Music Listening, Music Therapy, Phenomenology and Neuroscience

Appendix 3.04 Survey of

The Neurosciences and Music I

V

Conference 2011

Learning and Memory

Symposium 1:

MECHANISMS OF RHYTHM AND METER LEARNING OVER

THE LIFE SPAN

(9-11)

Title, Category

Aim

Mus. Material, Cultural Ref.

Te

chnology & Procedure

Main focus of interest

Conclusion

9. J. Devin McAuley
   Neural bases of individual differences in beat perception: implications for rhythm learning
   Cat. 4: Rhythm Cat. 17: Sensory

-motor

10. Henkjan Honing
    Is hierarchy in rhythm perception learned or emergent?
    Cat. 4: Rhythm Cat.

10: Training

11. Erin E. Hannon
    Rhythm learning through listening: effects of perceptual experience on children’s and adults’ comprehension of unfamiliar rhythms
    Cat. 4: Rhythm Cat.

7: Culture

Articles: Hannon & Trehub (2005). Hannon et al. (2011)

To

present a framework

for

considering the neural and behavioral bases

for

individual differences in rhythm perception,

with an

emphasis on beat induction

In an earlier study we showed that

hierarchical

represen

• 
  

tations

for rhythms are formed

pre

-attentively in the human

auditory system. We currently investigate whether the

pre

-attentive perception of

hierarchical structure in an ambiguous rhythm can be influenced by

priming

The present work

uses a

simple behavioral task to examine the ease with which listeners of various ages acquire

unfamiliar or foreign

metrical st

ructures after

passive exposure

Cross-

cultural: Western and

Bulgarian rhythms

Test before and after a two

• 
  

week period of at

-home

exposure to recordings

of traditional, complex

-meter

folk music from

Bulgaria

For some individuals, perception of a beat in music is very difficult. I

ndividuals

have the potential to engage in distinct b

eat-

based and

interval

-based modes

of timing that involve different neural circuitry We will reconsider these empirical data in the light of the question whether these hierarchical representations are emergent (a structural property of the stimuli themselves

), explicitly learned

(a result of musical training), or implicitly learned (a result of mere exposure to music)

American children’s (4-12 years) and adult

s’ (18

years or older) discrimi

nation

of simple, familiar (Western) rhythms and moderately comp

lex, unfamiliar

(Bulgarian) rhythms

A key finding from this

research is that engaging in a beat-

based timing mode

involves activation of a network of subcortical

and

cortical motor areas that are als

o involved in rhythm

production

Across ses

sions, the

asymmetry declined dramatically for the youngest children, but minimally for older children and adults. Implications for “sensitive periods” in music learning