The effect of preferred background music on task‐focus in sustained attention

Although many people listen to music while performing tasks that require sustained attention, the literature is inconclusive about its effects. The present study examined performance on a sustained-attention task and explored the effect of background music on the prevalence of different attentional states, founded on the non-linear relationship between arousal and performance. Forty students completed a variation of the Psychomotor Vigilance Task—that has long been used to measure sustained attention—in silence and with their self-selected or preferred music in the background. We collected subjective reports of attentional state (specifically mind-wandering, task-focus and external distraction states) as well as reaction time (RT) measures of performance. Results indicated that background music increased the proportion of task-focus states by decreasing mind-wandering states but did not affect external distraction states. Task-focus states were linked to shorter RTs than mind-wandering or external distraction states; however, background music did not reduce RT or variability of RT significantly compared to silence. These findings show for the first time that preferred background music can enhance task-focused attentional states on a low-demanding sustained-attention task and are compatible with arousal mediating the relationship between background music and task-performance

Is Absolute Pitch a Special Ability or Something We All Have? : A review based on Genetic, Neuroscientific and Experimental Psychological Findings = Különleges képesség az abszolút hallás? : áttekintés genetikai, neurológiai és kísérleti pszichológiai tanulmányok alapján

Absolute pitch (AP), the ability to identify and produce musical pitches without a reference point, is extremely rare and is considered to be a special ability. Although research has focused on this topic for decades, there is no consensus about why AP only occurs in 1 out of 10.000 individuals and how it is acquired. Therefore, the present article aims to review and reconcile the previous findings in order to understand the potential contribution of training and genetics in AP acquisition. Based on experimental psychological and genetic findings, it is concluded that although some components of AP are implicit and exist in the general population, both early musical training and genetic factors are crucial for AP development. This conclusion is supported by neuroscientific findings that provide evidence for differences in activations in specific brain areas between AP possessors and non-possessors. Az abszolút hallás, vagy a zenei hangok referencia pont nélküli felismerése és produkálása, egy különleges és ritkán előforduló képesség. Annak ellenére, hogy a kutatások több mint egy évszázada foglalkoznak ezzel a témával, nincs egyértelmű válasz arra a kérdésre, hogy az abszolút hallás miért csak minden tízezredik emberben fordul elő és hogyan alakul ki. Ezért, a jelen tanulmány célja, hogy áttekintse a korábbi szakirodalmakat és megvizsgálja a zenei képzés és a genetika jelentőségét az abszolút hallás kifejlődésében. Az áttekintő vizsgálatunk a kísérleti pszichológiai és genetikai kutatások alapján azt a következtetést vonta le, hogy habár az abszolút hallás egyes komponensei az általános népességben is jelen vannak, a korai zenei képzés és genetikai tényezők döntő fontosságú az abszolút hallás kifejlődésében. Ezt a következtetést támasztják alá az idegtudományi kutatások eredményei is, amelyek különbségeket mutatnak az abszolút hallással rendelkező és nem rendelkező emberek között az egyes agyi területek aktiválásában

The 14th International Conference of Students of Systematic Musicology (SysMus21)

The 14th International Conference of Students of Systematic Musicology (SysMus21) was held in a hybrid format that allowed both in-person and online participants to join. The SysMus conference series aims to foster a dynamic and interdisciplinary environment for students and early career researchers to share and discuss their work in the fields of systematic musicology and its related disciplines. This year at SysMus21, a total number of 26 oral and 35 poster presentations were held, covering a range of topics including well-being, data science, absorption and imagery, social connections, rhythm and groove, music information retrieval, sociology, cognition, and emotion. An introductory talk was given by Peter Vuust (Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University, Denmark), and two keynotes were presented by Jonna Vuoskoski (RITMO Center, University of Oslo, Norway) and Nori Jacoby (Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt, Germany). Additionally, four workshops were held by Caitlyn Trevor, Joshua Bamford, Niels Christian Hansen, and Svenja Reiner, focusing on research skills relevant for developing a career in academia. In this report, an overview of the conference is provided including a summary of keynotes, presentations, workshops, and social activities, as well as a review of the advantages and challenges of the hybrid set-up

Finite-size criticality in fully connected spin models on superconducting quantum hardware

The emergence of a collective behavior in a many-body system is responsible of the quantum criticality separating different phases of matter. Interacting spin systems in a magnetic field offer a tantalizing opportunity to test different approaches to study quantum phase transitions. In this work, we exploit the new resources offered by quantum algorithms to detect the quantum critical behaviour of fully connected spin$-1/2$ models. We define a suitable Hamiltonian depending on an internal anisotropy parameter $\gamma,$ that allows us to examine three paradigmatic examples of spin models, whose lattice is a fully connected graph. We propose a method based on variational algorithms run on superconducting transmon qubits to detect the critical behavior for systems of finite size. We evaluate the energy gap between the first excited state and the ground state, the magnetization along the easy-axis of the system, and the spin-spin correlations. We finally report a discussion about the feasibility of scaling such approach on a real quantum device for a system having a dimension such that classical simulations start requiring significant resources.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures. Comments are welcom

Persistence of the antagonistic effects of a natural mixture of Alternaria mycotoxins on the estrogen-like activity of human feces after anaerobic incubation

Several Alternaria mycotoxins are believed to act as endocrine disruptive chemicals (EDCs), since they are reported to bind estrogen receptors in several experimental models. After ingestion of contaminated food commodities, the mycotoxins reach the intestine, where they come into direct contact with food constituents as well as the gut microbiota. Thus, the aim of the present work was to evaluate the modulatory potential of a complex extract of cultured Alternaria fungi (CE; containing eleven chemically characterized compounds) on the estrogenic signaling cascade of mammalian cells before and after anaerobic incubation with fecal slurries, in order to simulate an in vivo-like condition in the gut. Assessing alkaline phosphatase expression in Ishikawa cells as a measure for estrogenicity, we found the CE to partially quench the intrinsic estrogenic properties of fecal slurries and fecal waters, even after 3 h of fecal incubation. Investigation of the mechanisms underlying the effects observed carried out through an in vitro/in silico approach revealed the ability of the extract to decrease the ERα/ERβ nuclear ratio, while a possible action of the mycotoxins as ER-antagonists was excluded. Our results suggest that Alternaria mycotoxins might act as EDCs in vivo, and warrant further investigation in animal models