Week 8

Question 1

Music in the womb

Answer 1

• foetus can hear 3 months before birth
• foetus activity is more responsive to piano music
• Study in 1982 found that children made movement when recognising mothers favourite song
• study- new born kids recognised neighbours theme tune when mothers watched the show, if mothers did not watch the show it was not recognised

Question 2

Pre- verbal music development. What can infants do by 7 months?

Answer 2

• infants can find objects in the dark by sound

- can react to specific Mozart piano after repeated exposure for 2 weeks

Question 3

pre verbal music development, what can infants do at 3- 6 months?

Answer 3

can repeat a specific pitch sung to them

Question 4

Parent child interaction- what can children do at 2 months?

Answer 4

show preference for human voice over other sounds

Question 5

Parent child interaction- what can children do at 4 months?

Answer 5

Show preference for mothers voice

Question 6

Parent child interaction, what can children do at 6-8 months?

Answer 6

They show a preference for rhythm, by babbling, this is protomusical behaviour.

Question 7

Infant directed speech and singing

Answer 7

“motherese”- baby talk has musical qualities and is preferred by babies, a study shows
motherese talking had more head turns than regular talking.

Question 8

What type of infant directed singing is preferred?

Answer 8

slower, higher and expressive

Question 9

Song learning- what can children do at 18 months?

Answer 9

children are able to pitch notes from songs with 70% accuracy and repeat it back to you

Question 10

Song learning- what can children do at 2 years?

Answer 10

They gain rhythmic organisation, can tap to a beat

Question 11

Song learning- what did Moog suggest?

Answer 11

He calls made up songs by children ‘pout pouri’- muddling up a mixture of songs that they know

Question 12

Davidson et al (1981) study

Answer 12

Taught a song to 5 y/o and identified 5 stages of acquisition:

1. learn the outline, recognise the structure and some of the lyrics
2. Aquire the rhythm- tap beat
3. Learn when the pitch is going up and down
4. Keep stability and remain in tune

Question 13

What is musical ability? Sloboda and Howe

Answer 13

• side with nature rather than nurture on musical ability.
• in the past, there was a folk belief that musical ability is innate
• Sloboda challenged this folk belief

Question 14

How (4 ways) did Sloboda and Howe challenge the folk belief?

Answer 14

1. through cross cultural studies- a Nigerian study found that adults couldn’t differentiate musical ability in 5yo
2. Found evidence that it is rare to show an early indication of musical ability
3. poor evidence for heritability
4. Specific skills such as finding pitch can be learnt- also some research shows that infants given the same level of music training produce the same musical ability

Question 15

Factors in musical success- Sloboda and Howe interviewed a professional music school

Answer 15

Findings: 1/3 of parents had no interest in music ability- proves heritability
- only 6% had musically progressive parents

Question 16

Critisicism of Sloboda and Howe interviewed a professional music school

Answer 16

• nature/ nurture is oversimplified, possibility for a combination
• don’t investigate grandparents- could have missed a generation

Question 17

The Mozart effect:

Answer 17

• A nurture theory
• music can be listened to to enhance cognitive performance- “brain power music”
• If you play Mozart to young children, it increases IQ
• so preschools began playing classical music, mothers were given CD’s at birth

Question 18

Evidence for Mozart effect:

Answer 18

Gave ppts 10 minutes exposure to 3 different types of music, including Mozart.
Mozart group performed significantly better than other groups- other studies failed to replicate this.
- there was then a media hype which led to the Mozart effect.