The language of music: research on speech and song

Suzanne C. PurdySpeech Science (Department of Psychology)

sc.purdy@auckland.ac.nz

Brain Day 19 March 2011, 1.40 – 2.00 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD-Ct7GoxQs&feature=related

"Amazing Grace" is a Christian hymn written by English poet and clergyman John Newton (1725–1807), published in 1779.

"Amazing Grace" is one of the most recognizable songs in the English-speaking world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazing_Grace

Topics

Input Output

Lexical Representations

http://www.savagechickens.com/images/chickenyawn.jpg

Functional imaging (fMRI)

• Liégeois et al (2003) imaging study of KE family• Figure below shows brain activation during covert

generation of verbs in response to hearing nouns • During covert and overt language tasks, affected KE

family members have under-activation mainly in brain areas involved in sensorimotor integration & motor speech control (Broca’s area primarily)

• Left hemisphere plays a key role in speech and language

• Right hemisphere important for the processing of emotional sounds and words

Meyer et al. (2005)

Brain processing of emotional words in aphasia

Researchers• Einat Ofek• Suzanne Purdy• Genevieve Ali• Gaylea Fritsch• Tamara Webster• Clare McCann• Anna Miles• Nazanin Gharahdaghi

Brain responses show distinctive differences between neutral and emotional words in individual participants – see example for one participant at one location below

Language therapy using personally-emotional words

Brain areas involved in speech versus song?

“the posterior part of the inferior frontal gyrus commonly thought to contain Broca’s area ................ .. activated by various musical tasks, among them pitch and rhythm discrimination, pitch memory, and musical syntax” (Özdemir et al., 2005, p.628)

http://www.stroke.org.uk/information/my_story/text_stories/ann_arscott.html

Comparison of singing & speaking Özdemir et al. (2005)

• repeated sung and spoken bi-syllabic words/phrases• overlapping activation but singing showed additional right

lateralized activation of several areas• “may offer an explanation for .... observation that patients

with non-fluent aphasia due to left hemisphere lesions are able to sing the text of a song while they are unable to speak the same words” (p.628)

• note bilateral activation associated with overt production compared to other imaging studies using covert production

RH LH

• define song as a musical mode of speech• verbal song universal across cultures• view singing as the primary form of musical

expression• close relationship between perception of musical

parameters and language processing

http://msx.sagepub.com/content/13/2_suppl/321.short

Strong links between auditory perception and language processing

[e.g., Sharma, Purdy, Kelly (2009), n=68 children with auditory processing disorder]

Prosody of speech and music

• Timing• Stress pattern• Pitch contour• Loudness

Benefits of choral singing?

http://www.woodburysch.com/staff/staffpages.php?pid=359

http://msmarcucci.blogspot.com/

The significance of choral singing for sustaining psychological wellbeing: findings from a survey of choristers in England, Australia and Germany

• Clift & Hancox (Music & Health, 2010), Sidney De Haan Research Centre for Arts & Health

• 1124 choral singers from choirs in Australia, England and Germany

• high degree of consensus re positive benefits of choral singing

• six ‘generative mechanisms’ by which singing may impact on wellbeing and health: positive affect; focused attention; deep breathing; social support; cognitive stimulation and regular commitment

CeleBRation Choir

• Mixed choir for people with different neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s or aphasia after stroke

• Investigating the effects on speech, language and wellbeing

• Similar research around the world e.g. in the UK and at Harvard

http://ncitranslates.nci.nih.gov/2008/index.htm

Translational research

• “bench to bedside”• effective application of

scientific discoveries to clinical problems

sc.purdy@auckland.ac.nzSpeech Science, Dept Psychology

University of Auckland