How audience and general music performance anxiety affect classical music students' flow experience: A close look at its dimensions

Flow describes a state of intense experiential involvement in an activity that is defined in terms of nine dimensions. Despite increased interest in understanding the flow experience of musicians in recent years, knowledge of how characteristics of the musician and of the music performance context affect the flow experience at the dimension level is lacking. In this study, we aimed to investigate how musicians’ general music performance anxiety (MPA) level (i.e., the general tendency to experience anxiety during solo music performances) and the presence of an audience influence the nine flow dimensions. The participants were 121 university music students who performed solo a music piece once by themselves (private performance) and once in front of an audience (public performance). Their general MPA level was measured with an adapted version of the STAI and ranged from 27 (very low MPA) to 76 (very high MPA). The level of the nine flow dimensions was assessed with the Flow State Scale-2 after each performance. The levels of “concentration on task at hand,” “sense of control,” and “autotelic experience” decreased significantly with increasing general MPA level. The levels of “unambiguous feedback” and “loss of self-consciousness” decreased significantly with increasing general MPA level during the public performance only. The level of “sense of control” was significantly lower during the public performance than the private performance across participants. The level of “unambiguous feedback” was significantly lower during the public performance than the private performance for participants with a general MPA level higher than 47. The level of “loss of self-consciousness” was significantly lower during the public performance than the private performance for participants with a general MPA level higher than 32. In contrast, the general MPA level and the audience did not significantly affect the levels of “challenge-skill balance,” “clear goals,” and “action-awareness merging.” These results show that the effects of general MPA level and audience vary greatly across flow state dimensions. We conclude that musicians’ flow state should be analyzed at the dimension level rather than as a global score. We discuss how our findings could inform the development and implementation of interventions

Music performance anxiety from the challenge and threat perspective: psychophysiological and performance outcomes

Background Although many musicians perceive music performance anxiety (MPA) as a significant problem, studies about the psychobiological and performance-related concomitants of MPA are limited. Using the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat as theoretical framework, we aim to investigate whether musicians' changes in their psychobiological responses and performance quality from a private to a public performance are moderated by their general MPA level. According to the challenge and threat framework, individuals are in a threat state when the perceived demands of a performance situation outweigh the perceived resources, whereas they are in a challenge state when the perceived resources outweigh the perceived demands. The resources-demands differential (resources minus demands) and the cardiovascular challenge-threat index (sum of cardiac output and reverse scored total peripheral resistance) are the main indices of these states. We postulate that the relationship between general MPA level and performance quality is mediated by these challenge and threat measures. Methods We will test 100 university music students reporting general MPA levels ranging from low to high. They will perform privately (i.e., without audience) and publicly (i.e., with an audience) on two separate days in counterbalanced order. During each performance session, we will record their cardiovascular and respiratory activity and collect saliva samples and self-reported measures. Measures of primary interest are self-reported anxiety, the resources-demands differential, the cardiovascular challenge-threat index, sigh rate, total respiratory variability, partial pressure of end-tidal carbon dioxide and the salivary biomarkers cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone, and alpha-amylase. Both, the participants and anonymous experts will evaluate the performance quality from audio recordings. Discussion The results of the planned project are expected to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the psychobiology of MPA and of the processes that influence musicians’ individual reactions to performance situations. We also anticipate the findings of this project to have important implications for the development and implementation of theory-based interventions aimed at managing musicians’ anxiety and improving performance quality. Thanks to the use of multimethod approaches incorporating psychobiology, it might be possible to better assess the progress and success of interventions and ultimately improve musicians’ chance to have a successful professional career.+ ID: 577187 + PeerReviewed: Peer Reviewe

Respiratory Variability, Sighing, Anxiety, and Breathing Symptoms in Low- and High-Anxious Music Students Before and After Performing

Music performance anxiety (MPA) is a major problem for music students. It is largely unknown whether music students who experience high or low anxiety differ in their respiratory responses to performance situations and whether these co-vary with self-reported anxiety, tension, and breathing symptoms. Affective processes influence dynamic respiratory regulation in ways that are reflected in measures of respiratory variability and sighing. This study had two goals. First, we determined how measures of respiratory variability, sighing, self-reported anxiety, tension, and breathing symptoms vary as a function of the performance situation (practice vs. public performance), performance phase (pre-performance vs. post-performance), and the general MPA level of music students. Second, we analyzed to what extent self-reported anxiety, tension, and breathing symptoms co-vary with the respiratory responses. The participants were 65 university music students. We assessed their anxiety, tension, and breathing symptoms with Likert scales and recorded their respiration with the LifeShirt system during a practice performance and a public performance..

Fate and effects of metal-based nanoparticles in two marine invertebrates, the bivalve mollusc Scrobicularia plana and the annelid polychaete Hediste diversicolor

The objective of this paper is to synthesize results from seven published research papers employing different experimental approaches to evaluate the fate of metal-based nanoparticles (Ag NPs, Au NPs, CuO NPs, CdS NPs, ZnO NPs) in the marine environment and their effects on two marine endobenthic species, the bivalve Scrobicularia plana and the ragworm Hediste diversicolor. The experiments were carried out under laboratory (microcosms) conditions or under environmentally realistic conditions in outdoor mesocosms. Based on results from these seven papers, we addressed the following research questions: (1) How did the environment into which nanoparticles were released affect their physicochemical properties?, (2) How did the route of exposure (seawater, food, sediment) influence bioaccumulation and effects?, (3) Which biomarkers were the most responsive? and (4) Which tools were the most efficient to evaluate the fate and effects of NPs in the marine environment? The obtained results showed that metal-based NPs in general were highly agglomerated/aggregated in seawater. DGT tools could be used to estimate the bioavailability of metals released from NPs under soluble form in the aquatic environment. Both metal forms (nanoparticulate, soluble) were generally bioaccumulated in both species. Among biochemical tools, GST and CAT were the most sensitive revealing the enhancement of anti-oxidant defenses in both species exposed to sub-lethal concentrations of metal-based NPs. Apoptosis and genotoxicity were frequently observed.</p

Erratum to: Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (3rd edition) (Autophagy, 12, 1, 1-222, 10.1080/15548627.2015.1100356

non present