{"title":"The effect of practice and musical structure on pianists' eye-hand span and visual monitoring.","authors":"Michel A Cara","doi":"10.16910/jemr.16.2.5","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study examines short-term improvement of music performances and oculomotor behaviour during four successive executions of a brief musical piece composed by Bartók, \"Slovak Boys' Dance\". Pianists (n=22) were allowed to practice for two minutes between each trial. Eye-tracking data were collected as well as MIDI information from pianists' performances. Cognitive skills were assessed by a spatial memory test and a reading span test. Principal component analysis (PCA) enabled us to distinguish two axes, one associated with anticipation and the other with dependence/independence on written code. The effect of musical structure, determined by the emergence of different sections in the score, was observed in all the dependent variables selected from the PCA; we also observed the effect of practice on the number of fixations, the number of glances at the keyboard (GAK) and the awareness span. Pianist expertise was associated with fewer fixations and GAK, better anticipation capacities and more effective strategies for visual monitoring of motor movements. The significant correlations observed between the reading span test and GAK duration highlight the challenge of working memory involvement during music reading.</p>","PeriodicalId":1,"journal":{"name":"Accounts of Chemical Research","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.4000,"publicationDate":"2023-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10696908/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Accounts of Chemical Research","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.16910/jemr.16.2.5","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2023/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This study examines short-term improvement of music performances and oculomotor behaviour during four successive executions of a brief musical piece composed by Bartók, "Slovak Boys' Dance". Pianists (n=22) were allowed to practice for two minutes between each trial. Eye-tracking data were collected as well as MIDI information from pianists' performances. Cognitive skills were assessed by a spatial memory test and a reading span test. Principal component analysis (PCA) enabled us to distinguish two axes, one associated with anticipation and the other with dependence/independence on written code. The effect of musical structure, determined by the emergence of different sections in the score, was observed in all the dependent variables selected from the PCA; we also observed the effect of practice on the number of fixations, the number of glances at the keyboard (GAK) and the awareness span. Pianist expertise was associated with fewer fixations and GAK, better anticipation capacities and more effective strategies for visual monitoring of motor movements. The significant correlations observed between the reading span test and GAK duration highlight the challenge of working memory involvement during music reading.
期刊介绍:
Accounts of Chemical Research presents short, concise and critical articles offering easy-to-read overviews of basic research and applications in all areas of chemistry and biochemistry. These short reviews focus on research from the author’s own laboratory and are designed to teach the reader about a research project. In addition, Accounts of Chemical Research publishes commentaries that give an informed opinion on a current research problem. Special Issues online are devoted to a single topic of unusual activity and significance.
Accounts of Chemical Research replaces the traditional article abstract with an article "Conspectus." These entries synopsize the research affording the reader a closer look at the content and significance of an article. Through this provision of a more detailed description of the article contents, the Conspectus enhances the article's discoverability by search engines and the exposure for the research.