The Mind of an Artist

Source: The Mind of an Artist

Retrieved: December 2, 2011, from Podcast from the Library of Congress with Michael Kubovy and Judith Shatin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwzUPQKesVI&feature=relmfu

Summary:

This video from the Library of Congress features cognitive psychologist Michael Kubovy and composer Judith Shatin speaking about the mind of the artist, and how composers incorporate extra-musical elements in their compositions. Both Michael Kubovy and Judith Shatin are from the University of Virginia.

Professor Kubovy spoke first, and his focus was on meaning in music. According to Kubovy, this topic has a long history, and a tarnished one at that, since music with extra-musical connotations are often considered less than pure. Kubovy proposed just the opposite - that musical works without extra-musical connotations are extremely unlikely to work.

Language priming experiments show that there is an associative network between meanings in our brain. If concept A has a close association with concept B, our brain’s processing response from A to B is faster. For example, when one hears the word ‘cat’ followed by the word ‘meow’, our brain processes ‘meow’ quickly because ‘cat’ and ‘meow’ have a close association. In a sense, by saying ‘cat’ the brain has been primed to hear the word ‘meow’. If the brain heard the word ‘cat’ followed by the word ‘refrigerator’, the processing of ‘refrigerator’ would be slower because there is not a clear association between ‘cat’ and ‘refrigerator’.

Kubovy went on to speak about event-related potentials, or ERPs. The n400 is a component of ERPs that is elicited by unexpected stimuli, and indicates the amount of processing the brain had to do given the previous context. Kubovy explained that in a language priming experiment, an ERP of n400 or more means the brain did more processing on a word because it was not expecting that word, as in the ‘cat’ example above. An ERP of n400 or less means the brain did less processing because it was expecting the word, as in the cat meow example.

Scientists in Germany did a priming experiment with music. They took a word and primed it with two types of music. The word in question was ‘wideness’, and the first piece of music to precede it was a piece by Strauss. The second piece of music to precede it was an accordion piece. The n400 was less for the Strauss priming than with the accordion music, meaning that there was some association in the minds of the subjects between ‘wideness’ and the music of Strauss.

Experiments like the one above suggest that music and language are more closely related than one might think, which makes sense considering that brain areas activated by language and music overlap quite a bit. Composer Judith Shatin followed this discussion by speaking about her own compositions and how these issues relate to her work. Her feeling is that whenever one is listening to music, shapes and ideas come to mind. Sometimes sounds can imitate things in the natural world. For example, in Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, a flute is used to represent that character of the bird. Why is this, and why does this association seem natural to listeners? Is it due to the register of the flute being similar to the register of many bird songs? There is much to consider here. She continued by playing selections from her own works that in her mind exemplify associations between language and music. The audience listening seemed to agree on the extra-musical associations of her pieces, making it clear that the music language connection is a tangible and important one to consider from a compositional perspective.

Reflection:

As a performer, these ideas ring very true to me, since many extra-musical ideas are brought to my mind every time I play. These ideas can range from associations with tangible things, such as a bird or the wind, to more abstract concepts, such as rates of acceleration or rhetoric devices. Finding the meaning in the music you are performing and communicating that meaning to audiences is, in my opinion, one of the most important tasks of a professional performer.

Yet it is inevitable that at some point musicians will disagree on the meaning of a particular passage, and whenever this occurs I find it very curious. It leads me to believe that many, perhaps most associations are built more from life experiences than from quantitative properties of the music. I often wonder about the most basic musical associations, and whether or not they are natural associations or the result of repeated hearings. A perfect example would be the concept that major music is happy and minor music is sad. Is this really a natural association? If you could somehow find a person who had never heard music, would they react with happy emotions to major chords/keys? Is it even possible to study such a thing? For example, infants may be blank musical slates but they do not possess the language and cognitive skills necessary to communicate the idea of happiness. When I consider the major/minor question, it makes me wonder if I am finding meaning in music or projecting my own meaning onto music.

