Emotion Recognition Education in Western Art Music Appreciation

Because Western art music is harmonically more complex than popular music and because it is written with musical notation, it may be challenging for certain people with no music training (non-musicians), those who did not grow up with Western art music, or those who did not choose to listen to this type of music for enjoyment to understand and appreciate it. Furthermore, there is a prevalent belief that Western art music is for the wealthy and elderly. This belief may be preventing symphony orchestra groups from cultivating new audiences. This study aims to determine if a narrative music listening activity would generate emotional response and cognitive engagement in a study group of non-Western art music listeners and prompt them to create musical narratives. Theoretically, narrative form music listening may present episodic memories, which can be built up into stories. To test the effect of narrative music listening activities, an online survey was distributed to non-Western art music listeners in the 20 through 40 age range, and pretest–treatment–posttest activity was devised and administered to three groups, an absolute music listening group, a programmatic music listening group, and a polyphonic texture listening group. In the treatment section, the creative listening activity, participants were prompted to create musical narratives, which take the form of colors, shapes, dialogues, or explicit stories. Participants were then asked to write about the music they heard before and after the narrative music listening activity. Participants’ motivation to attend a Western art music concert was assessed via a motivation scale using Likert scales. The results suggest that this online activity’s multimodality was a promising method for enhancing the appreciation of Western art music

Benign infantile convulsion as a diagnostic clue of paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia: a case series

INTRODUCTION: Paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia is characterized by sudden attacks of involuntary movements. It is often misdiagnosed clinically as psychogenic illness, which distresses the patients to a great extent. A correct diagnosis will improve the quality of life in patients with paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia because treatment with low doses of anticonvulsants is effective for eliminating the clinical manifestations. Paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia can occur independently of or concurrently with benign infantile convulsion. Identification of PRRT2 as the causative gene of benign infantile convulsion and paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia allows genetic confirmation of the clinical diagnosis. CASE PRESENTATION: We describe the clinical features of a Japanese family with either paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia or benign infantile convulsion. A PRRT2 missense mutation (c.981C > G, p.Ile327Met) was identified in two patients with benign infantile convulsion and three patients with paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia as well as in two unaffected individuals. Allowing incomplete penetrance in the mutation carriers, this mutation co-segregated completely with the phenotype. The patients with paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia had been misdiagnosed with psychogenic illness for many years. They were correctly diagnosed with paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia when their children visited a pediatrician for benign infantile convulsion. Treatment with carbamazepine controlled their involuntary movements completely. CONCLUSIONS: Paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia is a treatable movement disorder that is often misdiagnosed clinically as psychogenic illness. It is important to note that two clinically distinct disorders, benign infantile convulsion and paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia, are allelic conditions caused by PRRT2 mutations. Paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia should be suspected in families with a child with benign infantile convulsion

Childcare and Child Development in Japan

For decades, the notion has persisted in developed countries that exclusive care by the mothers is best for the development of children up to 3 years of age. To examine the veracity of this “myth of the first three years” in Japan, we examined the effects of childcare facility use for children younger than 3 years on their development using the cohorts of the Longitudinal Survey of Newborns in the 21st Century conducted in Japan. Of the 47,015 respondents to the survey, we studied the children of 5,508 mothers with university/professional education to evaluate the relationships between primary early (< 2.5 years) childcare providers during weekday daytime hours and specific development indices for the ages of 2.5, 5.5, and 8 years. At the age of 2.5 and 5.5 years, children attending childcare facilities were judged as having more advanced developmental behaviors by their parents, such as being able to compose a two-word sentence (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 0.22) or to express emotions (aOR: 0.81), compared with those cared for by mothers. However, at the age of 8 years, children who attended childcare facilities as infants < 2.5 years showed more aggressive behavior in interrupting people (aOR: 1.20) and causing disturbances in public (aOR: 1.26) than those cared for by mothers (after adjustment for numerous child and parental factors). Although these results are generally consistent with previous studies, issues potentially involved with problem behavior such as quality of childcare require further investigation, as does the case of children of mothers with more modest educational attainment

Soft-tissue perineurioma of the retroperitoneum in a 63-year-old man, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging findings: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Soft-tissue perineuriomas are rare benign peripheral nerve sheath tumors in the subcutis of the extremities and the trunks of young patients. To our knowledge, this the first presentation of the computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging of a soft-tissue perineurioma in the retroperitoneum with pathologic correlation.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 63-year-old Japanese man was referred for assessment of high blood pressure. Abdominal computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging showed a well-defined, gradually enhancing tumor without focal degeneration or hemorrhage adjacent to the pancreatic body. Tumor excision with distal pancreatectomy and splenectomy was performed, as a malignant tumor of pancreatic origin could not be ruled out. No recurrence has been noted in the 16 months since the operation. Pathologic examination of the tumor revealed a soft-tissue perineurioma of the retroperitoneum.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Although the definitive diagnosis of soft-tissue perineurioma requires biopsy and immunohistochemical reactivity evaluation, the computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging findings described in this report suggest inclusion of this rare tumor in the differential diagnosis when such findings occur in the retroperitoneum.</p

The influence of attentional bias of social anxiety on anxiety in public speaking situations

The current study sought to investigate the relationship between the focus of attention and state anxiety during a public speaking situation involving social anxiety . In a preliminary investigation, undergraduate students responded to a questionnaire based on the Two-dimensional Social Phobic Tendency and Narcissistic Personality Scale-Short version (TENS-S). A previous study using the TENS-S suggested that social anxiety could be divided into two subtypes (high anthropophobic tendency and high narcissistic personality, or high anthropophobic tendency and low narcissistic personality). The high anthropophobic tendency and high narcissistic personality group (HH group) was predicted to exhibit increased anxiety with self-focused attention and other-focused attention. The high anthropophobic tendency and low narcissistic personality group (HL group) was predicted to exhibit increased anxiety with other-focused attention. After screening, 30 undergraduate students were divided into one of three groups based on their questionnaire scores; HH group (n = 8), HL group (n = 9), and low social anxiety group (n = 12). Participants were asked to undertake a speech task to increase state anxiety. Following the speech task, participants rated the direction of changes in attention and the level of state anxiety. The results indicated that self-focused attention and other-focused attention were facilitated in public speaking situations

Achievements and Challenges of Long-Distance Race Classes Focusing on Competition: Focusing on the Positive Change in Junior High School Students’ Attitudes towards Long-Distance Races

In this study, we conducted long-distance race classes focusing on competition (Takashima et al., 2017) for junior high school students. The purposes of this study were to analyze whether students’ attitudes toward long-distance races became more positive and the determinants of this change, as well as to consider achievements and challenges of the long-distance race classes focusing on competition. The results are summarized as follows. (1) The students’ attitudes toward long-distance races became more positive, with significant pre-post differences (p<0.05). As a factor behind this finding, in the review after the classes, 60% of students responded that “classes were enjoyable overall,” so it can be said that they were able to experience the enjoyment of competition in the classes. (2) The two methods devised in this study were effective for urging students to proactively engage in long-distance race classes. (3) After the classes, 33% of the students answered, “I don’t like long-distance races.” Thus, it seems that the experience of pleasures from competition were insufficient to compensate for the physical distress of long-distance races