ObjectivesIt is important to be able to detect symptoms of common mental disorders (CMDs) in preg... more ObjectivesIt is important to be able to detect symptoms of common mental disorders (CMDs) in pregnant women. However, the expression of these disorders can differ across cultures and depend on the specific scale used. This study aimed to (a) compare Gambian pregnant women’s responses to the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and Self-reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20) and (b) compare responses to the EPDS in pregnant women in The Gambia and UK.DesignThis cross-sectional comparison study investigates Gambian EPDS and SRQ-20 scores through correlation between the two scales, score distributions, proportion of women with high levels of symptoms, and descriptive item analysis. Comparisons between the UK and Gambian EPDS scores were made by investigating score distributions, proportion of women with high levels of symptoms, and descriptive item analysis.SettingThis study took place in The Gambia, West Africa and London, UK.Participants221 pregnant women from The Gambia completed b...
The decline of empathy among health professional students, highlighted in the literature on healt... more The decline of empathy among health professional students, highlighted in the literature on health education, is a concern for medical educators. The evidence suggests that empathy decline is likely to stem more from structural problems in the healthcare system rather than from individual deficits of empathy. In this paper, we argue that a focus on direct empathy development is not effective and possibly detrimental to justice-oriented aims. Drawing on critical and narrative theory, we propose an interpersonal approach to enhance empathic capacities that is centered on constructive and transformative interactions which integrates the participatory arts and involves both patients and health professional students. We describe and evaluate a program where patients and students create collaborative, original songs. Interviews and a focus group revealed interactional processes summarized in four themes: reciprocal relationships, interactions in the community, joint goal, and varied collaboration. There was a significant enhancement of positive attitudes about care post-program amongst health professional students. The interpersonal approach may be a preliminary framework for the medical humanities to shift away from a focus on direct empathy development and further towards participatory, co-creative, and justice-oriented approaches to enhance health and thereby empathic capabilities.
Cross I and Pollick FE (2022) A functional magnetic resonance imaging examination of audiovisual ... more Cross I and Pollick FE (2022) A functional magnetic resonance imaging examination of audiovisual observation of a point-light string quartet using intersubject correlation and physical feature analysis.
This chapter captures extensive discussions between people with different forms of expertise and ... more This chapter captures extensive discussions between people with different forms of expertise and viewpoints. It explores the relationships between language and music in evolutionary and cultural context. Rather than trying to essentialize either, they are characterized pragmatically in terms of features that appear to distinguish them (such as language’s compositional propositionality as opposed to music’s foregrounding of isochronicity), and those that they evidently share. Factors are considered that consti- tute proximate motivations for humans to communicate through language and music, ranging from language’s practical value in the organization of collective behavior to music’s significant role in eliciting and managing prosocial attitudes. Possible distal motivations are reviewed for music and language, in terms of the potentially adap- tive functions of human communication systems, and an assessment is made of the advantages which might accrue to flexible communicators in the light of ethological and archaeological evidence concerning the landscape of selection. Subsequently, the possible evolutionary relationships between music and language are explored, within a framework supplied by six possible models of their emergence. Issues of the roles of culture and of biology in the evolution of communication systems are then addressed within the framework of triadic niche construction, and the chapter concludes by sur- veying available comparative and phylogenetic issues that might inform the debate.
Musical knowledge, like native language knowledge, is largely implicit, being represented without... more Musical knowledge, like native language knowledge, is largely implicit, being represented without awareness of its complex structures and incidentally acquired through interaction with a large number of samples. Two experiments explore implicit learning of hierarchical harmonic structures of different complexity employing an artificial grammar learning paradigm. The experiments consisted of an incidental learning phase using a distraction task, and a testing phase employing the process dissociation procedure paradigm (Jacoby, 1991). Participants performed significantly above chance and recognised adjacent and long-distance dependencies in both experiments. Confidence ratings and inclusion/exclusion response patterns suggest that both implicit structure knowledge and explicit judgment knowledge are in operation. Participants recognised stimuli with deep structures that appeared in the learning phase better than new structures for the more complex grammar, whereas there was no such difference for the simpler grammar. They performed significantly better for the less complex grammar which indicates that grammatical complexity affects learnability and recognition performance. The results conform to other experimental findings that musicians and nonmusicians are able to perceive long-distance dependencies and embedded structures in tonal harmony.
