Why do String Players Perform Easier per Memory than Wind Music Players? – Testing Instrumentalist Students’ Attention Levels During Music Reading

in Molnár, Edit Katalin; Dancs, Katinka (Eds.) 17thConference on Educational Assessment (2019, April 13)

Developing music reading skills is considered a central part of music education. The knowledge of musical notation is essential to participate in orchestras or in choral ensembles. In musical practice ... [more ▼]

Developing music reading skills is considered a central part of music education. The knowledge of musical notation is essential to participate in orchestras or in choral ensembles. In musical practice, pianists who play as soloists with an orchestra do notneed written support as opposed to brass instrument soloists. Until now, no research has been conducted to discoverthe reasons why pianists and string players play easier by heart than brass instrument players.Music related activities involve numerous psychological processes, including perception and rapid processing of audio stimuli, attention and auditory, sensory and visual memory activation. Students with working memory impairments have difficulties with concentration as well as with organizing and monitoring the quality of their own work (Alloway et al., 2009).If the attention level is normal or high, the student is in an appropriate state for learning. It has been shown that participants with high working memory capacity perform significantly better on a variety of attention tasks (Fougnie, 2008).Attention supports the development of emerging reading skills by helping students regulate the cognitive demands inherently part of learning (Sáez et al., 2011).Thisstudy aims to test instrumentalist students’ attention and mediation levels during music reading by means of NeuroSky’s MindWave EEG device that translates brainwaves into digital information and beams it wirelessly to acomputer. We investigated 22right-handed wind instrumentalists, 12-14 years of age, and compared them with 21 violin players,matched for age and grade level. Students were asked to play an eight-bar composition bySzilvay. We analyzed attention and mediation levels, as well as alpha, beta and gamma band oscillatory responses to the musical piece during reading. The results of the data analysis were evaluated using e-Sense Metric. According to this metric, attention and meditation data arescaled between 1 and 100. The findings ofthe study revealed that the average attention level of the violin players was slightly highat61.53;while that of the wind players was 39.98, that is,slightly low. A significant difference was found between the averages of attention levelsbetween the string and the wind players (t=2.656, p=.026).With the use of EEG, the appearance of fatiguecan be detectedand the concentration levelscan be differentiatedfor the same exercise for different pupils. The results help us to improve instructionalmethods, and can also help us to reveal the processesof attention and mediation duringthe students’ music reading. Further research can involve the replication of the studywith pianists,comparing them with string players and wind music players. In an even more refined desing, a replication study could be carried out to compare pianists and brass instrument players. These further studies can serve as a basis for developing training programs of music reading comprehension for different instrumentalists. [less ▲]

Why do temporal generalization gradients change when people make decisions as quickly as possible?

in Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology (2011), 64(8), 1646-1664

Three experiments investigated temporal generalization performance under conditions in which participants were instructed to make their decisions as quickly as possible (speed), or were allowed to take ... [more ▼]

Three experiments investigated temporal generalization performance under conditions in which participants were instructed to make their decisions as quickly as possible (speed), or were allowed to take their time (accuracy). A previous study (Klapproth & Müller, 2008) had shown that under speeded conditions people were more likely to confuse durations shorter than the standard with the standard than in the accuracy conditions, and a possible explanation of this result is that longer stimulus durations are "truncated" (i.e., people make a judgement about them before they have terminated, thereby shortening their effective duration) and that these truncated durations affect the standard used for the task. Experiment 1 investigated performance under speed and accuracy conditions when comparison durations were close to the standard or further away. No performance difference was found as a function of stimulus spacing, even though responses occurred on average before the longest durations had terminated, but this lack of effect was attributed to "task difficulty" effects changing decision thresholds. In Experiment 2, the standard duration was either the longest or the shortest duration in the comparison set, and differences between speed and accuracy groups occurred only when the comparisons were longer than the standard, supporting the "truncation" hypothesis. A third experiment showed that differences between speed and accuracy groups only occurred if some memory of the standard that was valid for more than one trial was used. In general, the results suggest that the generalization gradient shifts in speeded conditions occur because of truncation of longer comparison durations, which influences the effective standard used for the task. [less ▲]

Why do we make Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells non-stoichiometric?

in Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells (2013)

Why do we not care for statelessness as we care for asylum?

