This thesis explored two main research questions, firstly investigating whether musical expertise offers a performance advantage in working memory for sequences of tones that vary in pitch, and secondly whether any advantage of musical expertise may be present in older as well as younger individuals. Previous research on working memory for tone sequences has reported that articulatory suppression interferes with temporary storage of verbal but not with tone sequences (Koelsch et al, 2009), suggesting a “tonal loop” within a musician’s working memory (Schulze, Zysset, Mueller, Friederici, & Koelsch, 2011) that complements the phonological loop for verbal material in musicians and non-musicians alike (e.g., Baddeley, 1986; 1992). The five experiments reported here explored detection of a pitch change between pairs of tone sequences with or without concurrent articulatory suppression or singing suppression. In Experiment 1, with pairs of auditory tonal (in a musical key) sequences to be compared, singing suppression impaired non-musicians significantly more than musicians, although both groups showed an impairment, whereas only non-musicians were affected by verbal articulatory suppression. In Experiment 2, conducted only with musicians who could read music, the first sequence of each pair was presented visually and the second sequence for comparison was presented aurally. Musicians were again impaired by singing suppression but not by articulatory suppression. For Experiment 3, for auditory atonal (no musical key) pairs of sequences, non-musicians performed at floor, and musicians were again significantly more impaired by singing suppression than by articulatory suppression. In contrast, for Experiment 4, only with musicians who could read music, for visually presented atonal sequences each followed by an auditory atonal sequence for comparison, musicians were significantly more impaired by articulatory suppression than singing suppression. These results suggest that for tonal sequences, musicians use their musical training and experience, coupled with subvocalised singing, but for atonal sequences, additional strategies involving phonological rehearsal may be used. Non-musicians may also rely on musical experience and subvocal singing for tonal sequences but seem to be unable to do so for atonal sequences. Results are consistent with the use by both musicians and non-musicians of a tonal loop for the rehearsal of tone sequences, which develops with musical training and may be used in addition to subvocal rehearsal. Previous research has suggested musical expertise may offer some protection against cognitive ageing (Hanna-Pladdy & MacKay, 2011; Amer, Kalender, Hasher, Trehub, & Wong, 2013). Experiment 5 in this thesis explored whether a lifetime of musical training and experience may offer the same advantages in old age for retaining tone sequences that had been found in Experiments 1 and 3 for younger musicians. This experiment also considered whether any advantage for older musicians on this task could be explained by the proposed “bilingual advantage” (e.g., Bialystok, Craik, Klein & Viswanathan, 2004), and what other aspects of cognition might be associated with tone sequence memory performance. A test battery was utilised with 74 older adults (60-80 years of age) to assess the influence of musical and language expertise, and cognitive abilities (attention, working memory capacity, self-reported prospective and retrospective memory) on the music-related pitch sequence comparison task from Experiments 1 and 3. Working memory capacity was found to predict individual differences in the ability to detect pitch changes between pairs of tone sequences, regardless of musical experience. Older musicians performed more poorly on the pitch change detection task overall than the younger musicians in the earlier experiments, but their performance on the task was significantly better than for age-matched non-musically trained peers who were close to floor for both tonal and atonal sequences, suggesting some benefit from a lifetime of musical experience.