Music is widely acknowledged to have social efficacy at the group level. This effect is hypothesi... more Music is widely acknowledged to have social efficacy at the group level. This effect is hypothesised to be underpinned at least in part by entrainment. During collective musical behaviours, entrainment – the shared synchronisation of internal oscillators – is suggested to afford the perception of actions, intentions and motivational states as joint action, shared intentionality and mutual motivational states, which in turn fosters interpersonal affiliation and prosocial behaviours, including trust. However, it is unknown whether entrainment’s effects on prosociality persist when we are passive observers. In this study, 44 participants (21 women; average age = 28; average years of musical training = 10) watched audio-visual tokens in which a) the footsteps of an actor were entrained (synchronised) with a drumbeat, b) the footsteps were disentrained (unsynchronised) with the drumbeat and c) the soundtrack was grey noise (control condition). Participants were subsequently required to decide if the actor was engaged in a trustworthy or untrustworthy activity. Results show that participants were more likely to judge the actor as trustworthy in the entrain condition than the disentrain condition, but that the entrain condition was not significantly different to the control condition. Furthermore, this pattern of results was only found for a subgroup of the stimuli. There were no effects of age, gender or musical training. Given the nature of the task, which encourages passive entrainment rather than active movement, these findings indicate that the prosocial outcomes of musical engagement may be more common and have a broader significance than previously suggested.
In concluding Collaborative Insights: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Musical Care throughout t... more In concluding Collaborative Insights: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Musical Care throughout the Life Course, the Synthesis identifies the ebb and flow of the place of musical care throughout the life course. The Synthesis brings together the ideas presented throughout the book. These ideas include areas of outcome, context, focus of care, and musical activities. Then two models of disciplinary relationships within musical care that present opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration are introduced. The magnet model refers to situations in which disciplines are seen to be drawn together; the person receiving musical care attracts a range of disciplines that act together. The concurrent model refers to situations in which several disciplines can be relevant to musical care or its research and are likely to run alongside one another, but are less likely to interact directly. Next, the Synthesis develops further the conceptualization of the term musical care: from blurring to breaking boundaries, emphasizing the commonalities among practices and research. Then comes consideration of the book’s limitations, which, in turn, leads to identification of opportunities. These opportunities include implications of the term musical care; the use of the life stage structure; to whom musical care is relevant and where, when, and why; and the importance of considering cultural context for future work. The Synthesis closes by bringing together suggestions for future work with a final call to action that invites readers to embark on interdisciplinary research and practice in musical care.
Summary Arts in Health initiatives and interventions to support health have emerged from and been... more Summary Arts in Health initiatives and interventions to support health have emerged from and been applied to mainly WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic) contexts. This overlooks the rich cultural traditions that exist across the globe, where community groups often make prolific use of participatory song and dance as a part of ceremonies, ritual and gatherings in everyday life. Here, we argue that these practices can provide a valuable starting point for the co-development of health interventions, illustrated by the CHIME project for perinatal mental health in The Gambia, which worked with local Kanyeleng groups (female fertility societies) to design and evaluate a brief intervention to support maternal mental health through social singing. Here, we use the project as a lens through which to highlight the value of co-creation, cultural embeddedness and partnership building in global health research.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 2009
Psychological time may be warped and shaped by musical engagement and variation, including factor... more Psychological time may be warped and shaped by musical engagement and variation, including factors such as the music’s volume, tempo, arousal-inducing tendencies, and major vs. minor key (see e.g. 1, 2, and 4 below). Rather than experiencing music’s large-scale structure as absolute, with sections and bars in relation to one another as experienced during the task of music analysis, the listener’s phenomenological experience is shaped by varying and complex musical and extra musical-factors. Along with musical characteristics, pre-occupation with a concurrent task, whether requiring retrieval from reference memory or rehearsal of information in working memory, may warp experience of elapsed duration during music listening.
BackgroundPerinatal mental health problems affect up to one in five women worldwide. Mental healt... more BackgroundPerinatal mental health problems affect up to one in five women worldwide. Mental health problems in the perinatal period are a particular challenge in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where they can be at least twice as frequent as in higher-income countries. It is thus of high priority to develop new low-cost, low-resource, non-stigmatising and culturally appropriate approaches to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression perinatally, for the benefit of both mother and child. Music-centred approaches may be particularly useful in The Gambia since a range of musical practices that specifically engage pregnant women and new mothers already exist.MethodsThis protocol is for a study to examine the feasibility of undertaking a stepped wedge trial to test how a Community Health Intervention through Musical Engagement (CHIME) could be beneficial in alleviating perinatal mental distress in The Gambia. In this study, we plan to recruit 120 pregnant women (n = 60 intervent...
