Performance & Creativity
Examples of cleaning a house or Bach’s rise to fame post-mortem problematize this view of creativity (described by Csikszentmihalyi).
systems approach
Unexpected or surprising moments in music may induce this physiological response.
chills
Snowball the dancing cockatoo was the first example of this capability in a nonhuman animal
entrainment
Rhythmic auditory stimulation can be used to improve gait for people with deficits related to this disease.
Parkinson’s
According to some research, this is a stronger predictor of overall "musicality" or success in a musical career than any of the traditional testing batteries such as those by Seashore or Wing.
practice
In the examples of musical prodigies we’ve seen in class (e.g. Alma Deutscher and the young boy with absolute pitch), these two factors (which may contribute to increased practice time) play a large role in the child’s rapid musical development
High motivation and parental involvement
Heart rate, skin conductance, and respiration rate can be used as this kind of measure of emotion.
implicit
This animal’s behavior may constitute an example of instrumental music in animals. (There were many correct answers discussed in the lecture).
orangutans putting leaves in front of their mouths, frog croaking into resonant space, fish burying themselves under debris, etc.
This clinical technique was used to help former-congresswoman Gabby Giffords (and many others with nonfluent aphasia) recover their speech capacities
melodic intonation therapy
This abnormal processing of music can be congenital or acquired through injury or stroke, and may or may not coincide with other deficits such as aphasia.
Amusia
The performance worm and Sonic Visualizer are two tools to analyze this aspect of musical performance. – Bonus 100 points for listing 5 examples of musical elements you can look at
expression – Microtiming, Articulation, Dynamics, Timbre, Pitch inflections, etc.
Research on this system has uncovered the roles of empathetic mirroring, simulated action, and visceral engagement in aesthetic responses
sensory-motor
This process, discussed by Guy Hoffman, allows infants or robots to explore the effects of different movements
motor babbling
This theory argues that music requires greater cognitive processing resources than speech
OPERA
100 bonus points if you can list out 3/5 words in the acronym
Music anhedonia is thought to result from decreased activity in areas such as the nucleus accumbens, which is part of the brain network associated with this system that is also activated during tasks involving gambling.
Reward system
This perspective/approach to creativity highlights six main characteristics of Generativity, Agency, Interaction, Nonconformity, Recycling, and Flow as necessary for musical performance.
ethnographic approach – Juniper Hill 2018
This effect refers to the finding that participants will rate a stimulus higher if they had seen/heard/experienced it before
mere exposure effect
The ability of this mammal to demonstrate beat synchronization calls into question the Vocal Learning and Rhythmic Synchronization hypothesis, which claims that the neural circuitry for vocal learning is a necessary (if not sufficient) prerequisite for beat synchronization
sea lion
Provide three examples of transfer effects to language for people who have musical training
More sensitive to emotional clues in prosody
Better able to detect small pitch changes in speech
Better able to learn tone languages
Better able to detect speech in noise
Better at phonological awareness
"Hyperconnectivity" and "disinhibited feedback" are two potential mechanisms that may be responsible for this unusual music-processing ability.
Synesthesia
There are several approaches to measuring and categorizing creativity empirically. The different approaches vary in relation to this ongoing debate regarding whether creativity a "skill" that spans modalities/experiences or whether it is context dependent.
domain general vs. domain specific
This field of research is controversial as it attempts to uncover universals which govern aesthetic convictions
neuroaesthetics
In contrast with the Vocal Learning and Rhythmic Synchronization hypothesis, this hypothesis suggests that the capacity for beat synchronization should be latent across a wide range of species. However, the inability of many monkeys and apes to tap synchronously with a metronome may suggest otherwise.
Neural Resonance Theory
Give examples of two challenges in studying transfer effects of music to other domains/capacities
Comparing people with and without formal musical training doesn't allow the conclusion that training caused the effect
Random assignment to training groups can be difficult to justify ethically and implement practically
People with and without formal musical training vary widely in patterns of attraction to music and music listening and engagement
The highly-debated "unlearning" hypothesis is a possible explanation for this musical ability.
Absolute pitch