patricia vanzella | Universidade Federal do ABC (original) (raw)
Papers by patricia vanzella
Review question / Objective: The main question of the study is "how do dance neuroscience st... more Review question / Objective: The main question of the study is "how do dance neuroscience studies define and assess emotions?" The main objective is to establish, through the available literature, a scientific overview of studies in dance neuroscience that address the perception of emotions in the context of neuroaesthetics. Specifically, it is expected to verify if there is methodological homogeneity in studies involving the evaluation of emotions within the context of dance neuroscience; whether the definition of emotion is shared in these studies and, furthermore, whether in multimodal studies in which dance and music are concomitantly present, whether there is any form of distinction between the contribution of each language on the perception of emotions evoked by the stimulus.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
Good musical abilities are typically considered to be a consequence of music training, such that ... more Good musical abilities are typically considered to be a consequence of music training, such that they are studied in samples of formally trained individuals. Here, we asked what predicts musical abilities in the absence of music training. Participants with no formal music training ( N = 190) completed the Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index, measures of personality and cognitive ability, and the Musical Ear Test (MET). The MET is an objective test of musical abilities that provides a Total score and separate scores for its two subtests (Melody and Rhythm), which require listeners to determine whether standard and comparison auditory sequences are identical. MET scores had no associations with personality traits. They correlated positively, however, with informal musical experience and cognitive abilities. Informal musical experience was a better predictor of Melody than of Rhythm scores. Some participants (12%) had Total scores higher than the mean from a sample of musically tra...
Expressa Extensão, 2018
O projeto ATIVAMENTE-UFABC tem como objetivo estimular a autonomia e melhorar a qualidade de vida... more O projeto ATIVAMENTE-UFABC tem como objetivo estimular a autonomia e melhorar a qualidade de vida dos idosos por meio da oferta de oficinas com diferentes tipos de treinos cognitivos. Os programas desenvolvidos consistem de atividades que buscam otimizar o funcionamento da atenção e memória por meio de ações socioeducativas e atividades teórico-práticas que incluem a aplicação de estratégias para maior funcionalidade e melhor autoestima em relação ao próprio potencial cognitivo. Entre essas ações, temos o AtivAmente-Musical, oficinas que por meio da música promovem o acesso a memórias autobiográficas como mecanismo para treino cognitivo, melhora do humor e resgate da identidade. No presente relato, descrevemos a experiência AtivAmente Musical ofertada a um grupo de idosos de baixo nível educacional e socioeconômico de uma ONG de São Bernardo do Campo/SP. Ao longo de um mês, foram realizadas quatro sessões (uma por semana) de intervenção com atividades musicais que estimulavam evoca...
Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 2022
We sought to clarify the commonly accepted link between music training and cognitive ability. Pro... more We sought to clarify the commonly accepted link between music training and cognitive ability. Professional musicians, nonprofessionals with music training, and musically untrained individuals (N = 642) completed measures of musical ability, personality, and general cognitive ability. Professional musicians scored highest on objective and self-report measures of musical ability. On personality measures, professional musicians and musically trained participants scored similarly but higher than untrained participants on agreeableness, openness-to-experience, and the personality metatrait stability. The professionals scored higher than the other 2 groups on extraversion and the metatrait engagement. On cognitive ability, however, they were indistinguishable from untrained participants. Instead, musically trained nonprofessionals exhibited the highest cognitive ability. In short, professional musicians differed from other individuals in musical ability and personality, but not in cognitive ability. We conclude that music training predicts higher cognitive ability only among individuals who do not become professional musicians and offer possible explanations.
Psychology of Music, 2022
Aesthetic evaluations can be highly influenced by a myriad of individual and situational factors.... more Aesthetic evaluations can be highly influenced by a myriad of individual and situational factors. Interestingly, little is yet known about the possible effects of background music on the aesthetic experience of visual art. Here, we examined whether musical emotions would influence different dimensions of the aesthetic experience of a visual artwork displayed in a naturalistic environment. A total of 142 visitors of a contemporary art museum appreciated an abstract painting by Wassily Kandinsky while listening to background music conveying different emotions (happy, sad, peaceful, scary) or silence. Our findings suggest that music valence significantly influenced participants’ judgment of the pleasantness of the painting. In addition, music likability had a significant effect on participants’ judgments of the artwork’s valence, beauty, and liking. Specifically, participants who liked the background music rated these dimensions of the artwork aesthetic experience significantly more po...