RAMOS, Danilo. Fatores emocionais durante uma escuta musical afetam a percepção temporal de músicos e não músicos? 2008, 268 p. Tese (Doutorado). Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto. Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, 2008. Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo verificar o papel das emoções desencadeadas pela música na percepção temporal de músicos e não músicos. Quatro experimentos foram realizados: no Experimento I, músicos e não músicos realizaram tarefas de associações emocionais a trechos musicais de 36 segundos de duração, pertencentes ao repertório erudito ocidental. A tarefa consistia em escutar cada trecho musical e associá-lo às categorias emocionais Alegria, Serenidade, Tristeza, Medo ou Raiva. Os resultados mostraram que a maioria dos trechos musicais desencadeou uma única emoção específica nos ouvintes; além disso, as associações emocionais dos músicos foram semelhantes às associações emocionais dos não músicos para a maioria dos trechos musicais apresentados. No Experimento II, músicos e não músicos realizaram tarefas de associação temporal aos trechos musicais mais representativos de cada emoção, utilizados no Experimento I. Assim, os trechos musicais eram apresentados e os participantes deveriam associar cada um deles a durações de 16, 18, 20, 22 ou 24 segundos. Os resultados mostraram que, para o grupo Músicos, os três trechos musicais associados à Tristeza foram subestimados em relação às suas durações reais; nenhuma outra categoria emocional apresentou mais do que um trecho musical sendo subestimado ou superestimado em relação a suas durações reais, para ambos os grupos. Pesquisas recentes em Psicologia da Música têm mostrado duas propriedades estruturais como sendo moduladoras da percepção de emoções específicas durante uma escuta musical: o modo (organização das notas dentro de uma escala musical) e o andamento (número de batidas por minuto). Assim, no Experimento III, músicos e não músicos realizaram tarefas de associações emocionais a composições musicais construídas em sete modos (Jônio, Dórico, Frígio, Lídio, Mixolídio, Eólio e Lócrio) e três andamentos (adágio, moderato e presto). O procedimento foi o mesmo utilizado no Experimento I. Os resultados mostraram que o modo musical modulou a valência afetiva desencadeada pelos trechos musicais: trechos musicais apresentados em modos maiores obtiveram índices positivos de valência afetiva e trechos musicais apresentados em modos menores obtiveram índices negativos de valência afetiva; além disso, o andamento musical modulou o arousal desencadeado pelos trechos musicais: quanto mais rápido o andamento do trecho musical, maiores os níveis de arousal desencadeados e vice-versa. No Experimento IV, músicos e não músicos realizaram tarefas de associação temporal aos trechos musicais modais utilizados no Experimento III. O procedimento foi o mesmo utilizado no Experimento II. Os resultados mostraram que manipulações, principalmente no arousal, afetaram a percepção temporal dos ouvintes: para ambos os grupos, foram encontradas subestimações temporais para trechos musicais desencadeadores de baixos índices de arousal; além disso, para o grupo Não Músicos, foram encontradas superestimações temporais para trechos musicais desencadeadores de altos índices de arousal. Estes resultados mostraram que, no caso dos músicos, a percepção temporal foi afetada por atmosferas emocionais relacionadas à Tristeza; no caso dos Não Músicos, a percepção temporal foi afetada por fatores relacionados ao nível do arousal dos eventos musicais apreciados. / RAMOS, Danilo. Do emotional factors during music listening tasks affect time perception of musicians and nonmusicians? 