This study was an investigation of the effects of physiologically-oriented mental imagery on immune functioning. College students with normal medical histories were randomly selected to one of three groups. Subjects in Group 1 participated in short educational training on the production of secretory immunoglobulin A. They were then tested on salivary IgA, skin temperature and the Profile of Mood States (POMS) before and after listening to a 17-minute tape of imagery instructions with specially-composed background "entrainment" music, designed to enhance imagery. Subjects in Group 2 (placebo controls) listened to the same music but received no formal training on the immune system. Group 3 acted as a control and subjects were tested before and after 17 minutes of no activity. Treatment groups listened to their tapes at home on a bi-daily basis for six weeks. All groups were again tested at Weeks 3 and 6. Secretory IgA was analyzed using standard radial immuno-diffusion techniques. Repeated measures analyses of variance with planned orthogonal contrasts were used to evaluate the data. Significant overall increases (p < .05) were found between pre- and posttests for all three trials. Groups 1 and 2 combined (treatment groups) yielded significantly greater increases in slgA over Group 3 (control) for all three trials. Group 1 (imagery) was significantly higher than Group 2 (music) in antibody production for Trials 2 and 3. No group differences were noted in saliva volume or skin temperature, indicating that autonomic physiological mechanisms were not responsible for differences in antibody production. POMS changes more often favored Group 1. Symptomatology, recorded by subjects at weeks three and six, was significantly lower for three symptoms (rapid heartbeat, breathing difficulty, and jaw clenching), again favoring both treatment groups over the control group. Conclusions were that CNS-mediated immunoenhancement through mental imagery is possible.

I study certain passages of music for which I struggle to perceive a clear rhythm. I attribute this difficulty to an inability to infer or impose a beat. I show how, by listening to these “vague” rhythms repeatedly, I have been able to use movement to impose my own beat onto the auditory surface, and, by doing so, hear the rhythm with more clarity. What’s more, I show how I have been able to impose different beats on different listening occasions, and, as a result, hear different rhythms. I share my experience by presenting videos in which I move to the same music in different ways, priming the listener to have different rhythmic experiences depending on which video is being viewed. I discuss the techniques used to create these effects, as well as the features of the acoustic signal which make this kind of manipulation possible. In light of these discussions, and in dialogue with the work of other theorists, I examine certain issues of music cognition and music aesthetics, including the issue of musical “complexity”. I finish by considering whether the experience of rhythm could be manipulated to an even greater degree, and, to that end, present the “even-note illusion”, which uses a click-track to remove the lilt from a non-periodic stimulus.

The purpose of this project is to explore the effectiveness of combining music and visual supports as a means of facilitating communication in exceptional preschoolers. The results indicate that music and visual supports have some merit for increasing verbal responses.

Thesis (PhD (Pathology. Medical Microbiology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / There has recently been a significant transformation in the medical world, in particular regarding the relation between the mind/health and mind/illnesses. The changes are briefly a revolution whereby the new approach sees the development of an illness as an interaction between the psychological, biochemical and physiological factors. Music, which is used as a clinical intervention, is perceived first through the brain, affirms this interaction between the body systems, as well as having the capacity to modify the mind and thus the biochemistry of the body. The aim of this study was essentially to supply empirical data by measuring selective parameters while the patients were receiving music intervention during the physiotherapeutic treatment for pneumonia and bronchitis. Forty adult patients who were divided into an experimental and control group, according to a random scale, participated in the research. The dependant variables that had shown significant changes amongst the experimental group after three days of physiotherapeutic treatment were as follows: the cortisol, the cortisol: DHEA ratio plasma levels, the POMS scale (that measures different moods), the peak flow measurements of the lung functions and the immune parameters, namely, CD4+ : CD8+ ratio and B-cells. The results showed that the experimental group that was exposed to the acoustic stimuli of the Magnificat in D, BWV 243 of JS Bach, experienced a more positive mood and lower cortisol levels, while the immune markers as well as the peak flow of the lungs had improved. The results of the control group showed significant implications, in that its cortisol levels increased and the POMS subscale of anger and depression showed no significant change, while the tension decreased significantly. This research provided sufficient scientific evidence to confirm the concept of a bidirectional communication between the brain and the immune system. It also showed clearly that music had the capacity to modify emotional conditions, which again influenced the endocrine and autonomic nervous system and modulated the immune systems.

The increasing importance of music as a therapeutic benefit in mental hospitals has prompted this study. Numerous unscientific reports and papers concerned with music therapy have been published; however, material based upon controlled experiments and results is available which has proven valuable in the study of this growing aid for mental patients. The reference material in the following chapters has been organized and limited to objective reports produced by those who have devoted their interest and time to the facts about the use of music as a therapeutic agent in mental hospitals.