The realization of one’s musical ideas at the keyboard is dependent on the ability to transform sound into movement, a process called audiomotor transformation. Using fMRI, we investigated cerebral activations while classically-trained improvising and non-improvising musicians imagined playing along with recordings of familiar and unfamiliar music excerpts. We hypothesized that audiomotor transformation would be associated with the recruitment of dedicated cerebral networks, facilitating aurally-cued performance. Results indicate that while all classically-trained musicians engage a left-hemisphere network involved in motor skill and action recognition, only improvising musicians additionally recruit a right dorsal frontoparietal network dedicated to spatially-driven motor control. Mobilization of this network, which plays a crucial role in the real-time transformation of imagined or perceived music into goal-directed action, may be held responsible not only for the stronger activation of auditory cortex we observed in improvising musicians in response to the aural perception of music, but also for the superior ability to play ‘by ear’ which they demonstrated in a follow-up study. The results of this study suggest that the practice of improvisation promotes the implicit acquisition of hierarchical music syntax which is then recruited in top-down manner via the dorsal stream during music performance. In a study of audiomotor transformation in Parkinson patients, we demonstrated a dissociation between dysprosody in speech and music. While patients’ speech could reliably be distinguished from that of healthy individuals, purely on the basis of aural perception, no difference was observed between patients and healthy controls in their ability to sing improvised melodies.
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The realization of one’s musical ideas at the keyboard is dependent on the ability to transform sound into movement, a process called audiomotor transformation. Using fMRI, we investigated cerebral activations while classically‐trained improvising and non‐improvising musicians imagined playing along with recordings of familiar and unfamiliar music excerpts. We hypothesized that audiomotor transformation would be associated with the recruitment of dedicated cerebral networks, facilitating aurally‐cued performance. Results indicate that while all classically‐trained musicians engage a left‐hemisphere network involved in motor skill and action recognition, only improvising musicians additionally recruit a right dorsal frontoparietal network dedicated to spatially‐driven motor control. Mobilization of this network, which plays a crucial role in the real‐time transformation of imagined or perceived music into goal‐directed action, may be held responsible not only for the stronger activation of auditory cortex we observed in improvising musicians in response to the aural perception of music, but also for the superior ability to play ‘by ear’ which they demonstrated in a follow‐up study. The results of this study suggest that the practice of improvisation promotes the implicit acquisition of hierarchical music syntax which is then recruited in top‐down manner via the dorsal stream during music performance.
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The historically developed practice of learning to play a music instrument from notes instead of by imitation or improvisation makes it possible to contrast two types of skilled musicians characterized not only by dissimilar performance practices, but also disparate methods of audiomotor learning. In a recent fMRI study comparing these two groups of musicians while they either imagined playing along with a recording or covertly assessed the quality of the performance, we observed activation of a right-hemisphere network of posterior superior parietal and dorsal premotor cortices in improvising musicians, indicating more efficient audiomotor transformation. In the present study, we investigated the detailed performance characteristics underlying the ability of both groups of musicians to replicate music on the basis of aural perception alone. Twenty-two classically trained improvising and score-dependent musicians listened to short, unfamiliar two-part excerpts presented with headphones. They played along or replicated the excerpts by ear on a digital piano, either with or without aural feedback. In addition, they were asked to harmonize or transpose some of the excerpts either to a different key or to the relative minor. MIDI recordings of their performances were compared with recordings of the aural model. Concordance was expressed in an audiomotor alignment score computed with the help of music information retrieval algorithms. Significantly higher alignment scores were found when contrasting groups, voices, and tasks. The present study demonstrates the superior ability of improvising musicians to replicate both the pitch and rhythm of aurally perceived music at the keyboard, not only in the original key, but also in other tonalities. Taken together with the enhanced activation of the right dorsal frontoparietal network found in our previous fMRI study, these results underscore the conclusion that the practice of improvising music can be associated with enhanced audiomotor transformation in response to aurally perceived music.
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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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Herontwikkelen van industrieel erfgoed vereist grondig onderzoek naar de bouw- en gebruiksgeschiedenis van dat erfgoed, en een kaart met alle waardevolle details. Anders gaat teveel verloren bij herontwikkelingen, concludeert HU-docent Kees Geevers in zijn promotieonderzoek aan de TU Delft. Hij pleit voor nieuwe richtlijnen
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Dit document geeft een overzicht van de bevindingen over het Factory-as-a service concept. Gedurende het SMITZH project heeft het lectoraat Smart Sustainable Manufacturing gezocht naar antwoorden op een aantal vragen: Welke initiatieven bestaan er, waar ondernemers elkaar helpen via het beschikbaar stellen en delen van productiecapaciteit? Wat zijn de randvoorwaarden om zo’n initiatief te laten slagen? Wat kan bijdragen om belemmeringen voor de toekomst weg te nemen? De voordelen zijn zeker aanwezig, maar obstakels ook. Met name dat laatste kan de voortgang en innovatief denken over de inrichting van flexibele en ‘Smart Manufacturing’ in de weg zitten. Het verhogen van de flexibiliteit om de maakindustrie concurrerender en veerkrachtiger te maken is een van de doelstellingen van het Smart Industry Programma, SMITZH en het lectoraat.
