are reported which investigated whether this pattern of findings generalized to the ratings of imagery vividness in the auditory modality, a new version of the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire ( Marks, 1995 ), and reports of visual thinking style. The measure of social-desirable responding used was the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR; Paulhus, 2002 ). Correlational analysis replicated the pattern seen in our earlier work and of the correlations with the egoistic bias, the correlation with vividness of visual imagery was largest and significant, the correlation with visual thinking style next largest and approached significance, and the correlation with vividness of auditory imagery was the smallest and not significant. The size of these correlations mirrored the extent to which the three aspects of imagery were valued by participants.

scholarly journals Effects of semantic relations, repetition of words, and list length in word list recall of Alzheimer's patients

2008 ◽  
Vol 66 (2b) ◽  
pp. 312-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Orlando F.A. Bueno ◽  
Paulo H.F. Bertolucci ◽  
Maria Gabriela M. Oliveira ◽  
Jacqueline Abrisqueta-Gomez
Keyword(s):  
Free Recall ◽  
List Length ◽  
Word List ◽  
Semantic Relations ◽  
Healthy Elderly ◽  
Facilitating Factors ◽  
Word Lists

INTRODUCTION: Semantic relations among words and repetition enhance free recall, but it is unknown if these facilitating factors are effective in dementia. METHOD: Alzheimer's patients (MILD-Alz, MOD-Alz) were compared to healthy elderly. Fifteen-word lists were read out to the subjects. In four sets of lists the words in intermediary input positions were semantically related or not, or the midlist words were repeated, or they were repeated and semantically related. RESULTS: The usual third peak of recall of semantically related words was not observed in MOD-Alz, repetition of words did not increase recall of the patients, and the combination of relatedness and repetition benefited only MID-Alz. In a second experiment, with related or unrelated midlist words, and list length shortened from 15 to 9 words, semantic facilitation was observed in mild and moderate Alzheimer´s patients, although diminished compared to controls. CONCLUSION: Progression of dementia turns facilitating factors of recall less effective.

An Exploration of Children's Musical Compositions

1995 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 94-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah J. Wilson ◽  
Roger J. Wales
Keyword(s):  
Computer Program ◽  
Developmental Stages ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Music Training ◽  
Post Hoc Analysis ◽  
Musical Compositions ◽  
Melodic Contour ◽  
Training Post ◽  
Post Hoc

In this study, we examined the musical compositions of children aged 7 and 9 years to discover the nature of childrens melodic and rhythmic representations of music. The compositions were performed using a computer program that did not require formal music training. Post hoc analysis revealed that the compositions could be divided into three melodic and rhythmic developmental stages that varied according to melodic contour, tonality, rhythmic grouping, and meter. Older children created more compositions at higher stages of complexity, and the more private musical training children had received, the more rhythmically complex their compositions were. The girls produced a greater percentage of compositions assigned to the highest stages than did the boys. Qualitative features of the subjects' approach to the task were noted during testing and were also found to vary with developmental stage. The number of parts inherent in the compositions was a nonpredictive variable in this analysis.

scholarly journals Using fMRI connectivity to define a treatment-resistant form of post-traumatic stress disorder

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (486) ◽  
pp. eaal3236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amit Etkin ◽  
Adi Maron-Katz ◽  
Wei Wu ◽  
Gregory A. Fonzo ◽  
Julia Huemer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Traumatic Stress ◽  
Verbal Memory ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Word List ◽  
Poor Response ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Direct Stimulation ◽  
Post Traumatic

A mechanistic understanding of the pathology of psychiatric disorders has been hampered by extensive heterogeneity in biology, symptoms, and behavior within diagnostic categories that are defined subjectively. We investigated whether leveraging individual differences in information-processing impairments in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) could reveal phenotypes within the disorder. We found that a subgroup of patients with PTSD from two independent cohorts displayed both aberrant functional connectivity within the ventral attention network (VAN) as revealed by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) neuroimaging and impaired verbal memory on a word list learning task. This combined phenotype was not associated with differences in symptoms or comorbidities, but nonetheless could be used to predict a poor response to psychotherapy, the best-validated treatment for PTSD. Using concurrent focal noninvasive transcranial magnetic stimulation and electroencephalography, we then identified alterations in neural signal flow in the VAN that were evoked by direct stimulation of that network. These alterations were associated with individual differences in functional fMRI connectivity within the VAN. Our findings define specific neurobiological mechanisms in a subgroup of patients with PTSD that could contribute to the poor response to psychotherapy.

Musical Imagery

1986 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 411-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Weber ◽  
Suellen Brown
Keyword(s):  
Image Coding ◽  
Visual Imagery ◽  
Visual Image ◽  
Auditory Imagery ◽  
Shared Resources ◽  
Written Responses ◽  
Musical Imagery ◽  
Modes Of Representation ◽  
Tonal Contour ◽  
Better Than

An objective indicator of musical imagery is developed that involves tracking the up and down movements of the tonal contour of an imagined musical phrase or tune. In two experiments, college students' imagery of music was examined. In both experiments, subjects learned musical phrases with words (songs) and without words (melodies). They then indicated as rapidly as possibly the tonal contour. In Experiment 1, the primary issue was whether musical imagery (as distinct from kinesthetic or visual imagery) drew on the same representation as overt song. Subjects processed the phrases by using either an imaginal or overtly sung representation. No difference in processing time was found between the imaginal and overt modes of representation, consistent with a common representation. A second issue was "tonal primacy," the priority of tonal coding over verbal or word coding in musical phrases; in fact, songs (with words) were processed as well or better than melodies (without words). No evidence favoring tonal primacy was found. In Experiment 2, the issues examined were possible kinesthetic or visual image coding of pitch representation and possible sharing of tonal and verbal generation processes for musical imagery and auditory imagery. Spoken responses for classifying tonal relations took longer than written responses, indicating that kinesthetic and visual image coding was unlikely and that the pitch generation of musical imagery shared resources with a more general auditory imagery.

Eminence Choices in Three Musical Genres and Music Media Preferences

1995 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 251-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard F. Rose ◽  
Michael J. Wagner
Keyword(s):  
Musical Training ◽  
Compact Disc ◽  
Music Training ◽  
Older Subjects ◽  
Listening Habits ◽  
Audio Equipment ◽  
College Classes ◽  
Media Preferences ◽  
Musical Genres ◽  
Music Study

Subjects in college classes (N = 413) were asked to list five compositions that should “live forever” in three categories: pop/rock, orchestral, and choral/operatic. The students also provided information regarding musical training listening habits, and ownership of audio equipment. Fewer than 50% of the subjects listed five compositions in any one category. Subjects with approximately 10 years of music training completed more entries in the orchestral and choral/operatic categories than did those with fewer years of study. Those who had 3 or more years of music study were better able to complete the music survey than were other subjects. Approximately equal numbers of subjects preferred to listen to music on tapes, radios, and compact disc (CD) formats. Generally, younger subjects listened to more music per day than did older subjects, and subjects who preferred to listen to music on CD players listened to music more hours per day than did subjects choosing other devices.

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