Music and Emotions in the Brain: Familiarity Matters

Reference:

Pereira, Carlos Silva, João Teixeira, Patrícia Figueiredo, João Xavier, São Luís Castro, and Elvira Brattico. "Music and Emotions in the Brain: Familiarity Matters." PLoS One 2011; 6(11): e27241.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3217963/?tool=pubmed

Summary:

The goal of this study was to understand which regions of the brain are involved in music appreciation. Using a listening test and a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment, the researchers wanted to know how familiarity in the brain correlates with music appreciation. The subjects that were chosen for this study had no formal musical education, but described themselves as ‘music lovers’, listening to music on a daily basis. First, the subjects participated in a listening test, in which they listened to pop/rock song extracts and decided if each song was familiar or unfamiliar and if they liked it or not. Based on this test, a unique set of stimuli was selected for each participant, containing music in four different conditions: familiar liked, familiar disliked, unfamiliar liked and unfamiliar disliked, and was presented during an fMRI session.

Brain activation data revealed that broad emotion-related limbic and paralimbic regions as well as the reward circuitry were significantly more active for familiar music compared to unfamiliar music. Smaller regions in the cingulate cortex and frontal lobe, including the motor cortex and Broca's area, were found to be more active in response to liked music when compared to disliked one. The study concluded that familiarity is a crucial factor in making the listeners emotionally engaged with music, as revealed by fMRI data.

Reflexion:

Music is omnipresent in our society, and it represents a multi billion industry. One of the reasons behind this success is the ability of music to convey emotions. This study is very interesting because it proves how familiarity of a piece of music increases the emotional response in our brain. The more you hear a song, the more it increases the blood oxygen level in emotion related regions of the brain. This conclusion correlates the findings of a previous study by Blood and Zatorre that reported a correlation between increased intensity of felt chills when listening to favourite pieces of music.

In my personal experience, I have found that I have the deepest emotional response to songs that I know. One could think that by knowing a song very well, it becomes predictable, and consequently there is nothing new and exciting to hear anymore. On the contrary, I think that by knowing every part of a song, the brain does not have to focus on analysing new data, but it can focus on the enjoyment of the piece, which can sometimes lead to a more powerful emotional response that appears in the form of chills or goose bumps. Some studies have also shown that patients with severe brain conditions such as dementia or Alzheimer’s have strong brain activation responses when hearing familiar music.

Encounter with the Conscious Being of People in Persistent Vegetative State

Aldridge, D. (ed), Herkenrath, A. (2005). Music Therapy and Neurological Rehabilitation. Chapter 6, London:  Jessica Kingsley

In Aldridge’s book on Music Therapy and Neurological Rehabilitation, Ansgar Herkenrath, a German music therapist, contributes a chapter based on qualitative research she has conducted of music therapy with patients suffering from coma vigile or (persistent) vegetative state (PVS). In medical terms, this population is seen as unable to perceive and communicate with their environment.

The research was based on her work with PVS patients at a long-term nursing institution for adult residents with severe neurological handicaps in Haus Königsborn, in Unna Germany. Participants in her study were between 20 and 50 years of age and had been in the PVS state for between 18 months and seven years. The book chapter expands the themes and issues related to her study.

Summary

PVS is mostly caused by brain damage due to severe craniocerebral injury trauma, cerebral haemorrhage or hypoxia. All descriptions of the state assume a functional failure of the cerebral cortex and complete loss of cognitive potentials while brainstem functions are maintained.
Herkenrath is candid about her experiences in working with PVS patients and knows that they are in direct contrast to the consensus among physicians that PVS patients are unable to perceive and react. Further, she acknowledges the provocative nature of her chapter title, and is forthright in her assumption about consciousness of a patient in PVS and the possibility of an encounter with this consciousness. The medium of encounter she describes is through a therapeutic relationship using music.

Therapeutic relationship
In PVS, there are pathological movements that are reflexive, and the external appearance alone does not indicate the quality of these movements. Rather, assessment of these reflexes requires situative and temporal context.  In Herkenrath’s music therapy practice, she accesses situations that show changes in parameters of respiration, shifts in head and eyes towards the source of sounds and/or a variety of movements. She describes these situations as reactions, not reflexes.  She defines reaction as a response to action that has been perceived and that leads to an emotional experience.  Furthermore, a reaction must reveal a situative and a temporal reference in order to be distinguishable from reflex.