Presentation (2023, March 01)

Presenting the different legal frameworks between international protection and statelessness and possible reasons on why statelessness does not receive the same level of attention.

Why do young working people find Luxembourg attractive? Internatonalisation and youth mobility in Europe

Article for general public (2017)

Why does multi-situated ethnography develop new competences for sociological research on the poorest and most excluded populations' health as well as for evidence-based health promotion interventions?

in European Society for Health and Medical Sociology (2010)

When extremely poor and excluded populations are concerned, Multi-Situated Ethnography (MSE) represents a valuable research design for health needs and resources diagnosis* and for the improvement of ... [more ▼]

When extremely poor and excluded populations are concerned, Multi-Situated Ethnography (MSE) represents a valuable research design for health needs and resources diagnosis* and for the improvement of health promotion programmes. By focusing on the results of our 2-years community-based participatory study on prevention amongst Roma populations living in France**, we will assess the potentials of ethnography-based research for both scientific production and health promotion interventions. Methods/actions. A MSE has been carried in three distinct scenarios, selected because of the different socio-cultural integration levels and life conditions of the Roma families. There are: 1) the Forest of Mery-sur-Oise, a shanty town where around twenty Roma families live, 2) the collective emergency housing in the old headquarters in Saint-Maur-des-Fossé, and 3) S.A.N. de Sénart, a conglomeration of towns which an integration plan of Roma people was launched in. This fieldwork has produced scientific data on the healthcare provision and the social accompaniment realised by professionals of the health, social and administrative sectors as well as on Roma’s health promotion practices. A reflexive evaluation design was undertaken through the conduction of an expert panel involving 3 sociologists and 3 social workers, meeting each month. Results. The MSE allowed building up comparative relations between health practices and socio-economic and geo-political factors amongst “hermetical populations” when they asked to share information on their life with outsiders. Simultaneously, the data analysis allowed considering: universal similarities, cultural differences and individual singularities. The increased of the methodological procedures as it helped avoid falling into stigma reification of groups already highly racially discriminated. Its participatory dimension helped document and share learning across contexts, providing a renewed source of dynamism amongst professionals dealing with sensitive fields and very difficult to access. Because of the sensitivity brought by its in-depth comprehensive-based approach, it moved closer professionals to their Roma beneficiaries, even leading to cases of conflict resolution between both actors. Conclusion. The acquisition of the required skills to carry out a social and health intervention based on a community-based participatory diagnostic of needs and resources and, on an evaluative follow-up of the actions undertaken within the intervention scenario is a major asset for the elaboration and management of individual or community-dimensioned professional projects. MSE needs to be revisited and revalued as it comprises useful a set of competences to give informed guidance by supplying decision-makers and professionals, with sound and comprehensive analysis. [less ▲]

Why engage with Digital Source Criticism?

Poster (2018, September 26)

This poster illustrates the concept of the teaching platform Ranke.2 with lessons on Digital Source Criticism

Why Hillary's e-mails were leaked, not Bill's

Scientific Conference (2018, November 30)

Why is Germany not embracing the Humboldtian university?

Article for general public (2020)

Why is Germany not embracing the Humboldtian university? The focus on conducting research in independent institutes is holding the country back, say four academics.

Why is it so hard? And for whom? Obstacles to intra-European mobility

in Migration Letters (2019)

Even though intra-European youth mobility is valued as a boost for personal and professional development, few opt for it. While obstacles preventing young people to become mobile have been discussed ... [more ▼]

Even though intra-European youth mobility is valued as a boost for personal and professional development, few opt for it. While obstacles preventing young people to become mobile have been discussed broadly, less attention has been paid to the obstacles for the youth who are already on the move. We offer this rare perspective in regard to intra-European mobility. We focus on youth in four types: pupil mobility, vocational (education and training) mobility, higher education student (degree and credit) mobility and employment mobility, in six countries: Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, Norway, Romania and Spain. Our analysis, based on qualitative (140 interviews) and quantitative (N=1.682) data, reveals that the perceived obstacles vary between the mobility types, with the greatest divergence between the educational and work-related mobilities. Obstacles such as lack of financial resources and guidance, the perceived incompatibility of institutional regulations within Europe, are shared by all mobile youth. [less ▲]