2008, 268 pages. Thesis (PhD). Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters of Ribeirão Preto. University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, 2008. This study aimed to verify the role of emotions triggered by music on time perception of musicians and nonmusicians. Four experiments were conducted: In Experiment I, musicians and nonmusicians performed emotional association tasks for musical excerpts of 36 seconds duration belonging to the Western classic repertoire. The tasks required to listen to each musical excerpt and to associate it with emotional categories: Joy, Serenity, Sadness, or Fear/Anger. The results showed that most musical excerpts triggered a specific single emotion in listeners; moreover, the emotional associations of musicians were similar to the emotional associations of nonmusicians for most musical excerpts presented. In Experiment II, musicians and nonmusicians performed temporal association tasks for the three most representative excerpts of each emotion used in Experiment I. Thus, the participants had to associate each of such musical excerpts with the following durations: 16, 18, 20, 22 or 24 seconds. The results showed that for the musicians, the three musical excerpts associated with Sadness were underestimated in relation to their real time; moreover, no other emotional category was associated with more than one musical excerpt whether being underestimated or overestimated, regarding their real time, for both groups. Recent researches in Psychology of Music have shown two structural properties as the modulators of specific emotions perceived during a music listening task: the mode (the organization of the notes in a musical scale) and tempo (the number of beats per minute). Thus, in Experiment III, musicians and nonmusicians carried out emotional association tasks with musical compositions constructed in seven modes (Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Locrian) and three tempi (adagio, moderato, and presto). The procedure was the same used in Experiment I. The results showed that the musical mode modulated the affective valence triggered by the excerpts: musical excerpts based on major modes obtained positive affective valence indexes and musical excerpts based on minor modes obtained negative affective valence indexes; moreover, the musical tempo modulated the arousal triggered by the excerpts: the faster the tempo of the musical excerpts, the higher the arousal levels and vice versa, for both groups. In Experiment IV, musicians and nonmusicians performed temporal association tasks for those modal musical excerpts used in Experiment III. The procedure was the same used in Experiment II. The results showed that manipulations concerning arousal affected the time perception of the listeners: time underestimations due to low arousal excerpts were found for both groups; moreover, time underestimations due to high arousal excerpts were found only for nonmusicians. These results showed that in the case of musicians, time perception was affected by emotional atmospheres related to Sadness; in the case of nonmusicians, time perception was affected by factors related to the level of arousal of music events appreciated.

