Alejandra M. De Jesús SotoRISE Program

BIOL 3095 - Scientific Literature

Music Exposure: Influence in Different Stages of Human

Life

• Music has been……a fundamental part of human evolution …included in cultures around the world

(universal experience)

• Music affects: cognitive arealearning developmentphysical and other human skills

• Sounds had a greater impact on human conscience.

Introduction:Does music produce some effect in humans?

Introduction:Does music produce some effect in humans?

• Scientific research related to music exposure and their implications in the subjects studied at different stages of human development.

Pre-natal Infancy (1-4)Childhood (5-11)

• Each study uses a particular type of music

Adolescence (12-21)Youth (20-30)adulthood (30-60)Old age (60+)

Concepts:

Music

Tones or sounds employed

Melody (single lines)

Harmony (multiple lines)

Sounded or to be sounded by one or more voices or instruments (or both)

Retrieved from http://www.piano-play-it.com/piano-staff.html

Concepts:

• CognitiveRefers to the act or process of

knowing, perceiving, remembering, and others.

Is related to the mental processes of perception, memory, judgment, and reasoning.

Retrieved from http://www.utexas.edu/academic/ctl/assessment/iar/students/plan/objectives/bloom.php

Prenatal:(Arya et al. 2012)

• Humans can be influenced by music since fetal stage.• Scientific evidence / Fetus skills: responds to external stimuli

and ability to listen. • Fetal exposure to music positively affects neonatal behavior.

Pre-natal: (Arya et al. 2012)

• Fetus was exposed to a Garbh Sanskar’s cassette during the first half of pregnancy, 173 hours of music)

• Based on the baby’s ability to communicate through body movements, facial gestures, types of crying and social cues

• Tests were performed to measure: habituation, orientation, motor, performance, range of state, regulation of state, autonomic stability and reflexes.

Control group

• The fetus was not exposed to music.

Experimental group

Two days after birth, the baby was evaluated using Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (BNBAS).

339 primigravida mothersIndia

Pre-natal:(Arya et al. 2012)• Results:

Newborns who were exposed to music performed better on tests, except the one corresponding to measure reflexes (equal for both groups). The greatest effect was in the orientation of the child, a factor which should make his birth less traumatic

• It is possible to carry out further research using the results of this study.

• The evidence on the behavior of the newborn in relation to intrauterine and perinatal events experience may influence the organization of the newborn’s Central Nervous System.

Infants:(Thiessen & Saffran 2009)

• Cognitive abilities allow them to process some of the information given.

• Complexity of environment results confusing at this stage.

It is believed that the teaching method for infants should be one simplified (using less information, simplified input).

• Should learn in the same manner as the adult: using complex stimuli.

Method: relationship of two concepts (melody and lyrics).

• Melody facilitates the lyrics learning (repetitive signals), and lyric facilitates the melody learning.

Infants:(Thiessen & Saffran 2009)

Complex stimulus (2 ways)

Providing additional

redundant cues

Supporting infants' attention.

Infants:(Thiessen & Saffran 2009)

• In two experiments: Infants listened to music in which melodic and lyrical structure

predicted each other (forty and thirty infants between 6.5 and 8.0 months old)

They heard melodies or lyrics presented alone. The results

Indicate that the presence of melody facilitates infants’ learningInfants learned easily the lyrics when it was paired with a consistent melody than

when they were presented alone. Infants learned better the melody when it was paired with consistent lyrics.

Children:(Mattar 2013)• Early ages are essential to musical growth.• From 4 to 6 years children have great sensitivity (differentiate

between bass and treble).• Many teachers use music as a learning method.

Teaching through song and auditory stimuli helps the student during learning process.

• Even commercially, different educative attachments based on music are sold (alphabet and multiplication tables).

• Educators such as Maria Montessori and Jean Piaget regarded music as an important tool in education.

Children:(Mattar 2013)

• A study shows the impact of music in social, cognitive and physical activities of 42 kindergarten students (Jordan).

Consists of fifty behavioral aspects, which cover ten sub-areas, within three main domains of growth; cognitive, physical and social.

• Exposed to Mozart’s music.

Experimental group Control group

• Not exposed to any kind of music

Same curriculum.

The preschool and kindergarten children's performance scale. (Al-Batch, 2001)

Children:(Mattar 2013)

• Results:The experimental group showed higher capacity than the control group.Mozart’s music included in the first years of school directly affects the

social, cognitive and physical development of them.

