Abstract In this paper several meaningful audio icons of classic arcade games such as Pong, Donkey Kong, Mario World and Pac-Man are analyzed, using the PRAAT software for speech analysis and musical theory. The analysis results are used to describe how these examples of best practice sound design obtain their meaning in the player's perception. Some aspects can be related to the use of tonal hierarchy (e.g. Donkey Kong and Mario World) which is a western culture related aspect of musical meaning. Other aspects are related to universal expressions of meaning such as the theory of misattribution, prosody, vocalization and cross-modal perceptions such as brightness and the uncanny valley hypothesis. Recent studies in the field of cognitive neuroscience support the universal and meaningful potential of all these aspects. The relationship between language related prosody, vocalization and phonology, and music seems to be an especially successful design principle for universally meaningful music icons in game sound design.
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Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) was used to study the activation of cerebral motor networks during auditory perception of music in professional keyboard musicians (n=12). The activation paradigm implied that subjects listened to two-part polyphonic music, while either critically appraising the performance or imagining they were performing themselves. Two-part polyphonic audition and bimanual motor imagery circumvented a hemisphere bias associated with the convention of playing the melody with the right hand. Both tasks activated ventral premotor and auditory cortices, bilaterally, and the right anterior parietal cortex, when contrasted to 12 musically unskilled controls. Although left ventral premotor activation was increased during imagery (compared to judgment), bilateral dorsal premotor and right posterior-superior parietal activations were quite unique to motor imagery. The latter suggests that musicians not only recruited their manual motor repertoire but also performed a spatial transformation from the vertically perceived pitch axis (high and low sound) to the horizontal axis of the keyboard. Imagery-specific activations in controls were seen in left dorsal parietal-premotor and supplementary motor cortices. Although these activations were less strong compared to musicians, this overlapping distribution indicated the recruitment of a general 'mirror-neuron' circuitry. These two levels of sensori-motor transformations point towards common principles by which the brain organizes audition-driven music performance and visually guided task performance.
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Using fMRI, cerebral activations were studied in 24 classically-trained keyboard performers and 12 musically unskilled control subjects. Two groups of musicians were recruited: improvising (n=12) and score-dependent (non-improvising) musicians (n=12). While listening to both familiar and unfamiliar music, subjects either (covertly) appraised the presented music performance or imagined they were playing the music themselves. We hypothesized that improvising musicians would exhibit enhanced efficiency of audiomotor transformation reflected by stronger ventral premotor activation. Statistical Parametric Mapping revealed that, while virtually 'playing along' with the music, improvising musicians exhibited activation of a right-hemisphere distribution of cerebral areas including posterior-superior parietal and dorsal premotor cortex. Involvement of these right-hemisphere dorsal stream areas suggests that improvising musicians recruited an amodal spatial processing system subserving pitch-to-space transformations to facilitate their virtual motor performance. Score-dependent musicians recruited a primarily left-hemisphere pattern of motor areas together with the posterior part of the right superior temporal sulcus, suggesting a relationship between aural discrimination and symbolic representation. Activations in bilateral auditory cortex were significantly larger for improvising musicians than for score-dependent musicians, suggesting enhanced top-down effects on aural perception. Our results suggest that learning to play a music instrument primarily from notation predisposes musicians toward aural identification and discrimination, while learning by improvisation involves audio-spatial-motor transformations, not only during performance, but also perception.
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Dit rapport behandelt hoe in Nederland tot een meer integraal en gebalanceerde set keurmerken/labels (K&L) gekomen kan worden. Het schetst een routekaart (hierna te noemen “roadmap”) voor de primaire producenten van vlees in Nederland, hun consumenten(organisaties) en de overheid als facilitator. De proposities zijn onderbouwd d.m.v. onderzoeksactiviteiten van het project Duurzaam Vlees Natuurlijk!