 According to Herkenrath, music provides both situative and temporal references for PVS patients. An orientation of the head and eyes towards the source of a sound which may change implies a situative connection. Temporal structure is inherent in musical perception including beat and melodic structure i.e. phrase, cadence.

Herkenrath uses the Nordoff Robbins approach which presupposes joint musical improvisation and participation between the therapist and the client. A key element of her work uses rhythmic improvisation with respiration or eyeblinks. She observes reactions in these movements based on appropriate and intentional action in response.

Consciousness

In this chapter, Herkenrath spends time dealing with the subject of brain and mind, perception and consciousness from a number of perspectives. In medicine, the general opinion is that brain functionality is essential for consciousness. Brain researchers call consciousness “the last big secret”. Neuroscientists believe that consciousness cannot be associated with any definite brain region. Philisophically and theologically from an historical perspective, consciousness has been an integral part of the mind and soul. Ethically, the definition of consciousness determines the direction of right to life discussions.

Herkenrath discusses the concept of human existence and from her point of view, persons in PVS are unique human beings with individual needs and potentials. Human life, for her, is defined by more than neuronal processes in the brain.

Implications

Admittedly, Herkenrath acknowledges the gaps in PVS prognoses. She calls for more research both immediately following a PVS diagnosis and most importantly during the longer term phase of PVS.

She challenges our society to address the legal and ethical implications around the rights of PVS patients. The implications around her findings around reactions to music in PVS patients may have significant implications. Reaction from music-making, as it is described in this chapter, implies recognition- that there is someone else making music, and the fact that there is reaction, illustrates the ability to differentiate between self and the other, a self-consciousness.

Reflection
I am moved by the work of Ansgar Herkenrath. The integrity of her world view, that every form of life in its specific way is valuable, even PVS patients, is commendable. She has taken the time to grapple with the most basic of questions, namely, what is human existence? Her understanding is thoughtfully informed and comes from personal practice and experience.

The science Herkenrath suggests at the end of her chapter is happening here in Ontario. Dr. Adrian Owen is at the forefront of PVS and consciousness research and is the Canada Research in Excellence Chair of Neuroscience and Imaging at the University of Western Ontario. He has discovered through fMRI that brain centers concerned with mental imagining are activated when PVS patients are asked questions which may very well be the science to prove Herkenrath’s provocative 2005 suppositions. Here are some videos of Dr. Owen talking about his recent discoveries:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz133pdwbOA&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AlI7RX2QoY&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn9HHZz2GKE&feature=relmfu

What I would love to see in the future is an fMRI picture of brain activity during a music therapy session with Dr. Herkenrath and one of her PVS clients.

Good Vibrations: The Science of Sound

Source
http://worldsciencefestival.com/videos/good_vibrations_the_science_of_sound

World Science Festival – Good Vibrations: The Science of Sound

“We look around us—constantly. But how often do we listen around us? Sound is critically important to our bodies and brains, and to the wider natural world. In the womb, we hear before we see. John Schaefer, Jamshed Bharucha, Christopher Shera, the Danish sound artist Jacob Kirkegaard, and multi-instrumentalists Polygraph Lounge embark on a fascinating journey through the nature of sound. How we perceive it, how it acts upon us, and how it profoundly affects our well-being—including a demonstration of sounds produced by sources as varied as the human inner ear and the creation of the universe itself.”

Summary

The sound is the key to communication. Even before we can write, we communicated by sound. Sound is the glue that keeps everything together. The video explored various aspects of sound including the mechanics of our inner ears transmitting sound waves to our brains, the sound of the universe, as well as what kinds of sounds are perceived as music.