ObjectivesIt is important to be able to detect symptoms of common mental disorders (CMDs) in preg... more ObjectivesIt is important to be able to detect symptoms of common mental disorders (CMDs) in pregnant women. However, the expression of these disorders can differ across cultures and depend on the specific scale used. This study aimed to (a) compare Gambian pregnant women’s responses to the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and Self-reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20) and (b) compare responses to the EPDS in pregnant women in The Gambia and UK.DesignThis cross-sectional comparison study investigates Gambian EPDS and SRQ-20 scores through correlation between the two scales, score distributions, proportion of women with high levels of symptoms, and descriptive item analysis. Comparisons between the UK and Gambian EPDS scores were made by investigating score distributions, proportion of women with high levels of symptoms, and descriptive item analysis.SettingThis study took place in The Gambia, West Africa and London, UK.Participants221 pregnant women from The Gambia completed b...
The decline of empathy among health professional students, highlighted in the literature on healt... more The decline of empathy among health professional students, highlighted in the literature on health education, is a concern for medical educators. The evidence suggests that empathy decline is likely to stem more from structural problems in the healthcare system rather than from individual deficits of empathy. In this paper, we argue that a focus on direct empathy development is not effective and possibly detrimental to justice-oriented aims. Drawing on critical and narrative theory, we propose an interpersonal approach to enhance empathic capacities that is centered on constructive and transformative interactions which integrates the participatory arts and involves both patients and health professional students. We describe and evaluate a program where patients and students create collaborative, original songs. Interviews and a focus group revealed interactional processes summarized in four themes: reciprocal relationships, interactions in the community, joint goal, and varied collaboration. There was a significant enhancement of positive attitudes about care post-program amongst health professional students. The interpersonal approach may be a preliminary framework for the medical humanities to shift away from a focus on direct empathy development and further towards participatory, co-creative, and justice-oriented approaches to enhance health and thereby empathic capabilities.
Cross I and Pollick FE (2022) A functional magnetic resonance imaging examination of audiovisual ... more Cross I and Pollick FE (2022) A functional magnetic resonance imaging examination of audiovisual observation of a point-light string quartet using intersubject correlation and physical feature analysis.
This chapter captures extensive discussions between people with different forms of expertise and ... more This chapter captures extensive discussions between people with different forms of expertise and viewpoints. It explores the relationships between language and music in evolutionary and cultural context. Rather than trying to essentialize either, they are characterized pragmatically in terms of features that appear to distinguish them (such as language’s compositional propositionality as opposed to music’s foregrounding of isochronicity), and those that they evidently share. Factors are considered that consti- tute proximate motivations for humans to communicate through language and music, ranging from language’s practical value in the organization of collective behavior to music’s significant role in eliciting and managing prosocial attitudes. Possible distal motivations are reviewed for music and language, in terms of the potentially adap- tive functions of human communication systems, and an assessment is made of the advantages which might accrue to flexible communicators in the light of ethological and archaeological evidence concerning the landscape of selection. Subsequently, the possible evolutionary relationships between music and language are explored, within a framework supplied by six possible models of their emergence. Issues of the roles of culture and of biology in the evolution of communication systems are then addressed within the framework of triadic niche construction, and the chapter concludes by sur- veying available comparative and phylogenetic issues that might inform the debate.
Musical knowledge, like native language knowledge, is largely implicit, being represented without... more Musical knowledge, like native language knowledge, is largely implicit, being represented without awareness of its complex structures and incidentally acquired through interaction with a large number of samples. Two experiments explore implicit learning of hierarchical harmonic structures of different complexity employing an artificial grammar learning paradigm. The experiments consisted of an incidental learning phase using a distraction task, and a testing phase employing the process dissociation procedure paradigm (Jacoby, 1991). Participants performed significantly above chance and recognised adjacent and long-distance dependencies in both experiments. Confidence ratings and inclusion/exclusion response patterns suggest that both implicit structure knowledge and explicit judgment knowledge are in operation. Participants recognised stimuli with deep structures that appeared in the learning phase better than new structures for the more complex grammar, whereas there was no such difference for the simpler grammar. They performed significantly better for the less complex grammar which indicates that grammatical complexity affects learnability and recognition performance. The results conform to other experimental findings that musicians and nonmusicians are able to perceive long-distance dependencies and embedded structures in tonal harmony.
