Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - Research Publications
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ItemNo Preview AvailableOptimising visual attention in children with autism spectrum disorder: a comparison of fixation distributions viewing singing and speech(Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, 2017-06-01)Purpose : Many children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at risk of social isolation and limited social development due to difficulties with gaze and visual attention to people. Studies have shown that children with ASD may prefer music to other stimuli. We hypothesised that a short video of a singer would elicit more attention to the performer, particularly to her face, than a video of her reading a story and that the child’s familiarity with the song and story would enhance attention. Methods : 16 children aged 7-10 (14 M, 2 F) with ASD took part. Stimuli were 4 videos 1 minute long. Content was a favourite song or story of the child, along with a song and story which were the same for all children. The performer, her clothing, lighting and sound level were the same across tasks. Props were a pair of drums for the songs and a storybook of similar size for the stories. Eye movements were recorded with an Eyelink 1000; areas of interest (AOIs) were defined for the face, prop and body. 3-way repeated measures ANOVAs were used to examine the proportion of total dwell time, the proportion of total fixations and pupil area for each AOI in each trial. Results : For dwell time proportion, a significant interaction was found for familiarity*AOI (F=7.45, p=.004), with gaze time to the face being increased for familiar trials (Table 1). Similarly, medium*AOI was significant (F=6.01, p=.013), with increased gaze time to the face and body and decreased time to the prop for the songs (Table 2). The same patterns were seen for proportion of fixation counts to the AOIs (familiarity*AOI F=4.97, p =.016; medium*AOI F=10.33, p=.001). For the pupil, only familiarity and AOI were significant; pupils were larger for familiar stimuli (F=16.70, p=.001) and for the face and prop (F=6.8, p=.015), with the body eliciting less dilation. Conclusions : As hypothesised, the videos of singing attracted children's gaze to the performer more than did those of her reading a story. Familiarity with the material being performed also attracted more attention to her face. Familiarity and gaze to the face also increased arousal, as indexed by pupil dilation. Observation by children with ASD of a singer, particularly one performing their favourite songs, may be a useful intervention for improving their social engagement skills.
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ItemIntra-individual change and variability in intentional self-regulation: A concert cellist optimizing performance(The International Symposium on Performance Science, 2019)
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ItemAn Experiential Feedback Model of Musical Development for Synesthetes and Absolute Pitch Possessors.(Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität., 2020)Synästhesie ist ein bemerkenswertes Phänomen: Es vereint Wissenschaftler, Künstler, Fachleute und Laien sowie verschiedene Forschungsfelder wie Neurowissenschaften, Psychologie, Musikwissenschaft, Kunstgeschichte, Philosophie und ...
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ItemExploring the Contemporary Listening Experiences of Synesthetes.(Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität., 2020)Synästhesie ist ein bemerkenswertes Phänomen: Es vereint Wissenschaftler, Künstler, Fachleute und Laien sowie verschiedene Forschungsfelder wie Neurowissenschaften, Psychologie, Musikwissenschaft, Kunstgeschichte, Philosophie und ...
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ItemMotivation, engagement, and performance in elite musical training: A longitudinal study(Listaháháskóli Islands, 2017)Background Musicians training at the highest levels in university music schools and conservatories face considerable challenges. They need to undertake enormous amounts of practice—an activity which requires substantial effort and can be lonely, difficult, and boring. They also face considerable motivational challenges: studio teachers are renowned for their demandingness, conservatories can be hotbeds of competitiveness and pressure, and the uncertainties and risks of pursuing a music performance career require resilience and adaptability. Little systematic research has examined the motivational dynamics of music training at this level, and the style of studio instruction—a consistent tradition largely unchanged for many centuries—has rarely been scrutinized. Aims We aimed to understand the role motivation plays in cognitive, affective, and behavioral aspects of musicians’ practice, and the subsequent effects that motivation and practice quality have on performance. Method Music students (N=611) from four conservatories and university music schools in three countries participated in the research. A longitudinal survey research design was used, with data collected at four time points over an academic year. Measures were taken from the established literature on motivation in educational settings or developed for the present study, based on theoretical frameworks including self-determination theory and self-regulated learning. Performance examination grades were obtained from the relevant institutions. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modelling. Results Moderate to large effects were found for the role of motivation in practice quality. Students who were intrinsically motivated were more cognitively, affectively, and behaviorally engaged in their music practice, and had higher self-efficacy for their performance. The extent to which their music learning fulfilled their psychological needs impacted on important outcomes, including performance, career intentions, wellbeing, and adaptability. Controlling teaching and a poor teacher-student relationship, on the other hand, was associated with detrimental outcomes. Interestingly, the perceived competitiveness of their music learning environments was overall very low and unrelated to their motivation and practice, potentially challenging the stereotype of music schools as competitive hotbeds of pressure and anxiety. Most importantly, many of these factors were related to the quality of their music performance. Conclusions The results of this study provide strong evidence for the need to support student motivation and wellbeing, and also suggest ways in which music institutions and studio teachers might provide such support. The results also show that theoretical frameworks and approaches tested extensively in other domains—self-determination theory, self-regulated learning, and deliberate practice—are also applicable to a creative performance setting at the highest levels of training.
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ItemMusic therapy research in dementia: fostering a global approach(GRIEG ACADEMY, 2016)
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ItemAuthors' roundtable: scientific writing, peer review, and publication across journals(GRIEG ACADEMY, 2016)