Each guest had his own expertise on the topic of “sound”:
Jamshed Bharucha – Cognitive Neuroscientist
Jacob Kirkegaard – Sound Artist
Christopher Shera – Auditory Physiologist
Mark Whittle – Astronomer
Polygraph Lounge – Musician / Performer

Sound and Physics
The basic fundamentals of sound are: pitch, loudness and quality. Pitch is the frequency in which the sound waves hit our ear drums. The higher number of wave, the higher the frequency, the higher the sound. Loudness refers to the amplitude of the waves (height measured from the highest and lowest points). The higher the amplitude means louder sound. A billionth difference in height equates to 15 decibels in sound, which is about a quiet conversation between two people side by side. The quality (timbre) of the sound depends on its fundamental and harmonics combined. Different instruments produce various configurations of harmonics, which is why two instruments playing the same note can sound different in quality. The second harmonic (2^nd note after the fundamental) is made when the sound wave is directly cut in two halves, resulting twice the speed of vibration. This process makes an octave – which is an interval used in music of all cultures due to its natural quality. And because of the mathematical calculations of the harmonics, some ratios were used to tune instruments. This was also used to explain why consonances that follow those favourable integer ratios sound “nicer” than dissonances.

Sound and Speech
In a study where pitches were coded, the emotion of “sadness” had a descending minor 3^rd speech pattern while “anger” had an ascending minor 2^nd or an augmented 4^th. On the other hand, the positive emotions such as “happiness” and “excitement” did not have any pitch codes at all. This was theorized that pitches in speeches were vital evolutionarily because negative emotions had to be communicated accurately. There were consequences for “anger” and “sadness”, and specific pitch patterns were formed to emphasize the specific emotions. This was seen in other languages as well. The auditory neurologist explained that when people are said to have accents, it is really just different musical patterns in their speech.

Sound and the Universe
The sound of the Universe are studied and made into music that we can understand today. Sound waves can be captured and analyzed, and mapped out according to the frequencies. The deeper and lower frequencies reflected denser atoms in the galaxy, and as time went on and on (and as the Universe expanded), the sound waves of the stars were stretched wider and wider. Hence the recording of the “history of the Universe” started with a high-pitched wail and slower descended into the lower registers. When all the frequencies were matched to that of a piano, the “chord” that represented the Universe was said to have a major/minor 3^rd quality.

What makes it Music?
Some sounds we call music, and others we ignore as noise. We find some intervals favourable – such as the octave, as mentioned above – due to the nature of how they are made. We often say that music is a universal language, and the neurologist argued otherwise. A lot of what we prefer as “good music” are culturally learned and influenced. Wolves howl in packs as a form of social cohesion. They vary in pitch and duration, and could very well be music. There are sounds of nature all around us and it is how we perceive those surroundings that make them music.

Reflection

This is a video that I really enjoyed. It explored a lot of different ideas of sound, music and science. Things such as the sound of the Universe and the division of music versus noise are fascinating. The physics behind the fundamentals and harmonics gave insights to why certain instruments are tuned the way they are. Since music and math are so closely related, it is easy to see how things that fit in the math equation (such as the octave being the 2^nd harmonic) sound more natural in music.

The findings regarding pitch patterns in speech was the most interesting. It’s remarkable how intervals of certain qualities (tritone – augmented 4^th) are associated with certain emotions in speech. The research was done in different languages, so there must be an innate relationship between speech and music, and how our brains use these “sounds” to express language.

The sound of the Universe has never crossed my mind. It’s always easy to forget that music is just sound, and sound can be analyzed by each wavelength. It is then modified and made into music that we can understand today. Polygraph Lounge did a wonderful job and illustrating how anything can be made into music. Sometimes we are so caught up with music performance, teaching and learning that we forget that we are constantly surrounded by it. As the sound artist said, even our own ears make music. I think it’s important for music teachers – especially private instrumental ones – to explore the creative side of music-making. We can play on our instruments and learn about Beethoven and Opera, but we should also submerge ourselves into the sounds that surround us.

