Mental Practice in Music Memorization: an Ecological-Empirical study

The present study aims to systematically describe free (the meaning of \u201cfree\u201d is not clear to the reader at this point. I would eliminate \u201cfree\u201d here because you describe it in the next paragraph) Mental Practice (MP) in a complex cognitive task, including cross-individual differences in the use of different MP strategies and their relation to performance. Sixteen pianists were studied while memorizing piano pieces. Each subject memorized two pieces, one by MP and the other by Physical Practice (PP). During MP subjects freely applied the practice strategies they preferred, except physically playing a real piano (ecological approach). Practice and performances were video-documented; practice strategies were reported in researcher-developed questionnaires. MP alone produced successful musical learning. MP combined with PP produced results close to PP alone. MP outcomes were significantly related to the strategies applied. Results suggest a connection for MP with the internal-external attentional focus theory (Wulf, 2007) developed for overt motor learning. Practical implications for musicians\u2019 practice habits are discussed

Using Micromegas detectors for direct dark matter searches: challenges and perspectives

International audienceGas time projection chambers (TPCs) with Micromegas pixelated readouts are being used in dark matter searches and other rare event searches, due to their potential in terms of low background levels, energy and spatial resolution, gain, and operational stability. Moreover, these detectors can provide precious features,such as topological information, allowing for event directionality and powerful signal-background discrimination. The Micromegas technology of the microbulk type is particularly suited to low-background applications and is being exploited by detectors for CAST and IAXO (solar axions) and TREX-DM (low-mass WIMPs) experiments. Challenges for the future include reducing intrinsic background levels, reaching lower energy detection levels, and technical issues such as robustness of detector, new design choices, novel gas mixtures and operation points, scaling up to larger detector sizes, handling large readout granularity, etc. We report on the status and prospects of the development ongoing in the context of IAXO and TREX-DM experiments, pointing to promising perspectives for the use of Micromegas detectors in directdark matter searche