Introduction Music has a multidimensional nature with a myriad of features set over time that var... more Introduction Music has a multidimensional nature with a myriad of features set over time that vary in a multitude of acoustic profiles. It has been shown, for instance, that music listening may be a multimodal experience where musical sounds can evoke abstract visual forms. Particularly, we are interested in a well-described effect known as the Bouba-Kiki effect (Köhler, 1929). This phenomenon relates to a non-arbitrary tendency to associate abstract words whose utterance demand rounding sounds (as in Bouba) with rounded shapes, while sharp words (as in Kiki) are usually associated with angular shapes. The studies based on the boubakik effect provide the first vital clues to understand the origins of proto-language, as it suggests that there may be natural restrictions on the way sounds are mapped on objects. Previous research suggests that this cross-modal phenomenon may also be found between musical timbre and shapes (Adeli et al, 2014). The authors studied the cross-modal corresp...
Introduction Music has a multidimensional nature with a myriad of features set over time that var... more Introduction Music has a multidimensional nature with a myriad of features set over time that vary in a multitude of acoustic profiles. It has been shown, for instance, that music listening may be a multimodal experience where musical sounds can evoke abstract visual forms. Particularly, we are interested in a well-described effect known as the Bouba-Kiki effect (Köhler, 1929). This phenomenon relates to a non-arbitrary tendency to associate abstract words whose utterance demand rounding sounds (as in Bouba) with rounded shapes, while sharp words (as in Kiki) are usually associated with angular shapes. The studies based on the boubakik effect provide the first vital clues to understand the origins of proto-language, as it suggests that there may be natural restrictions on the way sounds are mapped on objects. Previous research suggests that this cross-modal phenomenon may also be found between musical timbre and shapes (Adeli et al, 2014). The authors studied the cross-modal corresp...
Frontiers in Psychology, 2021
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had profound effects on all aspects of socie... more The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had profound effects on all aspects of society. Families were among those directly impacted by the first measures imposed by health authorities worldwide to contain the spread of the Sars-CoV-2 virus, where social distancing and mandatory quarantine were the main approaches implemented. Notably, little is yet known about how social distancing during COVID-19 has altered families' daily routines, particularly regarding music-related behaviors. The aim of this study was 2-fold: (i) to explore changes in families' daily routine and caregivers' levels of well-being and stress during the COVID-19 outbreak in Brazil and (ii) to investigate whether musical behaviors of caregivers and the children under their care (aged from 3 to 6 years old) changed during social distancing. One hundred and eighty-eight caregivers residing in Brazil participated in an online cross-sectional study conducted between July and August 2020. Our fi...
We sought to determine whether an objective test of musical ability could be administered online ... more We sought to determine whether an objective test of musical ability could be administered online successfully. A sample of 754 participants was tested with an online version of the Musical Ear Test (MET), which had Melody and Rhythm subtests. Both subtests had 52 trials, each of which required participants to determine whether standard and comparison auditory sequences were identical. The testing session also included the Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index (Gold-MSI), a test of general cognitive ability, and self-report questionnaires that measured basic demographics (age, education, gender), mind wandering, and personality. Approximately 20% of the participants were excluded for incomplete responding or failing to finish the testing session. For the final sample (N = 608), findings were similar to those from in-person testing in many respects: (1) the internal reliability of the MET was maintained, (2) construct validity was confirmed by strong associations with Gold-MSI score...
Psychology of Music
Absolute pitch (AP) is the ability to effortlessly identify or produce pitches without reference.... more Absolute pitch (AP) is the ability to effortlessly identify or produce pitches without reference. However, behavioral research has shown that pitch perception and identification in certain timbres are more difficult for AP possessors. In this study, we investigate whether pitch identification and labeling in different timbres (piano and voice) would require different amounts of cognitive resource allocation. We measured accuracy, response time, and pupillary responses of 18 musicians with varying degrees of AP while performing a pitch identification test. We also examined whether behavioral and psychophysiological responses were related to aspects of musical experience, such as the age of onset of musical training, daily hours of practice, and years of musical training. Behavioral results revealed significantly longer response time for vocal tones compared to piano tones. However, there was no difference in accuracy when comparing pitch labeling in piano and vocal tones. On the psyc...
Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 2022
We sought to clarify the commonly accepted link between music training and cognitive ability. Pro... more We sought to clarify the commonly accepted link between music training and cognitive ability. Professional musicians, nonprofessionals with music training, and musically untrained individuals (N = 642) completed measures of musical ability, personality, and general cognitive ability. Professional musicians scored highest on objective and self-report measures of musical ability. On personality measures, professional musicians and musically trained participants scored similarly but higher than untrained participants on agreeableness, openness-to-experience, and the personality metatrait stability. The professionals scored higher than the other 2 groups on extraversion and the metatrait engagement. On cognitive ability, however, they were indistinguishable from untrained participants. Instead, musically trained nonprofessionals exhibited the highest cognitive ability. In short, professional musicians differed from other individuals in musical ability and personality, but not in cognitive ability. We conclude that music training predicts higher cognitive ability only among individuals who do not become professional musicians and offer possible explanations.
Psychology of Music, 2022
Aesthetic evaluations can be highly influenced by a myriad of individual and situational factors.... more Aesthetic evaluations can be highly influenced by a myriad of individual and situational factors. Interestingly, little is yet known about the possible effects of background music on the aesthetic experience of visual art. Here, we examined whether musical emotions would influence different dimensions of the aesthetic experience of a visual artwork displayed in a naturalistic environment. A total of 142 visitors of a contemporary art museum appreciated an abstract painting by Wassily Kandinsky while listening to background music conveying different emotions (happy, sad, peaceful, scary) or silence. Our findings suggest that music valence significantly influenced participants' judgment of the pleasantness of the painting. In addition, music likability had a significant effect on participants' judgments of the artwork's valence, beauty, and liking. Specifically, participants who liked the background music rated these dimensions of the artwork aesthetic experience significantly more positively than those who disliked the music. Overall, these results suggest that aspects associated with the aesthetic experience of music may influence the aesthetic experience of visual art, opening new avenues for the investigation of cognitive processes underlying the aesthetic experience induced by objects across different media.
Behavior Research Methods, 2021
We sought to determine whether an objective test of musical ability could be successfully adminis... more We sought to determine whether an objective test of musical ability could be successfully administered online. A sample of 754 participants was tested with an online version of the Musical Ear Test (MET), which had Melody and Rhythm subtests. Both subtests had 52 trials, each of which required participants to determine whether standard and comparison auditory sequences were identical. The testing session also included the Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index (Gold-MSI), a test of general cognitive ability, and self-report questionnaires that measured basic demographics (age, education, gender), mind-wandering, and personality. Approximately 20% of the participants were excluded for incomplete responding or failing to finish the testing session. For the final sample (N = 608), findings were similar to those from in-person testing in many respects: (1) the internal reliability of the MET was maintained, (2) construct validity was confirmed by strong associations with Gold-MSI scores, (3) correlations with other measures (e.g., openness to experience, cognitive ability, mind-wandering) were as predicted, (4) mean levels of performance were similar for individuals with no music training, and (5) musical sophistication was a better predictor of performance on the Melody than on the Rhythm subtest. In sum, online administration of the MET proved to be a reliable and valid way to measure musical ability.
Frontiers in Psychology, 2021
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had profound effects on all aspects of socie... more The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had profound effects on all aspects of society. Families were among those directly impacted by the first measures imposed by health authorities worldwide to contain the spread of the Sars-CoV-2 virus, where social distancing and mandatory quarantine were the main approaches implemented. Notably, little is yet known about how social distancing during COVID-19 has altered families' daily routines, particularly regarding music-related behaviors. The aim of this study was 2-fold: (i) to explore changes in families' daily routine and caregivers' levels of well-being and stress during the COVID-19 outbreak in Brazil and (ii) to investigate whether musical behaviors of caregivers and the children under their care (aged from 3 to 6 years old) changed during social distancing. One hundred and eighty-eight caregivers residing in Brazil participated in an online cross-sectional study conducted between July and August 2020. Our findings suggest significant changes in families' dynamics during the COVID-19 outbreak, with parents (especially mothers) spending more time on childcare and a substantial decrease in caregiver's well-being. Regarding music-related behaviors, our results revealed considerable changes in caregivers' and children's musical activities at home during social distancing, including an increase in child-only musical behaviors and shared caregiver-child activities. Moreover, sociodemographic factors such as caregiver background and well-being as well as the child's disability status significantly influenced musical engagement at home during social distancing. This study captured some features of the home musical environment of middle-class families in Brazil in the first stages of social distancing restrictions during the pandemic and caregivers' role in providing an environment where musical experiences are nurtured. Further research is needed to better understand aspects such as the long-term impact of the changes of musical behaviors at home on musical parenting and families' well-being.