The Effects of Musical Training on Structural Brain Development - A Longitudinal Study Krista L. Hyde, Jason Lerch,Andrea Norton, Marie Forgeard,

Summary

This study examined the structural brain and behavioural changes in the developing brain in response to long-term music training and to specifically address the question of whether structural brain differences seen in adults are a product of “nature” or “nurture”. As part of an on going study, the researchers investigated the structural brain changes in relation to behavioural changes in young children who received 15 months of instrumental music (keyboard) training relative to a group of children who did not. The children who did not participate in keyboard lessons were still involved in singing and percussion lessons at their own schools.

The subjects performed a 4-finger motor sequencing test for the left and right hands assessing fine finger motor skills, music listening skills, and discrimination skills. 5 additional non-music tests were also administered as well as behavioural tests. MRI scans were also used to determine brain differences.

There were no behavourial or brain differences between the Instrumental and Control children at base line prior to any music training. Therefore the brain differences of adults who have musical training are more likely to be the product of intensive musical training rather than biological predispositions. The children who had instrumental music lessons showed greater behaviour improvement on the finger motor tasks but not the non-musical tasks. They did show an improvement in the right primary motor area, corpus callosum, and the right auditory processing areas. While these were somewhat expected, there were additional developments in various frontal areas and occipital regions.

These findings indicate that plasticity can occur in brain regions that control primary functions important for playing a musical instrument and also in brain regions that might be responsible for the kind of multimodal sensorimotor integration likely to underlie instrumental learning.

Reflection

I found it interesting that the control non-instrumental group was still participating in singing and drumming in regular mainstream school. The sensory motor areas were only activated when the students learned keyboarding, so we as educators need to look at what these students do in their private piano studios that is different from what we do with the whole class when singing and drumming. For one thing, students are required to use both hands when playing keyboard while reading two different staves of music. So this lead me to wonder about using body percussion in class, where students read two different lines of rhythms and play them simultenously on their own body. Or if singing and playing a rhythm would have the same benefits of keyboarding.

We know that brain plasticity in children occurs in regions related to playing a musical instrument. This study shows us that developing the brain through musical long-term experience leads to adult brain differences and promotes higher motor-skill functions. Music educators should therefore incorporate activities that promote this development in their own classrooms, and this is why we should advocate music education in the classroom all through elementary school, even if there is no direct correlation between performance on music tests and performance on other behavioural tests.

Functional neuroanatomical networks associated with expertise in motor imagery

Source:
Guillot, A., Collet, C., Nguyen, V.A., Malouin, F., Richards, C., & Doyon, J. (2008). Functional neuroanatomical networks associated with expertise in motor imagery ability. NeuroImage, 41, 1471-1783. Retrieved October 31, 2011, from Scholars Portal Journals <http://simplelink.library.utoronto.ca/url.cfm/198818>

Summary:
Guillot et al. defined motor imagery (MI) as “a dynamic state during which a subject simulates an action mentally without any body movement”. They noted that MI and motor performance share the same neural networks and that MI has even been found to produce the same neuroplastic changes as physical practice, pointing to the potential benefits of MI. However, they believed that these benefits are dependent on imagery ability, which varies among individuals. Therefore, in a study that was claimed to be the first of its kind, Guillot et al. attempted to find the functional neuroanatomical networks associated with MI expertise.

First, they had to conduct a series of pre-selection tests on 50 participants to distinguish those who could reach a high level of MI performance (“good imagers”) from those who were having trouble with MI (“poor imagers”). The participants were required to perform and imagine three motor actions, during which their autonomic nervous system (ANS) responses (as measured by skin resistance) and timings were recorded. Then, they had to rate their own imagery vividness and complete the revised Movement Imagery Questionnaire (MIQ-R) as well. By combining all these measures, a global imagery score was calculated for each participant.

Based on the global imagery score, the researchers selected 28 out of the 50 participants to take part in the fMRI experiment. The 28 participants were made up of 13 good imagers and 15 poor imagers (as determined by the global imagery score). The selected participants were asked to learn a finger sequence task and they were scanned during: 1. The physical execution of this task on a four-key keyboard that recorded their accuracy and timing, 2. The imagining of the task without any movement (MI), and 3. Perceptual control condition (simply remaining motionless).

