Is music enriching for group-housed captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)?

Many facilities that house captive primates play music for animal enrichment or for caregiver enjoyment. However, the impact on primates is unknown as previous studies have been inconclusive. We conducted three studies with zoo-housed chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and one with group-housed chimpanzees at the National Centre for Chimpanzee Care to investigate the effects of classical and pop/rock music on various variables that may be indicative of increased welfare. Study one compared the behaviour and use of space of 18 animals when silence, classical or pop/rock music was played into one of several indoor areas. Overall, chimpanzees did not actively avoid the area when music was playing but were more likely to exit the area when songs with higher beats per minute were broadcast. Chimpanzees showed significantly fewer active social behaviours when music, rather than silence, was playing. They also tended to be more active and engage in less abnormal behaviour during the music but there was no change to either self-grooming or aggression between music and silent conditions. The genre of music had no differential effects on the chimpanzees’ use of space and behaviour. In the second study, continuous focal observations were carried out on three individuals with relatively high levels of abnormal behaviour. No differences in behaviour between music and silence periods were found in any of the individuals. The final two studies used devices that allowed chimpanzees to choose if they wanted to listen to music of various types or silence. Both studies showed that there were no persistent preferences for any type of music or silence. When taken together, our results do not suggest music is enriching for group-housed captive chimpanzees, but they also do not suggest that music has a negative effect on welfare

How Different Are Our Perceptions of Equal-Tempered and Microtonal Intervals? A Behavioural and EEG Survey

For listeners familiar with Western twelve-tone equal-tempered (12-TET) music, a novel microtonal tuning system is expected to present additional processing challenges. We aimed to determine whether this was the case, focusing on the extent to which our perceptions can be considered bottom-up (psychoacoustic and primarily perceptual) and top-down (dependent on familiarity and cognitive processing). We elicited both overt response ratings, and covert event-related potentials (ERPs), so as to compare subjective impressions of sounds with the neurophysiological processing of the acoustic signal. We hypothesised that microtonal intervals are perceived differently from 12-TET intervals, and that the responses of musicians (n = 10) and non-musicians (n = 10) are distinct. Two-note chords were presented comprising 12-TET intervals (consonant and dissonant) or microtonal (quarter tone) intervals, and ERP, subjective roughness ratings, and liking ratings were recorded successively. Musical experience mediated the perception of differences between dissonant and microtone intervals, with non-musicians giving similar ratings for each, and musicians preferring dissonant over the less commonly used microtonal intervals, rating them as less rough. ERP response amplitude was greater for consonant intervals than other intervals. Musical experience interacted with interval type, suggesting that musical expertise facilitates the sensory and perceptual discrimination of microtonal intervals from 12-TET intervals, and an increased ability to categorize such intervals. Non-musicians appear to have perceived microtonal intervals as instances of neighbouring 12-TET intervals

Effekte von Musik auf das Fahrverhalten

This paper deals with the influence of hearing musical pieces on driving performance. Twenty neurologically and psychiatrically healthy subjects drove a driving simulator under three conditions: 1. while they heard exciting music, 2. while they heard relaxing music or 3. without hearing musical pieces (control condition). During hearing musical pieces (exciting and relaxing) physiological arousal increases as indicated by increased heart rate (HR). More interestingly is the finding that during hearing of exciting music, driving speed and speeding substantially incre- ased. Additionally, reaction times to unexpected obstacles (deers crossing the road) increased during music exposure. Thus, music exposure substantially influences driving performance al- though the subjects are not aware of changing their driving performance

Reducing the Interval Between Volume Acquisitions Improves “Sparse” Scanning Protocols in Event-related Auditory fMRI

ISSN:0896-0267ISSN:1573-679

Improved effectiveness of performance monitoring in amateur instrumental musicians

This research was supported by a Wellcome Trust Biomedical Vacation Scholarship to Anahit Mkrtchian and a Vacation Scholarship from the Institute for Behavioural and Neural Sciences to Nayantara Kansal.Here we report a cross-sectional study investigating the influence of instrumental music practice on the ability to monitor for and respond to processing conflicts and performance errors. Behavioural and electrophysiological indicators of response monitoring in amateur musicians with various skill levels were collected using simple conflict tasks. The results show that instrumental musicians are better able than non-musicians to detect conflicts and errors as indicated by systematic increases in the amplitude of the error-related negativity and the N200 with increasing levels of instrumental practice. Also, high levels of musical training were associated with more efficient and less reactive responses after experience of conflicts and errors as indicated by reduced post-error interference and post-conflict processing adjustments. Together, the present findings suggest that playing a musical instrument might improve the ability to monitor our behavior and adjust our responses effectively when needed. As these processes are amongst the first to be affected by cognitive aging, our evidence could promote musical activity as a realistic intervention to slow or even prevent age-related decline in frontal cortex mediated executive functioning.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Peripheral Attentional Targets under Covert Attention Lead to Paradoxically Enhanced Alpha Desynchronization in Neurofibromatosis Type 1