Psychology of Music
We report an experiment in which participants ( N = 368) were asked to differentiate between majo... more We report an experiment in which participants ( N = 368) were asked to differentiate between major and minor thirds. These intervals could either be formed by diatonic tones from the C major scale (tonal condition) or by a subset of tones from the chromatic scale (atonal condition). We hypothesized that in the tonal condition intervals would be perceived as a function of scale step distances, which we defined as the number of diatonic leaps between two notes of a given music scale. In the atonal condition, we hypothesized that intervals would be perceived as a function of cents. If our hypotheses were supported, we should verify a less accurate performance in the tonal condition, where scale step distances are the same between major and minor thirds. The data corroborated our hypotheses, and we suggest that acoustic measurements of intervallic distances (i.e., frequency ratios and cents) are not optimal when it comes to describing the perceptual quality of intervals in a tonal conte...
Experimental Brain Research
The development of methods to analyze data acquired using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (... more The development of methods to analyze data acquired using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) in experiments similar to real-life situations is of great value in modern applied neuroscience. One of the most used methods to analyze fNIRS signals consists of the application of the general linear model on the observed hemodynamic signals. However, it implies limitations on the experimental design that must be constrained by triggers related to the stimuli protocols (such as block design or event related). In this work, a novel methodology is proposed to overcome such restrictions and allow more flexible protocols. The method combines the intersubject correlation analysis and the multivariate distance matrix regression to evaluate the brain–behavior relationship of subjects submitted to experiments with no trigger-based protocols. Its applicability is demonstrated throughout a naturalistic experiment about emotions conveyed by music. Thirty-two participants freely listened to instrumental excerpts from the operatic repertoire and reported the valences of the emotions conveyed by the musical segments. The method was able to find a statistically significant correlation between the subjects’ fNIRS signals and valences of their emotional responses, for the excerpt that evoked the most negative valence. This result illustrates the potential of this approach as an alternative method to analyze fNIRS signals from experiments in which block design or task-related paradigms might not be suitable.
The physical distance between two notes of a scale can be measured in terms of an acoustic unit c... more The physical distance between two notes of a scale can be measured in terms of an acoustic unit called cent. The same distance, however, can also be measured in terms of scale steps, which are defined as the number of diatonic tones between two notes. Our study supports the idea that the perception of distance between two notes is influenced by both acoustic and musical abstractions from the auditory input. Specifically, we demonstrate that distances are perceived as a function of cents and scale steps. Our results were consistent regardless of musical training, country, and sensitivity to tonal hierarchies, which were measured by means of a probe-tone experiment. Overall, we suggest that scale steps are represented cognitively and that this variable can be used to describe the relationship between two musical notes within a tonal framework.
Percepta - Revista de Cognição Musical
Frontiers in human neuroscience, 2017
Assessing the neural correlates of motor and cognitive processes under naturalistic experimentati... more Assessing the neural correlates of motor and cognitive processes under naturalistic experimentation is challenging due to the movement constraints of traditional brain imaging technologies. The recent advent of portable technologies that are less sensitive to motion artifacts such as Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) have been made possible the study of brain function in freely-moving participants. In this paper, we describe a series of proof-of-concept experiments examining the potential of fNIRS in assessing the neural correlates of cognitive and motor processes in unconstrained environments. We show illustrative applications for practicing a sport (i.e., table tennis), playing a musical instrument (i.e., piano and violin) alone or in duo and performing daily activities for many hours (i.e., continuous monitoring). Our results expand upon previous research on the feasibility and robustness of fNIRS to monitor brain hemodynamic changes in different real life settings. W...
Psychology of Music, 2016
Brazilian listeners ( N = 303) were asked to identify emotions conveyed in 1-min instrumental exc... more Brazilian listeners ( N = 303) were asked to identify emotions conveyed in 1-min instrumental excerpts from Wagner’s operas. Participants included musically untrained 7- to 10-year-olds and university students in music (musicians) or science (nonmusicians). After hearing each of eight different excerpts, listeners made a forced-choice judgment about which of eight emotions best matched the excerpt. The excerpts and emotions were chosen so that two were in each of four quadrants in two-dimensional space as defined by arousal and valence. Listeners of all ages performed at above-chance levels, which means that complex, unfamiliar musical materials from a different century and culture are nevertheless meaningful for young children. In fact, children performed similarly to adult nonmusicians. There was age-related improvement among children, however, and adult musicians performed best of all. As in previous research that used simpler musical excerpts, effects due to age and music traini...