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Relatief kleine, gespecialiseerde bedrijven in de maakindustrie hebben behoefte aan flexibele assemblageprocessen en productielogistiek. Digitalisering biedt veel mogelijkheden om productieprocessen efficiënter en duurzamer te maken, innovatieve producten te fabriceren en over te schakelen op andere businessmodellen. Dit moet dan wel werken voor kleine series en enkelstuks. ‘Kunnen wij het maken?’ verwijst naar onderliggende vragen over: ‘Hoe beheersen we risico’s in complexe maakprocessen?’, ‘Hoe werken we samen in de keten?’ en ‘Wat moeten huidige en toekomstige engineers weten over ‘Industry 4.0’ en circulaire maakindustrie?’. Bijgaand essay, in verkorte vorm uitgesproken als Intreerede, legt uit hoe de onderzoekers van Smart Sustainable Manufacturing aan de slag gaan om een antwoord te vinden op deze vragen, door middel van cocreatie met de beroepspraktijk en het onderwijs in het Re/manufacturing lab.
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Het lectoraat eLearning doet onderzoek naar eLearning en Blended Learning, waarbij de verbindende schakel tussen alle onderzoeken Learning and Teaching with ICT is. Het onderzoek levert kennis op over de effectiviteit van ICT in specifieke contexten, waarbij wordt gekeken naar de veranderende rol van de docent die daarvan het gevolg zijn en naar de perceptie van de leeromgeving door de student. Binnen het onderwijs van INHOLLAND is ruim aandacht voor het inzetten van Blended Learning als leidend principe voor de onderwijsuitvoering, zoals ook blijkt uit het hernieuwde onderwijsconcept, zoals geformuleerd in Backbone 2.0.
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This investigation explores relations between 1) a theory of human cognition, called Embodied Cognition, 2) the design of interactive systems and 3) the practice of ‘creative group meetings’ (of which the so-called ‘brainstorm’ is perhaps the best-known example). The investigation is one of Research-through-Design (Overbeeke et al., 2006). This means that, together with students and external stakeholders, I designed two interactive prototypes. Both systems contain a ‘mix’ of both physical and digital forms. Both are designed to be tools in creative meeting sessions, or brainstorms. The tools are meant to form a natural, element in the physical meeting space. The function of these devices is to support the formation of shared insight: that is, the tools should support the process by which participants together, during the activity, get a better grip on the design challenge that they are faced with. Over a series of iterations I reflected on the design process and outcome, and investigated how users interacted with the prototypes.
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Parental involvement is a crucial force in children’s development, learning and success at school and in life [1]. Participation, defined by the World Health Organization as ‘a person’s involvement in life situations’ [2] for children means involvement in everyday activities, such as recreational, leisure, school and household activities [3]. Several authors use the term social participation emphasising the importance of engagement in social situations [4, 5]. Children’s participation in daily life is vital for healthy development, social and physical competencies, social-emotional well-being, sense of meaning and purpose in life [6]. Through participation in different social contexts, children gather the knowledge and skills needed to interact, play, work, and live with other people [4, 7, 8]. Unfortunately, research shows that children with a physical disability are at risk of lower participation in everyday activities [9]; they participate less frequently in almost all activities compared with children without physical disabilities [10, 11], have fewer friends and often feel socially isolated [12-14]. Parents, in particular, positively influence the participation of their children with a physical disability at school, at home and in the community [15]. They undertake many actions to improve their child’s participation in daily life [15, 16]. However, little information is available about what parents of children with a physical disability do to enable their child’s participation, what they come across and what kind of needs they have. The overall aim of this thesis was to investigate parents’ actions, challenges, and needs while enhancing the participation of their school-aged child with a physical disability. In order to achieve this aim, two steps have been made. In the first step, the literature has been examined to explore the topic of this thesis (actions, challenges and needs) and to clarify definitions for the concepts of participation and social participation. Second, for the purposes of giving breadth and depth of understanding of the topic of this thesis a mixed methods approach using three different empirical research methods [17-19], was applied to gather information from parents regarding their actions, challenges and needs.
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