Symbolic Systems Forum - Heesoo Kim (M.S. Candidate), Symbolic Systems Program, "Rapid Temporal Processing in Musicians and non-Musicians"

Heesoo Kim (M.S. Candidate), Symbolic Systems Program, "Rapid Temporal Processing in Musicians and non-Musicians"

ABSTRACT:

It has long been shown that dyslexic people have difficulties with rapid

temporal processing (e.g. Tallal, 1975). More recently, music

intervention/therapy has been shown to improve certain aspects of dyslexia

in children (e.g. Overy, 2003). In addition, preliminary data analysis on a

recent fMRI study shows that musicians and non-musicians may show different

activation patterns in traditional areas when doing a task requiring rapid

temporal processing. I have collected behavioral data on rapid temporal

processing, using the Repetition Task (REP test), in 3 different groups

(musicians, amateur musicians, and non-musicians) from a

non-language-impaired adult population. Stimulus duration,

Inter-Stimulus-Interval, and degree of sequencing complexity were taken

into account. Preliminary data analysis shows that both musicians and

amateur musicians outperform non-musicians in tasks that require more

sequencing. However, the differences between musicians and amateur

musicians are not significant.