Review question / Objective: The main question of the study is "how do dance neuroscience st... more Review question / Objective: The main question of the study is "how do dance neuroscience studies define and assess emotions?" The main objective is to establish, through the available literature, a scientific overview of studies in dance neuroscience that address the perception of emotions in the context of neuroaesthetics. Specifically, it is expected to verify if there is methodological homogeneity in studies involving the evaluation of emotions within the context of dance neuroscience; whether the definition of emotion is shared in these studies and, furthermore, whether in multimodal studies in which dance and music are concomitantly present, whether there is any form of distinction between the contribution of each language on the perception of emotions evoked by the stimulus.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
Good musical abilities are typically considered to be a consequence of music training, such that ... more Good musical abilities are typically considered to be a consequence of music training, such that they are studied in samples of formally trained individuals. Here, we asked what predicts musical abilities in the absence of music training. Participants with no formal music training ( N = 190) completed the Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index, measures of personality and cognitive ability, and the Musical Ear Test (MET). The MET is an objective test of musical abilities that provides a Total score and separate scores for its two subtests (Melody and Rhythm), which require listeners to determine whether standard and comparison auditory sequences are identical. MET scores had no associations with personality traits. They correlated positively, however, with informal musical experience and cognitive abilities. Informal musical experience was a better predictor of Melody than of Rhythm scores. Some participants (12%) had Total scores higher than the mean from a sample of musically tra...
Expressa Extensão, 2018
O projeto ATIVAMENTE-UFABC tem como objetivo estimular a autonomia e melhorar a qualidade de vida... more O projeto ATIVAMENTE-UFABC tem como objetivo estimular a autonomia e melhorar a qualidade de vida dos idosos por meio da oferta de oficinas com diferentes tipos de treinos cognitivos. Os programas desenvolvidos consistem de atividades que buscam otimizar o funcionamento da atenção e memória por meio de ações socioeducativas e atividades teórico-práticas que incluem a aplicação de estratégias para maior funcionalidade e melhor autoestima em relação ao próprio potencial cognitivo. Entre essas ações, temos o AtivAmente-Musical, oficinas que por meio da música promovem o acesso a memórias autobiográficas como mecanismo para treino cognitivo, melhora do humor e resgate da identidade. No presente relato, descrevemos a experiência AtivAmente Musical ofertada a um grupo de idosos de baixo nível educacional e socioeconômico de uma ONG de São Bernardo do Campo/SP. Ao longo de um mês, foram realizadas quatro sessões (uma por semana) de intervenção com atividades musicais que estimulavam evoca...
Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 2022
We sought to clarify the commonly accepted link between music training and cognitive ability. Pro... more We sought to clarify the commonly accepted link between music training and cognitive ability. Professional musicians, nonprofessionals with music training, and musically untrained individuals (N = 642) completed measures of musical ability, personality, and general cognitive ability. Professional musicians scored highest on objective and self-report measures of musical ability. On personality measures, professional musicians and musically trained participants scored similarly but higher than untrained participants on agreeableness, openness-to-experience, and the personality metatrait stability. The professionals scored higher than the other 2 groups on extraversion and the metatrait engagement. On cognitive ability, however, they were indistinguishable from untrained participants. Instead, musically trained nonprofessionals exhibited the highest cognitive ability. In short, professional musicians differed from other individuals in musical ability and personality, but not in cognitive ability. We conclude that music training predicts higher cognitive ability only among individuals who do not become professional musicians and offer possible explanations.
Psychology of Music, 2022
Aesthetic evaluations can be highly influenced by a myriad of individual and situational factors.... more Aesthetic evaluations can be highly influenced by a myriad of individual and situational factors. Interestingly, little is yet known about the possible effects of background music on the aesthetic experience of visual art. Here, we examined whether musical emotions would influence different dimensions of the aesthetic experience of a visual artwork displayed in a naturalistic environment. A total of 142 visitors of a contemporary art museum appreciated an abstract painting by Wassily Kandinsky while listening to background music conveying different emotions (happy, sad, peaceful, scary) or silence. Our findings suggest that music valence significantly influenced participants’ judgment of the pleasantness of the painting. In addition, music likability had a significant effect on participants’ judgments of the artwork’s valence, beauty, and liking. Specifically, participants who liked the background music rated these dimensions of the artwork aesthetic experience significantly more po...