Guillot et al. found that poor imagers generally showed more widely-distributed activations than good imagers during both MI and physical execution of the task. The good imagers showed increased bilateral activations in the superior parietal lobule and the lateral premotor cortex, as well as in the left cingulated cortex, the right inferior parietal lobule and the right inferior prefrontal region. Poor imagers showed exclusive activation of the posterior cingulated and orbito-frontal cortices, as well as both the anterior and posterior cerebellar hemispheres.

Thus, the researchers pointed out that, compared to skilled imagers, poor imagers not only needed to recruit the cortico-striatal system, but also to compensate with the cortico-cerebellar system during MI of sequential movements. Since much evidence points to the fact that the cerebellum is no longer necessary when a movement sequence is well-learned, the researchers speculated that good imagers may have a more efficient recruitment of movement engrams.

Reflection:
Even though this study does not directly concern music, I still think that it is highly relevant for musicians, as MI has been noted to be the “main component of mental rehearsal” (Bangert, 2006, p. 175).

If MI can produce the same neuroplastic changes as physical practice, then mental rehearsal seems to hold great promise for performers. And if the benefits of MI simply depend on MI ability, then the logical step toward maximizing these benefits would be to try to improve one’s MI ability. The implication for performers is therefore clear: effective mental rehearsal depends on the development of good imagery ability, and especially MI ability.

But it still amazes me that MI ability could actually be measured at all. Furthermore, I marvel at the complexity of this study – at the combined use of objective neurophysiological techniques and more subjective questionnaire-based testing to differentiate good imagers from poor imagers before conducting the fMRI experiment to determine the neural networks associated with MI expertise.

And now that the result reveals that good and poor imagers indeed show different patterns of brain activations, the more important question that arises is: Would it be possible for poor imagers to receive feedback through real-time fMRI and learn to change their pattern of activations to more closely resemble that of good imagers?

More fundamentally, however, I am curious about why imagery ability should vary among individuals. Given the functional equivalence between imagery and real perception and action, could it be that good imagers are also more “perceptive” and kinesthetically aware in their everyday life and, consequently, can create more vivid and accurate mental representations? This makes sense, considering the finding that poor imagers show more widely-distributed activations than good imagers during the physical execution of the finger sequence task as well as during MI.

Or maybe there is also a genetic component to imagery ability?

It is important to note that none of the participants in the fMRI experiment were musicians or professional typists, as the researchers wanted to “eliminate subjects with pre-existing skills requiring highly coordinated finger dexterities”. So I suppose that, in the future, it would be interesting to study precisely this group of people in order to see how the MI ability of such highly skilled individuals compares with the designated good and poor imagers.


Reference:
Bangert, M. (2006). Brain activation during piano playing. In E. Altenmüller, M. Wiesendanger, & J. Kesselring (Eds.), Music, motor control and the brain. (pp. 173-184). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Music Training Causes Changes in the Brain – Catherine Applefeld Olson, Teaching Music, April 2010

Summary

In a recent study, researchers in Massachusetts found that changers are more pronounced in children who practice music more frequently. These changes did not correlate with improved performance in mathematics, spatial skills, or phonological ability. The study consisted of comparing two groups of six and seven year olds; one with musical training and one without. After three months the children who received musical instruction showed improvements in the following areas: the motor area, the corpus callosum, and the right primary auditory region.

Additionally, the changes became more pronounced over time and the musically trained students also performed better on motor sequencing tests involving patterning. The study did not detect any difference in performance in select academic areas between the two groups. The author makes a point that although the correlation between arts and other subjects is important, it does not justify music education. The arts are crucial in themselves, not because there may be a positive relationship between them and success in mathematical patterning.

Reflection

What I liked most about this article was the author’s stance on arts education advocacy. Too often we see music educators advocating for their program because musical training may benefit other subject areas (hence the “music makes you smarter” theory). But we need to support arts education as it’s own entity and promote the benefits on its own.

I think we should promote aesthetic education and the social connections inherent in music making while supporting these claims with scientific evidence. If we are going to make the claim that there is a positive correlation between playing music and success in math, then we must ensure that music stands out on its own instead of being dependent on another subject area.