The limited capacity of the human brain to process the full extent of visual information reaching the visual cortex requires the recruitment of mechanisms of information selection through attention. Neurofibromatosis type-1 (NF1) is a neurodevelopmental disease often exhibiting attentional deficits and learning disabilities, and is considered to model similar impairments common in other neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism. In a previous study, we found that patients with NF1 are more prone to miss targets under overt attention conditions. This finding was interpreted as a result of increased occipito-parietal alpha oscillations. In the present study, we used electroencephalography (EEG) to study alpha power modulations and the performance of patients with NF1 in a covert attention task. Covert attention was required in order to perceive changes (target offset) of a peripherally presented stimulus. Interestingly, alpha oscillations were found to undergo greater desynchronization under this task in the NF1 group compared with control subjects. A similar pattern of desynchronization was found for beta frequencies while no changes in gamma oscillations could be identified. These results are consistent with the notion that different attentional states and task demands generate different patterns of abnormal modulation of alpha oscillatory processes in NF1. Under covert attention conditions and while target offset was reported with relatively high accuracy (over 90% correct responses), excessive desynchronization was found. These findings suggest an abnormal modulation of oscillatory activity and attentional processes in NF1. Given the known role of alpha in modulating attention, we suggest that alpha patterns can show both abnormal increases and decreases that are task and performance dependent, in a way that enhanced alpha desynchronization may reflect a compensatory mechanism to keep performance at normal levels. These results suggest that dysregulation of alpha oscillations may occur in NF1 both in terms of excessive or diminished activation patterns

Peripheral Attentional Targets under Covert Attention Lead to Paradoxically Enhanced Alpha Desynchronization in Neurofibromatosis Type 1

<div><p>The limited capacity of the human brain to process the full extent of visual information reaching the visual cortex requires the recruitment of mechanisms of information selection through attention. Neurofibromatosis type-1 (NF1) is a neurodevelopmental disease often exhibiting attentional deficits and learning disabilities, and is considered to model similar impairments common in other neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism. In a previous study, we found that patients with NF1 are more prone to miss targets under overt attention conditions. This finding was interpreted as a result of increased occipito-parietal alpha oscillations. In the present study, we used electroencephalography (EEG) to study alpha power modulations and the performance of patients with NF1 in a covert attention task. Covert attention was required in order to perceive changes (target offset) of a peripherally presented stimulus. Interestingly, alpha oscillations were found to undergo greater desynchronization under this task in the NF1 group compared with control subjects. A similar pattern of desynchronization was found for beta frequencies while no changes in gamma oscillations could be identified. These results are consistent with the notion that different attentional states and task demands generate different patterns of abnormal modulation of alpha oscillatory processes in NF1. Under covert attention conditions and while target offset was reported with relatively high accuracy (over 90% correct responses), excessive desynchronization was found. These findings suggest an abnormal modulation of oscillatory activity and attentional processes in NF1. Given the known role of alpha in modulating attention, we suggest that alpha patterns can show both abnormal increases and decreases that are task and performance dependent, in a way that enhanced alpha desynchronization may reflect a compensatory mechanism to keep performance at normal levels. These results suggest that dysregulation of alpha oscillations may occur in NF1 both in terms of excessive or diminished activation patterns.</p></div

The voices of seduction: cross-gender effects in processing of erotic prosody

Gender specific differences in cognitive functions have been widely discussed. Considering social cognition such as emotion perception conveyed by non-verbal cues, generally a female advantage is assumed. In the present study, however, we revealed a cross-gender interaction with increasing responses to the voice of opposite sex in male and female subjects. This effect was confined to erotic tone of speech in behavioural data and haemodynamic responses within voice sensitive brain areas (right middle superior temporal gyrus). The observed response pattern, thus, indicates a particular sensitivity to emotional voices that have a high behavioural relevance for the listener