Introduction Music has a multidimensional nature with a myriad of features set over time that var... more Introduction Music has a multidimensional nature with a myriad of features set over time that vary in a multitude of acoustic profiles. It has been shown, for instance, that music listening may be a multimodal experience where musical sounds can evoke abstract visual forms. Particularly, we are interested in a well-described effect known as the Bouba-Kiki effect (Köhler, 1929). This phenomenon relates to a non-arbitrary tendency to associate abstract words whose utterance demand rounding sounds (as in Bouba) with rounded shapes, while sharp words (as in Kiki) are usually associated with angular shapes. The studies based on the boubakik effect provide the first vital clues to understand the origins of proto-language, as it suggests that there may be natural restrictions on the way sounds are mapped on objects. Previous research suggests that this cross-modal phenomenon may also be found between musical timbre and shapes (Adeli et al, 2014). The authors studied the cross-modal corresp...
Introduction Music has a multidimensional nature with a myriad of features set over time that var... more Introduction Music has a multidimensional nature with a myriad of features set over time that vary in a multitude of acoustic profiles. It has been shown, for instance, that music listening may be a multimodal experience where musical sounds can evoke abstract visual forms. Particularly, we are interested in a well-described effect known as the Bouba-Kiki effect (Köhler, 1929). This phenomenon relates to a non-arbitrary tendency to associate abstract words whose utterance demand rounding sounds (as in Bouba) with rounded shapes, while sharp words (as in Kiki) are usually associated with angular shapes. The studies based on the boubakik effect provide the first vital clues to understand the origins of proto-language, as it suggests that there may be natural restrictions on the way sounds are mapped on objects. Previous research suggests that this cross-modal phenomenon may also be found between musical timbre and shapes (Adeli et al, 2014). The authors studied the cross-modal corresp...
Frontiers in Psychology, 2021
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had profound effects on all aspects of socie... more The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had profound effects on all aspects of society. Families were among those directly impacted by the first measures imposed by health authorities worldwide to contain the spread of the Sars-CoV-2 virus, where social distancing and mandatory quarantine were the main approaches implemented. Notably, little is yet known about how social distancing during COVID-19 has altered families' daily routines, particularly regarding music-related behaviors. The aim of this study was 2-fold: (i) to explore changes in families' daily routine and caregivers' levels of well-being and stress during the COVID-19 outbreak in Brazil and (ii) to investigate whether musical behaviors of caregivers and the children under their care (aged from 3 to 6 years old) changed during social distancing. One hundred and eighty-eight caregivers residing in Brazil participated in an online cross-sectional study conducted between July and August 2020. Our fi...
We sought to determine whether an objective test of musical ability could be administered online ... more We sought to determine whether an objective test of musical ability could be administered online successfully. A sample of 754 participants was tested with an online version of the Musical Ear Test (MET), which had Melody and Rhythm subtests. Both subtests had 52 trials, each of which required participants to determine whether standard and comparison auditory sequences were identical. The testing session also included the Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index (Gold-MSI), a test of general cognitive ability, and self-report questionnaires that measured basic demographics (age, education, gender), mind wandering, and personality. Approximately 20% of the participants were excluded for incomplete responding or failing to finish the testing session. For the final sample (N = 608), findings were similar to those from in-person testing in many respects: (1) the internal reliability of the MET was maintained, (2) construct validity was confirmed by strong associations with Gold-MSI score...
Psychology of Music
Absolute pitch (AP) is the ability to effortlessly identify or produce pitches without reference.... more Absolute pitch (AP) is the ability to effortlessly identify or produce pitches without reference. However, behavioral research has shown that pitch perception and identification in certain timbres are more difficult for AP possessors. In this study, we investigate whether pitch identification and labeling in different timbres (piano and voice) would require different amounts of cognitive resource allocation. We measured accuracy, response time, and pupillary responses of 18 musicians with varying degrees of AP while performing a pitch identification test. We also examined whether behavioral and psychophysiological responses were related to aspects of musical experience, such as the age of onset of musical training, daily hours of practice, and years of musical training. Behavioral results revealed significantly longer response time for vocal tones compared to piano tones. However, there was no difference in accuracy when comparing pitch labeling in piano and vocal tones. On the psyc...
Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 2022
We sought to clarify the commonly accepted link between music training and cognitive ability. Pro... more We sought to clarify the commonly accepted link between music training and cognitive ability. Professional musicians, nonprofessionals with music training, and musically untrained individuals (N = 642) completed measures of musical ability, personality, and general cognitive ability. Professional musicians scored highest on objective and self-report measures of musical ability. On personality measures, professional musicians and musically trained participants scored similarly but higher than untrained participants on agreeableness, openness-to-experience, and the personality metatrait stability. The professionals scored higher than the other 2 groups on extraversion and the metatrait engagement. On cognitive ability, however, they were indistinguishable from untrained participants. Instead, musically trained nonprofessionals exhibited the highest cognitive ability. In short, professional musicians differed from other individuals in musical ability and personality, but not in cognitive ability. We conclude that music training predicts higher cognitive ability only among individuals who do not become professional musicians and offer possible explanations.
Psychology of Music, 2022
Aesthetic evaluations can be highly influenced by a myriad of individual and situational factors.... more Aesthetic evaluations can be highly influenced by a myriad of individual and situational factors. Interestingly, little is yet known about the possible effects of background music on the aesthetic experience of visual art. Here, we examined whether musical emotions would influence different dimensions of the aesthetic experience of a visual artwork displayed in a naturalistic environment. A total of 142 visitors of a contemporary art museum appreciated an abstract painting by Wassily Kandinsky while listening to background music conveying different emotions (happy, sad, peaceful, scary) or silence. Our findings suggest that music valence significantly influenced participants' judgment of the pleasantness of the painting. In addition, music likability had a significant effect on participants' judgments of the artwork's valence, beauty, and liking. Specifically, participants who liked the background music rated these dimensions of the artwork aesthetic experience significantly more positively than those who disliked the music. Overall, these results suggest that aspects associated with the aesthetic experience of music may influence the aesthetic experience of visual art, opening new avenues for the investigation of cognitive processes underlying the aesthetic experience induced by objects across different media.
Behavior Research Methods, 2021
We sought to determine whether an objective test of musical ability could be successfully adminis... more We sought to determine whether an objective test of musical ability could be successfully administered online. A sample of 754 participants was tested with an online version of the Musical Ear Test (MET), which had Melody and Rhythm subtests. Both subtests had 52 trials, each of which required participants to determine whether standard and comparison auditory sequences were identical. The testing session also included the Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index (Gold-MSI), a test of general cognitive ability, and self-report questionnaires that measured basic demographics (age, education, gender), mind-wandering, and personality. Approximately 20% of the participants were excluded for incomplete responding or failing to finish the testing session. For the final sample (N = 608), findings were similar to those from in-person testing in many respects: (1) the internal reliability of the MET was maintained, (2) construct validity was confirmed by strong associations with Gold-MSI scores, (3) correlations with other measures (e.g., openness to experience, cognitive ability, mind-wandering) were as predicted, (4) mean levels of performance were similar for individuals with no music training, and (5) musical sophistication was a better predictor of performance on the Melody than on the Rhythm subtest. In sum, online administration of the MET proved to be a reliable and valid way to measure musical ability.
Frontiers in Psychology, 2021
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had profound effects on all aspects of socie... more The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had profound effects on all aspects of society. Families were among those directly impacted by the first measures imposed by health authorities worldwide to contain the spread of the Sars-CoV-2 virus, where social distancing and mandatory quarantine were the main approaches implemented. Notably, little is yet known about how social distancing during COVID-19 has altered families' daily routines, particularly regarding music-related behaviors. The aim of this study was 2-fold: (i) to explore changes in families' daily routine and caregivers' levels of well-being and stress during the COVID-19 outbreak in Brazil and (ii) to investigate whether musical behaviors of caregivers and the children under their care (aged from 3 to 6 years old) changed during social distancing. One hundred and eighty-eight caregivers residing in Brazil participated in an online cross-sectional study conducted between July and August 2020. Our findings suggest significant changes in families' dynamics during the COVID-19 outbreak, with parents (especially mothers) spending more time on childcare and a substantial decrease in caregiver's well-being. Regarding music-related behaviors, our results revealed considerable changes in caregivers' and children's musical activities at home during social distancing, including an increase in child-only musical behaviors and shared caregiver-child activities. Moreover, sociodemographic factors such as caregiver background and well-being as well as the child's disability status significantly influenced musical engagement at home during social distancing. This study captured some features of the home musical environment of middle-class families in Brazil in the first stages of social distancing restrictions during the pandemic and caregivers' role in providing an environment where musical experiences are nurtured. Further research is needed to better understand aspects such as the long-term impact of the changes of musical behaviors at home on musical parenting and families' well-being.
