LECTURE 3.docx

Lecture 3 Music cognition The study of the abilities and processes required to engage with musical stimuli An interdisciplinary field psychology comp sci neuroscience music 3 reasons why we use music to study auditory development similarity to language Convenience Evolution reason 1 (musi...

Lecture 3 Music cognition The study of the abilities and processes required to engage with musical stimuli An interdisciplinary field psychology comp sci neuroscience music 3 reasons why we use music to study auditory development similarity to language Convenience Evolution reason 1 (music in study of auditory development): similarity to language both music and language involved applying rules/principles to organize and make sense of auditory world both music and language engage multiple regions and processes in the brain musical and language abilities are correlated; therefore, we can learn about language by studying music (and vice versa) reason 2 (music in study of auditory development) convenience learning about language is "boring". learning about music is "endlessly fascinating" reason 3 (music in study of auditory development): evolution music is INNATE: responses to music are present in utero music is UNIVERSAL: music production exists in every society studied to date music is ADAPTIVE: it fulfills multiple functions in human society Hearing basics outer and middle ear: sounds create air waves waves travel into auditory canal sound waves cause eardrum to vibrate, triggering vibrations in three small bones (incus, malleus, stapes) inner ear: sound waves travel into the cochlea here they are transduced into electrical signals central nervous system: electrical signals travel along auditory nerve then through the brainstem then into the primary auditory cortex in R and L temporal lobes pitch describes our perception of the FREQUENCY of a wave aka how many waves will fit in a space? the more waves, the higher the frequency the higher the frequency, the higher the pitch measured in Hertz (Hz) or as notes on a scale building blocks of sound pitch, melody, beat, rhythm, timbre melody sequence of pitches that has some logical sense made up of INTERVALS: thus, at least 2 pitches are required has a CONTOUR: a pattern of intervals going up and down why is melody important for speech? use melody in speech to convey MEANING, EMOTION this is called PROSODY: crucial component of social communication "you don't like it" example with two emojis to guide prosody Beat our perception of EVENLY SPACED POINTS in a sequence, sometimes felt as the 'pulse' the points at which you would move along with the music ie. tap foot, clap, nod head, shake hips beats per minute (bpm) = TEMPO rhythm the full pattern of TEMPORAL INTERVALS in a sequence timbre tonal quality of a sound analogous to flavour or colour (in different senses) important in development of language perception allows us to distinguish between types of sounds we can describe timbre with... adjectives (brassy, bright, squeaky) instrument names (sax, guitar, flute) we can even describe timbre non-verbally Why are timbre, melody, pitch, beat, and rhythm important? theyre the building blocks of sounds i.e. of language and music helps infants map sounds of language to the meaning effect of the aquatic environment that fetus develops in high frequency and loud sounds are attenuated by fluid and tissue thus, fetus is exposed primarily to low-frequency sounds when mother is silent, most prominent sounds that can be heard are: 1. bowel sounds (irregular, popping sounds) 2. maternal heartbeat (regular, slow) 3. fetal heartbeat (regular, fast) why mostly only low-frequency sounds? because of how the cells of the cochlea and auditory cortex develop they develop in a tonotopic fashion: neurons that respond to specific frequencies are grouped tgt, from low to high like a keyboard earliest cells to develop are responsive to low frequencies, and last cells to develop respond preferentially to high frequencies transition from low- to high-frequency auditory processing happens gradually throughout infancy and is essential part of proper sensory development responsiveness to sound in first 20 weeks of pregnancy fetus is unresponsive to sound sound waves cannot yet be transduced into electrical signals this is because the cochlea isn't fully developed what happens to the neural pathway to the auditory cortex at 20 weeks? it becomes functional and its development continues up to 2 years after birth between 20-25 weeks, first responses to sound can be recorded via ultrasound cochlea at 35 weeks it's mature auditory abilities at term (40 weeks) basic auditory abilities are functional are basic auditory abilities already developed at birth? yes what are the basic auditory abilities? 1. localization: ability to perceive spatial location of a sound source babies are worse than adults because their heads are smaller identification ability to perceive discrete speech sounds (phonemes) important for development of language discrimination ability to hear differences between sounds important for development of language and music importance of pitch in development newborns can discriminate wide range of pitches (20-20 000 HZ) but this range gets narrower as children get older perceptual narrowing: why? ATTACHMENT: being able to conduct with caregivers is more likely to ensure survival, thus auditory system needs to be optimally sensitive to pitches emitted by caregivers LANGUAGE: infants need to be able to adopt their native language(S), thus a wider range of sensitivity ensures optimal language acquisition pitch used by parents to influence infant attachment caregivers sing to their infants in a higher-pitched and slower tone infants prefer infant-directed signing