Music is widely acknowledged to have social efficacy at the group level. This effect is hypothesi... more Music is widely acknowledged to have social efficacy at the group level. This effect is hypothesised to be underpinned at least in part by entrainment. During collective musical behaviours, entrainment – the shared synchronisation of internal oscillators – is suggested to afford the perception of actions, intentions and motivational states as joint action, shared intentionality and mutual motivational states, which in turn fosters interpersonal affiliation and prosocial behaviours, including trust. However, it is unknown whether entrainment’s effects on prosociality persist when we are passive observers. In this study, 44 participants (21 women; average age = 28; average years of musical training = 10) watched audio-visual tokens in which a) the footsteps of an actor were entrained (synchronised) with a drumbeat, b) the footsteps were disentrained (unsynchronised) with the drumbeat and c) the soundtrack was grey noise (control condition). Participants were subsequently required to decide if the actor was engaged in a trustworthy or untrustworthy activity. Results show that participants were more likely to judge the actor as trustworthy in the entrain condition than the disentrain condition, but that the entrain condition was not significantly different to the control condition. Furthermore, this pattern of results was only found for a subgroup of the stimuli. There were no effects of age, gender or musical training. Given the nature of the task, which encourages passive entrainment rather than active movement, these findings indicate that the prosocial outcomes of musical engagement may be more common and have a broader significance than previously suggested.
In concluding Collaborative Insights: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Musical Care throughout t... more In concluding Collaborative Insights: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Musical Care throughout the Life Course, the Synthesis identifies the ebb and flow of the place of musical care throughout the life course. The Synthesis brings together the ideas presented throughout the book. These ideas include areas of outcome, context, focus of care, and musical activities. Then two models of disciplinary relationships within musical care that present opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration are introduced. The magnet model refers to situations in which disciplines are seen to be drawn together; the person receiving musical care attracts a range of disciplines that act together. The concurrent model refers to situations in which several disciplines can be relevant to musical care or its research and are likely to run alongside one another, but are less likely to interact directly. Next, the Synthesis develops further the conceptualization of the term musical care: from blurring to breaking boundaries, emphasizing the commonalities among practices and research. Then comes consideration of the book’s limitations, which, in turn, leads to identification of opportunities. These opportunities include implications of the term musical care; the use of the life stage structure; to whom musical care is relevant and where, when, and why; and the importance of considering cultural context for future work. The Synthesis closes by bringing together suggestions for future work with a final call to action that invites readers to embark on interdisciplinary research and practice in musical care.
Summary Arts in Health initiatives and interventions to support health have emerged from and been... more Summary Arts in Health initiatives and interventions to support health have emerged from and been applied to mainly WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic) contexts. This overlooks the rich cultural traditions that exist across the globe, where community groups often make prolific use of participatory song and dance as a part of ceremonies, ritual and gatherings in everyday life. Here, we argue that these practices can provide a valuable starting point for the co-development of health interventions, illustrated by the CHIME project for perinatal mental health in The Gambia, which worked with local Kanyeleng groups (female fertility societies) to design and evaluate a brief intervention to support maternal mental health through social singing. Here, we use the project as a lens through which to highlight the value of co-creation, cultural embeddedness and partnership building in global health research.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 2009
Psychological time may be warped and shaped by musical engagement and variation, including factor... more Psychological time may be warped and shaped by musical engagement and variation, including factors such as the music’s volume, tempo, arousal-inducing tendencies, and major vs. minor key (see e.g. 1, 2, and 4 below). Rather than experiencing music’s large-scale structure as absolute, with sections and bars in relation to one another as experienced during the task of music analysis, the listener’s phenomenological experience is shaped by varying and complex musical and extra musical-factors. Along with musical characteristics, pre-occupation with a concurrent task, whether requiring retrieval from reference memory or rehearsal of information in working memory, may warp experience of elapsed duration during music listening.
BackgroundPerinatal mental health problems affect up to one in five women worldwide. Mental healt... more BackgroundPerinatal mental health problems affect up to one in five women worldwide. Mental health problems in the perinatal period are a particular challenge in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where they can be at least twice as frequent as in higher-income countries. It is thus of high priority to develop new low-cost, low-resource, non-stigmatising and culturally appropriate approaches to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression perinatally, for the benefit of both mother and child. Music-centred approaches may be particularly useful in The Gambia since a range of musical practices that specifically engage pregnant women and new mothers already exist.MethodsThis protocol is for a study to examine the feasibility of undertaking a stepped wedge trial to test how a Community Health Intervention through Musical Engagement (CHIME) could be beneficial in alleviating perinatal mental distress in The Gambia. In this study, we plan to recruit 120 pregnant women (n = 60 intervent...
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