This study confirms importance of music in learning methods. The music is an important tool in education. This reduces stress and

facilitates the development of the child

Relax(reduce impulsiveness)

Understand their emotions

Listen to others Focus student attention

Activate thinking(helps to retain information

Slow the listener’s heart

Adolescence:(Cabanac 2013)

• Relationship between musical education and academic performance.

• Music is related to cognitive skills.Music helps us to overcome stress due to cognitive dissonance

(accumulate more knowledge and facilitate learning).

Adolescence:(Cabanac 2013)

• High school students (third year-196; fourth year-184; senior class 180) of the Honor’s program, between the ages of 14 and 17.

• Investigators evaluated the academic achievement of the subjects taking music courses and those students who choose another elective.

• Results confirm that… Students taking music courses achieved better academic grades in all

subjects. Learning of students taking courses in music is better. They have better

academic achievement in their other subjects.

Adulthood:(Parbery-Clark 2011)• Physical and mental conditions arise during human aging

Hearing loss (difficult understanding speech in noise).

• In a study conducted in North Western University at Illinois in United States, the implications of cognitive abilities and hearing speech in noise were analyzed.

Adulthood:(Parbery-Clark 2011)

Thirty seven subjects (45 to 65) with normal

hearing, English speakers and did not have neurological or learning disorders 19 – musicians

18 – not musicians Different tests that

measured the auditory working

memory, words and speech perception

in noise.

• Hearing in Noise Test

• Quick Speech-in-Noise Test

• Words in Noise Test

Adulthood:(Parbery-Clark 2011)

• Results Auditory-perceptual and cognitive (memory) measures reveal that

musicians showed greater competition than non-musicians. It has been found that older adults with musical training are better

equipped to handle auditory perceptual needs in real-world situations.It is necessary to continue to investigate the impact of musical training in

aging processes. Researchers expressed that musical training during developmental years

can reduce the impact of hearing loss related with age.

Conclusion:

• Music has a positive implication at all stages of human life, specifically in the areas of development, behavior and learning.

• Music has been part of human evolution and it is important that we take advantage of its beneficial aspects.

• It is also important to conduct further studies about music and its effects, mainly long-term investigation.

References:

Arya R, Chansoria M, Konanki R, & Tiwari DK. 2012. Maternal music exposure during pregnancy influences neonatal behavior: an open-label randomized controlled trial. International Journal Of Pediatrics. 2012: 901812. [cited on 2013 October 2]. Available from: http://web.ebscohost.com.uprcdb.cayeyupr.edu:2048/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=457a8ec4-6ca7-4f7f-81d32446ce1d8781%40sessionmgr111&vid=10&hid=114

Cabanac A, Perlovsky L, Bonniot Cabanac MC, Cabanac M. 2013. Music and academic performance. Behavioral Brain Research. 256: 257-260. [cited on 2013 October 2]. Available from: http://www.sciencedirect.com.uprcdb.cayey.pr.edu:2048/science/article/pii/S016643281005093?np=y

Collins English Dictionary [Internet]. [2009]. 10th Edition. HarperCollins Publishers; [cited on 2013 November 1]. Available from: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/MUSIC

References:

Mattar J. 2013. The effect of Mozart’s music on child development in a Jordanian Kindergarten. Education. 133(3): 370-377. [cited on 2013 September 30]. Available from: http://web.ebscohost.com.uprcdb.cayey.upr.edu:2048/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=457a8ec4-6ca7-4f7f-81d3-2446ce1d8781%40sessionmgr111&vid=6&hid=28

Parbery-Clark A, Strait DL, Anderson S, Hittner E, Kraus N. 2011. Musical Experience and the Aging Auditory System: Implications for Cognitive Abilities and Hearing Speech in Noise. Plos one. 6(5): e180182. [cited on 2013 September 30]. Available from: http://web.ebscohost.com.uprcdb.cayey.upr.edu:2048/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=457a8ec4-6ca7-4f7f-81d3-2446ce1d8781%40sessionmgr111&vid=8&hid=28

Thiessen ED, Saffran JR. 2009. How the melody facilitates the message and vice versa in infant learning and memory. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 1169: 225-233. [cited on 2013 October 2]. Available from: http://web.ebscohost.com.uprcdb.cayey.upr.edu:2048/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=a7f1233c-6cbf-48c0-8126-9329d79ccc05%40sessionmgr112&vid=6&hid=113