RAMOS, Danilo. Fatores emocionais durante uma escuta musical afetam a percepção temporal de músicos e não músicos? 2008, 268 p. Tese (Doutorado). Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto. Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, 2008. Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo verificar o papel das emoções desencadeadas pela música na percepção temporal de músicos e não músicos. Quatro experimentos foram realizados: no Experimento I, músicos e não músicos realizaram tarefas de associações emocionais a trechos musicais de 36 segundos de duração, pertencentes ao repertório erudito ocidental. A tarefa consistia em escutar cada trecho musical e associá-lo às categorias emocionais Alegria, Serenidade, Tristeza, Medo ou Raiva. Os resultados mostraram que a maioria dos trechos musicais desencadeou uma única emoção específica nos ouvintes; além disso, as associações emocionais dos músicos foram semelhantes às associações emocionais dos não músicos para a maioria dos trechos musicais apresentados. No Experimento II, músicos e não músicos realizaram tarefas de associação temporal aos trechos musicais mais representativos de cada emoção, utilizados no Experimento I. Assim, os trechos musicais eram apresentados e os participantes deveriam associar cada um deles a durações de 16, 18, 20, 22 ou 24 segundos. Os resultados mostraram que, para o grupo Músicos, os três trechos musicais associados à Tristeza foram subestimados em relação às suas durações reais; nenhuma outra categoria emocional apresentou mais do que um trecho musical sendo subestimado ou superestimado em relação a suas durações reais, para ambos os grupos. Pesquisas recentes em Psicologia da Música têm mostrado duas propriedades estruturais como sendo moduladoras da percepção de emoções específicas durante uma escuta musical: o modo (organização das notas dentro de uma escala musical) e o andamento (número de batidas por minuto). Assim, no Experimento III, músicos e não músicos realizaram tarefas de associações emocionais a composições musicais construídas em sete modos (Jônio, Dórico, Frígio, Lídio, Mixolídio, Eólio e Lócrio) e três andamentos (adágio, moderato e presto). O procedimento foi o mesmo utilizado no Experimento I. Os resultados mostraram que o modo musical modulou a valência afetiva desencadeada pelos trechos musicais: trechos musicais apresentados em modos maiores obtiveram índices positivos de valência afetiva e trechos musicais apresentados em modos menores obtiveram índices negativos de valência afetiva; além disso, o andamento musical modulou o arousal desencadeado pelos trechos musicais: quanto mais rápido o andamento do trecho musical, maiores os níveis de arousal desencadeados e vice-versa. No Experimento IV, músicos e não músicos realizaram tarefas de associação temporal aos trechos musicais modais utilizados no Experimento III. O procedimento foi o mesmo utilizado no Experimento II. Os resultados mostraram que manipulações, principalmente no arousal, afetaram a percepção temporal dos ouvintes: para ambos os grupos, foram encontradas subestimações temporais para trechos musicais desencadeadores de baixos índices de arousal; além disso, para o grupo Não Músicos, foram encontradas superestimações temporais para trechos musicais desencadeadores de altos índices de arousal. Estes resultados mostraram que, no caso dos músicos, a percepção temporal foi afetada por atmosferas emocionais relacionadas à Tristeza; no caso dos Não Músicos, a percepção temporal foi afetada por fatores relacionados ao nível do arousal dos eventos musicais apreciados. / RAMOS, Danilo. Do emotional factors during music listening tasks affect time perception of musicians and nonmusicians? 2008, 268 pages. Thesis (PhD). Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters of Ribeirão Preto. University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, 2008. This study aimed to verify the role of emotions triggered by music on time perception of musicians and nonmusicians. Four experiments were conducted: In Experiment I, musicians and nonmusicians performed emotional association tasks for musical excerpts of 36 seconds duration belonging to the Western classic repertoire. The tasks required to listen to each musical excerpt and to associate it with emotional categories: Joy, Serenity, Sadness, or Fear/Anger. The results showed that most musical excerpts triggered a specific single emotion in listeners; moreover, the emotional associations of musicians were similar to the emotional associations of nonmusicians for most musical excerpts presented. In Experiment II, musicians and nonmusicians performed temporal association tasks for the three most representative excerpts of each emotion used in Experiment I. Thus, the participants had to associate each of such musical excerpts with the following durations: 16, 18, 20, 22 or 24 seconds. The results showed that for the musicians, the three musical excerpts associated with Sadness were underestimated in relation to their real time; moreover, no other emotional category was associated with more than one musical excerpt whether being underestimated or overestimated, regarding their real time, for both groups. Recent researches in Psychology of Music have shown two structural properties as the modulators of specific emotions perceived during a music listening task: the mode (the organization of the notes in a musical scale) and tempo (the number of beats per minute). Thus, in Experiment III, musicians and nonmusicians carried out emotional association tasks with musical compositions constructed in seven modes (Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Locrian) and three tempi (adagio, moderato, and presto). The procedure was the same used in Experiment I. The results showed that the musical mode modulated the affective valence triggered by the excerpts: musical excerpts based on major modes obtained positive affective valence indexes and musical excerpts based on minor modes obtained negative affective valence indexes; moreover, the musical tempo modulated the arousal triggered by the excerpts: the faster the tempo of the musical excerpts, the higher the arousal levels and vice versa, for both groups. In Experiment IV, musicians and nonmusicians performed temporal association tasks for those modal musical excerpts used in Experiment III. The procedure was the same used in Experiment II. The results showed that manipulations concerning arousal affected the time perception of the listeners: time underestimations due to low arousal excerpts were found for both groups; moreover, time underestimations due to high arousal excerpts were found only for nonmusicians. These results showed that in the case of musicians, time perception was affected by emotional atmospheres related to Sadness; in the case of nonmusicians, time perception was affected by factors related to the level of arousal of music events appreciated.