Psychology of Music
We report an experiment in which participants ( N = 368) were asked to differentiate between majo... more We report an experiment in which participants ( N = 368) were asked to differentiate between major and minor thirds. These intervals could either be formed by diatonic tones from the C major scale (tonal condition) or by a subset of tones from the chromatic scale (atonal condition). We hypothesized that in the tonal condition intervals would be perceived as a function of scale step distances, which we defined as the number of diatonic leaps between two notes of a given music scale. In the atonal condition, we hypothesized that intervals would be perceived as a function of cents. If our hypotheses were supported, we should verify a less accurate performance in the tonal condition, where scale step distances are the same between major and minor thirds. The data corroborated our hypotheses, and we suggest that acoustic measurements of intervallic distances (i.e., frequency ratios and cents) are not optimal when it comes to describing the perceptual quality of intervals in a tonal conte...
Experimental Brain Research
The development of methods to analyze data acquired using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (... more The development of methods to analyze data acquired using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) in experiments similar to real-life situations is of great value in modern applied neuroscience. One of the most used methods to analyze fNIRS signals consists of the application of the general linear model on the observed hemodynamic signals. However, it implies limitations on the experimental design that must be constrained by triggers related to the stimuli protocols (such as block design or event related). In this work, a novel methodology is proposed to overcome such restrictions and allow more flexible protocols. The method combines the intersubject correlation analysis and the multivariate distance matrix regression to evaluate the brain–behavior relationship of subjects submitted to experiments with no trigger-based protocols. Its applicability is demonstrated throughout a naturalistic experiment about emotions conveyed by music. Thirty-two participants freely listened to instrumental excerpts from the operatic repertoire and reported the valences of the emotions conveyed by the musical segments. The method was able to find a statistically significant correlation between the subjects’ fNIRS signals and valences of their emotional responses, for the excerpt that evoked the most negative valence. This result illustrates the potential of this approach as an alternative method to analyze fNIRS signals from experiments in which block design or task-related paradigms might not be suitable.
The physical distance between two notes of a scale can be measured in terms of an acoustic unit c... more The physical distance between two notes of a scale can be measured in terms of an acoustic unit called cent. The same distance, however, can also be measured in terms of scale steps, which are defined as the number of diatonic tones between two notes. Our study supports the idea that the perception of distance between two notes is influenced by both acoustic and musical abstractions from the auditory input. Specifically, we demonstrate that distances are perceived as a function of cents and scale steps. Our results were consistent regardless of musical training, country, and sensitivity to tonal hierarchies, which were measured by means of a probe-tone experiment. Overall, we suggest that scale steps are represented cognitively and that this variable can be used to describe the relationship between two musical notes within a tonal framework.
Percepta - Revista de Cognição Musical
Frontiers in human neuroscience, 2017
Assessing the neural correlates of motor and cognitive processes under naturalistic experimentati... more Assessing the neural correlates of motor and cognitive processes under naturalistic experimentation is challenging due to the movement constraints of traditional brain imaging technologies. The recent advent of portable technologies that are less sensitive to motion artifacts such as Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) have been made possible the study of brain function in freely-moving participants. In this paper, we describe a series of proof-of-concept experiments examining the potential of fNIRS in assessing the neural correlates of cognitive and motor processes in unconstrained environments. We show illustrative applications for practicing a sport (i.e., table tennis), playing a musical instrument (i.e., piano and violin) alone or in duo and performing daily activities for many hours (i.e., continuous monitoring). Our results expand upon previous research on the feasibility and robustness of fNIRS to monitor brain hemodynamic changes in different real life settings. W...
Psychology of Music, 2016
Brazilian listeners ( N = 303) were asked to identify emotions conveyed in 1-min instrumental exc... more Brazilian listeners ( N = 303) were asked to identify emotions conveyed in 1-min instrumental excerpts from Wagner’s operas. Participants included musically untrained 7- to 10-year-olds and university students in music (musicians) or science (nonmusicians). After hearing each of eight different excerpts, listeners made a forced-choice judgment about which of eight emotions best matched the excerpt. The excerpts and emotions were chosen so that two were in each of four quadrants in two-dimensional space as defined by arousal and valence. Listeners of all ages performed at above-chance levels, which means that complex, unfamiliar musical materials from a different century and culture are nevertheless meaningful for young children. In fact, children performed similarly to adult nonmusicians. There was age-related improvement among children, however, and adult musicians performed best of all. As in previous research that used simpler musical excerpts, effects due to age and music traini...