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Camera trap technology has galvanized the study of predator-prey ecology in wild animal communities by expanding the scale and diversity of predator-prey interactions that can be analyzed. While observational data from systematic camera arrays have informed inferences on the spatiotemporal outcomes of predator-prey interactions, the capacity for observational studies to identify mechanistic drivers of species interactions is limited. Experimental study designs that utilize camera traps uniquely allow for testing hypothesized mechanisms that drive predator and prey behavior, incorporating environmental realism not possible in the lab while benefiting from the distinct capacity of camera traps to generate large data sets from multiple species with minimal observer interference. However, such pairings of camera traps with experimental methods remain underutilized. We review recent advances in the experimental application of camera traps to investigate fundamental mechanisms underlying predator-prey ecology and present a conceptual guide for designing experimental camera trap studies. Only 9% of camera trap studies on predator-prey ecology in our review mention experimental methods, but the application of experimental approaches is increasing. To illustrate the utility of camera trap-based experiments using a case study, we propose a study design that integrates observational and experimental techniques to test a perennial question in predator-prey ecology: how prey balance foraging and safety, as formalized by the risk allocation hypothesis. We discuss applications of camera trap-based experiments to evaluate the diversity of anthropogenic influences on wildlife communities globally. Finally, we review challenges to conducting experimental camera trap studies. Experimental camera trap studies have already begun to play an important role in understanding the predator-prey ecology of free-living animals, and such methods will become increasingly critical to quantifying drivers of community interactions in a rapidly changing world. We recommend increased application of experimental methods in the study of predator and prey responses to humans, synanthropic and invasive species, and other anthropogenic disturbances.
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Background: While the participation of adults with visual and severe or profound intellectual disabilities (VSPID) in society and community life is important, evidence-based interventions to improve their participation are lacking. Weconducted a process evaluation of the implementation of ‘Care for Participation+’ (CFP+), a new intervention targeting the attitudes of direct support professionals (DSPs) toward the participation of adults with VSPID, within a residential facility in the Netherlands.Methods: CFP+ was inspired by the Boston Psychiatric Rehabilitation Approach and adapted by adopting a new definition and operationalization of the concept of participation for adults with VSPID. Following systematic training, 16 DSPs of adults with VSPID were able to apply key elements of CFP+ to explore diverse roles and activities for this population, facilitating their self-management, teaching them necessary skills for participation, and organizing support. Our process evaluation entailed an investigation of the delivered dose, reach, fidelity, and adaptation of CFP+ during and after the CFP+ intervention. We also evaluated the mechanisms of impact and context using questionnaires, assignments, documentation, interviews, and a logbook.Results: The intended dose, reach, and fidelity relating to the implementation of CFP+ were not achieved. Despite this fact, an assessment of the mechanisms of impact indicated that assignments of CFP+ were well (75%) or reasonably well (17%) understood by DSPs. CFP+ was applied by DSPs to stimulate self-management (83% of DSPs), new activities (100%), enhanced involvement in existing activities (67%) and to explore new roles (50%) for adults with VSPID. A negative contextual factor mentioned by the trainer and manager was the DSPs’ lack of commitment to the training program. Another negative contextual factor mentioned by DSPs was the lack of time for implementing CFP+.Conclusions: CFP+ provides new opportunities to improve the participation of adults with VSPID. Despite the nonoptimal conditions for implementing CFP+ and the DSPs’ general reluctance to apply the new intervention, some have actively used CFP+ within the residential facility. Future studies should focus on the outcomes of CFP+ regarding attitudinal changes among DSPs relating to the participation of adults with VSPID and their quality of life.
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Vocal effects - also called extreme or extended vocal techniques - with the intention to sound hoarse or rough are widely used as part of many genres and styles of singing, yet scarcely documented in research. Physiological studies detail the involvement of supraglottic structures for the production of vocal effects, yet the acoustic impact of such involvement has not been documented systematically across phonation types.
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Dysarthritic Parkinson speech is characterised by impairment of expressive linguistic prosody, even making it difficult to understand. While rigidity and bradykinesia can be held responsible for a general decline in speaking ability, the origin of prosodic impairment must be seen in the light of the accompanying impairments of receptive prosody such as the inability to recognize intonational meaning and make lexical distinctions based on stress contrasts . The stimulating effect of music on motor coordination in afflicted patients suggests that music might have a similar effect on vocal behavior. It could be hypothesized that the singing of Parkinson patients might remain relatively unaffected by the disease. In this study, vocal improvisation was used to compare the singing of Parkinson patients with that of healthy controls, matched for age and gender. When F0 , range, mean absolute slope, and tempo were contrasted, Parkinson patients did not differ significantly from controls.
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What is known in scientific literature at this point in time about the effects of the measures against the transmission of the coronavirus and what is the meaning of this for the organisers of events?
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Wat is er op dit moment (medio augustus 2020) in de wetenschappelijke literatuur bekend over (de effecten van maatregelen tegen) de verspreiding van het coronavirus en wat is de betekenis daarvan voor organisatoren van evenementen?
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