Mon thème de recherche est d’étudier l’influence de l’apprentissage de la musique sur le traitement acoustique et phonologique de la syllabe chez des enfants normolecteurs et dyslexiques. Dans ce but, j’ai conduit plusieurs expériences basées sur l’utilisation conjointe des méthodes issues de la psychologie expérimentale (Temps de Réaction, TRs, et pourcentage d’erreurs, %err) et de l’électrophysiologie chez l’homme (Potentiels Evoqués, PEs). En comparant des enfants musiciens et non-musiciens de 9 ans, j’ai d’abord testé les effets de l’expertise musicale sur les traitements attentif (TRs et %err) et pré-attentif (en utilisant la Mismatch Negativity, MMN) de paramètres acoustiques, fréquence et durée des syllabes, et d’un paramètre phonologique, le Voice Onset Time (VOT; Expérience I). Les résultats montrent que l'expertise musicale améliore les traitements pré-attentif et attentif de la durée et du VOT dans les syllabes et le traitement attentif des variations de fréquence. Dans une seconde étude, j’ai utilisé la MMN pour comparer le traitement de ces mêmes paramètres chez des enfants dyslexiques et normolecteurs. Les enfants dyslexiques montrent un déficit du traitement de la durée des syllabes et du VOT comparés aux enfants normolecteurs. Enfin, dans les deux dernières études, j’ai utilisé la méthode longitudinale pour tester l’influence de l’apprentissage de la musique sur le traitement pré-attentif (MMN) de ces mêmes paramètres chez des enfants normolecteurs (Expérience III) et dyslexiques (Expérience IV). Les résultats de l’Expérience III montrent que 12 mois d’apprentissage de la musique améliorent le traitement pré-attentif de la durée et du VOT chez les enfants normolecteurs. En reproduisant les effets trouvés dans l’Expérience I, ces résultats soulignent que l’avantage mis en évidence chez les enfants musiciens ne résulterait pas uniquement de prédispositions génétiques pour la musique mais serait causalement lié à l’apprentissage musical. Enfin, les résultats de l’Expérience IV montrent que 6 mois d’apprentissage de la musique améliorent le traitement pré-attentif du VOT chez les enfants dyslexiques, suggérant que l’apprentissage musical pourrait être utilisé comme une aide à la remédiation de la dyslexie.Pris dans leur ensemble, ces résultats démontrent une relation forte entre traitements acoustique et phonologique. L’apprentissage de la musique, en améliorant la sensibilité des enfants aux paramètres acoustiques dans la musique et dans le langage (processus communs), augmenterait également leur sensibilité aux paramètres phonologiques associés et permettrait ainsi la construction de représentations phonologiques plus robustes (transfert d’apprentissage de la musique vers le langage). / My research is aimed at studying the influence of musical training on the acoustic and phonological processing of syllables in children with dyslexia and in normal-reading children. To this aim, I conducted several experiments by using methods issued from experimental psychology (Reaction Times, RTs, and error rates, %err) and from human electrophysiology (Event-Related brain Potentials, ERPs)By comparing 9-year-old musician and non-musician children, I first tested for the effects of musical expertise on attentive (RTs and %err) and preattentive processing (by using the Mismatch Negativity, MMN) of the acoustical parameters, frequency and duration, of syllables and of a phonological parameter, the Voice Onset Time (VOT; Experiment I). Results showed enhanced preattentive and attentive processing of syllables’ duration and VOT in musicians compared to nonmusician children. Secondly, I compared the processing of these same parameters in dyslexic and normal-reading children (Experiment II) by using the MMN. Results revealed that children with dyslexia showed deficits for the processing of duration and VOT in syllables compared to normal-readers. Finally, in the last two studies, I used the longitudinal method to test for the influence of musical training on the processing of the same acoustic and phonological parameters of syllables, in normal-reading children (Experiment III) and in children with dyslexia (Experiment IV). Results of Experiment III showed that 12 months of musical training enhanced duration and VOT processing in syllables, thereby demonstrating that the effects of musical expertise shown in Experiment I are not likely to only result from specific genetic predispositions for music but are causally linked to musical training. Finally, results of Experiment IV revealed that 6 months of musical training in children with dyslexia enhanced their sensitivity to VOT processing, suggesting that musical training could be an aid for the remediation of dyslexia.These results highlight the relationship between acoustical and phonological processing. Musical training, by refining the acoustical network responsible for the acoustic processing in music and speech sounds (common processing) also enhances sensitivity to phonological associated features and, consequently, the building-up of more robust phonological representations (transfer of training effect from music to language processing).