over adult-direct singing Case discussion: babies in NICU in utero: high frequency sounds are ATTENUATED by fluid and tissue in pre-term infants (born <35 weeks), high frequency sounds are AMPLIFIED neonatal intensive care unit environment: OVEREXPOSURE to high-frequency sounds (ventilators, fans, pagers, monitors) and UNDEREXPOSURE to low-frequency sounds (like those in the uterine environment) transition from low- to high-frequency auditory processing happens gradually throughout infancy and is an essential part of proper sensory development pre-term infants don't experience this gradual transition pre-term infants = more sensitive to high-frequency sounds, which can be toxic to development of auditory cortex may have adverse effects on language and musical abilities how to deal with NICU dilemma? provide LOW FREQUENCY sound exposure to preterm infants, to compensate for premature babies, it could be beneficial to expose them to primarily low-frequency sounds after birth 2015 study: group of 40 mothers who'd had babies at 30 weeks experimental group: 3 hrs per day of exposure to uterine environment soundscape control group: received treatment as usual (hospital sounds) even though there were no differences before the intervention, babies in the experimental group showed faster development in the auditory cortex, measured by cranial ultrasound taken as evidence that auditory plasticity can be evoked in preterm infants through exposure to realistic uterine soundscapes discrimination tasks measure the ability to detect differences can be tested for any property of melody (interval, contour, timbre) when does melody discrimination ability reach adult levels? are 10-11 singing tasks measure what ability? ability to match or repeat pitches or sequences when does singing ability peak? age 12 factors that influence singing in adolescence musical training puberty shyness music listening absolute pitch some people can sing, name or identify a pitch without reference to another pitch (called absolute pitch/perfect pitch) very rare: 1 in 10 000 people are born with it must be born with it AND be trained provides evidence of critical period in auditory development absolute pitch: evidence of critical period in auditory development absolute pitch can't be developed without ear and memory training AND this training must begin in childhood if child hasn't acquired absolute pitch by about 11 years old, it can't be acquired fully Dylan Beato began ear and memory training at age 2-3 knows the absolute position and sound of every pitch in the scale can sing or identify notes and even multiple notes at once beat perception tasks measure... ability to find the beat like in melody perception, discrimination tasks are used by age 5, children can detect beat misalignment for rhythms that are culturally familiar synchronization tasks measure... ability to move in time (ie. tap, click a mouse) with an external stimulus motor development occurs from head to feet and from the midline of body outwards synchronization is multimodal: engages multiple regions of the brain (auditory, motor, memory) multimodal nature of synchronization it engages multiple regions of the brain auditory, motor, memory at what age can children synchronize movements to a steady beat? age 4 but at this stage they can't synchronize well to rhythmic sequences why are children's musical abilities more variable and worse than adults'? 1. they're multimodal 2. some of the required brain regions don't fully mature until late adolescence Moroccan chaabi shows that cultural familiarity... also plays a role in rhythmic ability distinction between PERCEIVED and FELT emotion perceived emotion: is inferred linked to features of the musical stimulus ie. pitch, tempo, rhythm, timbre, lyrics felt emotion: is evoked linked to activation of the nervous system perceived and felt emotion can be different: we often experience pleasure listening to sad music can children perceive musical emotions? yes tested through recognition tasks or verbal tasks by 3-5 children can recognize happy and sad music recognition = better for happy sounding music recognition in kids is better for what kind of music? why? better for happy sounding music maybe because of the frequency of child-direct speech in this age group when does ability to recognize happy and sad music reach adult levels? age 11 BUT even adolescents can have difficulties recognizing fear and anger in music T/F: children can recognize emotion in music just as well as speech true can children feel musical emotions? yes by age 1, 90% of infants move/dance to music move more to music than speech, and to more familiar songs than unfamiliar ones children's musical movements = frequently accompanied by smiling and laughter taken as evidence that children may feel pleasurable urge to move to music this urge is driven by phenomenon called GROOVE groove certain musical characteristics = consistently associated with groove syncopation: pattern of emphasis off the main beat most strongly felt on medium level of syncopation too much: complicated too little: boring at what level of syncopation is groove most strongly felt? medium in adults, groove plays pivotal role in producing and maintaining urge to... dance high groove music = associated with more movement, better timing accuracy high groove music = associated with higher pleasure and reward Influence of groove on children’s dancing 78 children aged 3-6 Parents were asked to film their children having a “dance party” Four conditions: High-groove music, slow tempo High-groove music, fast tempo Low-groove music, slow tempo Low-groove music, fast tempo results: high groove music associated with more movement with better timing accuracy with higher pleasure and reward