When I was researching for my research proposal last week, I came across an atricle on whether reading music was an automatic process, just as reading language seems to be. There was an experiment done on the Stroop Effect (the test that asks you to name the color of the ink that is used in a word instead of the word itself) and if it relates to reading music. Interestingly, very similar results were found in this study as to the original stroop effect study that tested language. I think this is really cool because I can apply it to my life.. for me, reading music is just like reading language (I have been taking piano since i was 6) and so it is interesting that this property is similar between the two domains.
Here is a link to the study.. http://www.annalsnyas.org/cgi/reprint/1060/1/377.pdf
Enjoy!
Taylor
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6 comments:
Wow, that would have been a great article for me to have used in my research proposal. darn. I play the piano, but for me i don't think reading music is quite as much of an automatic process as reading language. When I look at a billboard or something the word just goes into my head and i've comprehended the meaning without thinking about it, but since I'm not a very good piano player, when I see music i have to make a concious effort to read the notes. Maybe expert musicians, however, do read notes automatically since they are so much more familiar with it just like children who are learning to read still have to sound out the words until they get good enough to just see it and comprehend it automatically.
Hey thanks for posting this. I read the article and it's really interesting. I've been playing the cello for eight years and for me, reading music has been much like reading a book, but I never thought about the connection between the two. It's interesting to note that reading music and reading in general are similar cognitive processes.
For me, reading music has always been much more difficult than reading words. I play the piano and the trumpet, but am not too talented at either instrument. It would be interesting to experience the notes as if they were simply words on a page.
Wow, that's really amazing, Taylor, thanks for the post! I have never really thought about reading music being the same as reading words, but I see the article's point: there is definitely a spatial component to reading music that can be exploited with the Stroop effect. I have noticed that reading music is an automatic process for me (play piano and violin as well as sing). The time that I realized that the most was when I had to sing in Hebrew (I used to be in a Jewish Choir in college). Very challenging as notes are written left to right but Hebrew is written right to left.
I-Chant, that is so cool that you are so involved in music! Props to musicians. But about your comment on the Jewish Choir.. wow! That must have been insanely challenging.. what was your strategy? It seems as though it might be effective to memorize one while reading the other.
Another music sidenote.. last year I started taking violin because I wanted to take another instrument, and oh my gosh! So hard. Especially since I have sort of passed the optimal phase of plasticity. It was very hard to focus my attention on so many things, like the motor movements, reading the music, and listening to my intonation.. that is really where having a good memory comes in!!
Just a thought.. maybe something they could have done to make the study more similar to the text-reading Stroop effect would be to write the actual names of the notes (G-A-B-C-or D) on the notes and do this study with musicians. This seems as though it would produce more accurate results.. or at least more similar to the original test.
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