Les objectifs de cette thèse sont multiples. Le premier objectif est de comparer, aux niveaux comportemental et électrophysiologique, l'apprentissage implicite de structures linguistiques et musicales après l'écoute d'un langage artificiel chanté. Alors qu'au niveau comportemental, seule la structure linguistique semble être apprise, les résultats électrophysiologiques révèlent un effet N400 pour les deux dimensions, linguistique et musicale. Le deuxième objectif de cette thèse est d'évaluer comment cet apprentissage est influencé par l'expertise musicale. Nous avons comparé un groupe d'adultes musiciens à un groupe de non musiciens. Alors qu'au niveau comportemental les musiciens sont à peine meilleurs que les non musiciens dans les deux dimensions, les données électrophysiologiques révèlent, via des différences précoces (N1/P2) et tardives (N400), une meilleure segmentation chez les musiciens. De plus, les analyses en potentiels évoqués et en temps-fréquences des données électrophysiologiques enregistrées pendant les phases d'apprentissage révèlent que les musiciens apprennent plus rapidement que les non musiciens. Cependant, un lien de causalité quant aux effets de l'apprentissage de la musique ne peut être mis en évidence qu'en réalisant une étude longitudinale. Nous avons mené une telle étude chez des enfants de 8 ans à qui l'on a fait suivre un apprentissage de la musique ou de la peinture pendant 2 années. Les résultats comportementaux et électrophysiologiques révèlent un large bénéfice de l'apprentissage musical comparé à celui de la peinture démontrant l'importance de la musique dans l'éducation des enfants. / The aims of the present thesis were two-folded. Firstly, we wanted to compare behavioral and electrophysiological measures related to the implicit learning of linguistic and musical structures contained within an artificial sung language. While behavioral measures suggest that only the linguistic structure was learned, electrophysiological data revealed similar N400 effects in both linguistic and musical dimensions, suggesting that participants did also learn the musical structure. The second goal was to evaluate to what extent musical expertise can affect speech segmentation. At this aim, we compared a group of adult musicians to a group of nonmusicians. While behavioral data showed that musicians had marginally better performance than non musicians in both dimensions, electrophysiological data revealed, via early (N1/P2) and late (N400) differences, a better speech segmentation in musicians than in non musicians. Moreover, event-related potentials and time-frequency analyzes during learning revealed a faster and more efficient learning process in musicians. However, the only way to unambiguously claim causality between expertise and the observed effects requires a longitudinal approach. At this aim, we conducted a study with 8 year-old children who followed either music or painting lessons over a period of 2 years. Behavioral and electrophysiological data revealed a larger benefit of musical compared to painting training, bringing evidences for the importance of music in childrens' education.

Les avantages liés à la formation musicale transfèrent au traitement du langage, et à certaines fonctions perceptives et cognitives. Nous examinons si cette formation facilite aussi l'apprentissage de mots nouveaux au long de la vie. Les enfants «musiciens» et les jeunes musiciens professionnels surpassent les participants de contrôle dans une série d’expériences, avec une plasticité cérébrale plus rapide, et une connectivité fonctionnelle plus forte, mesurées par électroencéphalographie. Les résultats des musiciens plus âgés sont moins clairs, suggérant un impact limité de la formation musicale sur le déclin cognitif. Enfin, les jeunes musiciens ont une meilleure mémoire à long terme des nouveaux mots, ce qui contribuerait à expliquer l’avantage observé. Ces effets de transfert de la formation musicale au niveau sémantique et de la mémoire à long terme révèlent l’importance des fonctions cognitives générales et ouvrent de nouvelles perspectives pour l’éducation et la rééducation. / Based on results evidencing music training-related advantages on speech processing, perceptive and cognitive functions, we examine whether music training facilitates novel word learning throughout the lifespan. We show that musically-trained children and young professional musicians outperform controls in a series of experiments, with faster brain plasticity and stronger functional connectivity, as measured by electroencephalography. By contrast, advantages for old adult musicians are less clear-cut, suggesting a limited impact of music training to counteract cognitive decline. Finally, young musicians show better long-term memory for novel words, which possibly contributes, along with better auditory perception and attention, to their advantage in word learning. By showing transfer effects from music training to semantic processing and long-term memory, results reveal the importance of domain-general cognitive functions and open new perspectives for education and rehabilitation.