CC BY
18
Section 9. Psychology
Toto Giusi Antonia, Ph D., in Culture, Education, Communication, Department of humanities. Literature, Cultural Heritage
University of Foggia, E-mail: giusy.toto@unifg.it
AMUSIA, DIDACTIC AND DIAGNOSTIC EVOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM OF MUSICAL LEARNING
Abstract: Amusia is a specific disorder of musical learning, which is having ample space in international studies. Twenty years of research have led to a standardization of diagnostic tools and an understanding of compromised cognitive dimensions.
Keywords: Amusia, Music education and musical learning disorders.
Amusia is a specific disorder of musical learning, to which in Italy no great space has been given in specialist literature or in manuals because musical skills are not indispensable for daily survival or cognitively inferior to speaking, writing and calculation. The hierarchy in the sciences and disciplines is also reflected in a hierarchy of pathologies and disorders [1, 95-97]. Current research has addressed the complexity of the topic, reviewing the correlations observed between musical education, intelligence and memory, and the association between music and other cognitive abilities [2, 801-807]. Studies have shown that music education improves general intelligence that is linked to many cognitive and academic skills, thus confirming the hypothesis that music education can improve overall cognitive skills in children and adolescents, and could have effects secondary on all other skills and competences. Therefore the presence of the amusia disorder could be one of the causes of deficit in all these areas that music education would instead improve.
A systematic review of the existing literature was adopted to search for articles in the main international databases on the theme of amusia and musical learning disorders, using "amusia", "music education" and "musical learning disorders" as words key. Subsequently the contributions were selected on the basis of the abstracts and published articles. In general, various studies
consider the musical learning and the use of music are fundamental components for psychophysical and social development, so much so that a recent study [2, 20] has focused attention on language and music as typical human behaviors, based on a unique blend ofbiological and cultural characteristics that brings out complex behaviors. Both behavior and cognition are evolving and for this reason they can be studied by a multiplicity of investigative perspectives. The study of music in recent years, in fact, benefits from contemporary cognitive science applied to language and tries to interpret the obstacles in linguistic research from a phonological point of view and this is why this hybridization is desired.
The dimensions studied between music and language have so far methodologically followed parallel paths: psychology has mainly analyzed music in the caregiver and infant relationship, or in relation to the prosocial behavior up to group cohesion. Language has specialized in communicative and indicative dimensions of group identity. Comparing the various studies, a possible overlap between music and language is found in the dimensions of emotional communication and social interactions. Neurospicological research has shown that the temporal lobes of both hemispheres are involved in the memory of musical experiences, whereas the areas of musical perception are located in the lower right frontal
AMUSIA, DIDACTIC AND DIAGNOSTIC EVOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM OF MUSICAL LEARNING
lobe. The defect in the development of such areas would be the cause of Amusia [3, 2652-2670]. A recent survey has partially confirmed these data by advancing a fascinating hypothesis: amusians had higher diffusivity indices in the corpus callosum, the lower / upper right longitudinal fascicle and the right lower frontal-occipital fascicle compared to subjects without the syndrome but controlling the demographic variables. The analysis showed that the efficiency of the brain network was reduced in amusici and that the white matter impairments were correlated with a reduced network efficiency in the circuits described above in those presenting the amusia disturbance so much to suggest that the congenital amusia is a disconnection syndrome [4, 473].
Congenital amusia, therefore, is a neuro-evolution-ary disorder of perception and musical production. Amusing individuals are not able to recognize a familiar melody (without the help of texts) or to realize that someone (including themselves) sings out of tune, or even they have difficulty even in memorizing melodies. To be deficient, peripheral hearing loss, brain injury or general cognitive or social disability should be excluded in the diagnosis. The last two decades of studies have shown that this disorder is a dysfunction of tone processing. A test battery called "Montreal battery for the evaluation of Amusia" (MBEA) has been developed since 2003 [5, 58-75]. The MBEA verifies the ability of perception and memory of music by listeners. Participants must listen to two short melodies and say if they are exactly identical or different. The main deficit of individuals affected by amusia is altered tone discrimination, impaired tone memory and impaired knowledge of the regularity of the western tonal system. According to the main hypothesis, what would cause the condition of amusia would be linked to a deficit in tone processing. Today the Montreal battery for Amusia evaluation is a quantitative tool widely used to diagnose congenital amusia. The use of this standardized measure ensures that the individuals tested can be ascribed to a specific neuropsychological profile. From 2003 to today, the MBEA has developed strongly both in its online version, with the Amusia test of 2008 and with the accompaniment to the profile of Gordon's musical Aptitude, another battery of tests widely used in the field of musical learning and academic success [6, 341-373]. The Montreal battery
is considered a complete protocol in the diagnosis of congenital amusia, although according to some it is not a single diagnostic tool but a phase in the screening process of Amusia [7, 58-75].
Authoritative studies have documented the complete recovery of this deficit in children, unlike adults, if appropriately and previously diagnosed and treated. Last but not least, it should be remembered that musical skills, especially in children, are precursors from the earliest childhood ofso-cial skills and vehicle ofmusical intelligence. This hypothesis is based on the theory of plasticity of the brain that in a series of experiments and observations [8, 37-55] can explain some ofthe sensorimotor and cognitive improvements that have been associated with music training. the association of motor actions with specific sound and visual models (for example musical notation), strengthens the connections between auditory and motor regions (eg arched dossiers) and multi-modal integration regions, which according to studies would be involved in the amusia disorder [9, 1-12].
The influence of education on executive functions as a basis for the transfer of skills has been the subject of study of other explanatory hypotheses, since the treatment of music during early adolescence and childhood are positively correlated with working memory, cognitive control or cognitive flexibility [11, 442-448]. Moreover, when considering music education in relation to the study of an instrument, the specificity of the training involves various executive functions. Musical learning is intersecting with linguistic, communicative and social skills; in adolescence, in fact, the consulted studies have shown that musical education has effects not only on brain development but also on the acquisition ofvarious cognitive abilities [12, 321-327]. Within the Italian context, the current educational policy states that children and adolescents who have attended music education courses have undoubtedly become the leading scholars. These concepts are today the subject of debate regarding the general planning of the school and the introduction of new experimental secondary school courses, in which music must take on an educational, psycho-social and cultural role. This new type of educational opportunity could direct future research towards a better understanding of the role of music in learning and general intelligence. On the other hand, if the validity of causal relationships between music education and general learning will be tested, then important
implications will be implicit in terms of rethinking teaching methodologies with new learning objects. Finally, a fruitful field of research focuses on the link between emotional and musical intelligence and how they influence each other in order to explore future implications in the educational field. In addition to the relationship between
music and intelligence, there is a lack of research in the educational enhancement between amusia and general intelligence and cognitive abilities, in fact even in this field the necessary tools for the development of learning and skills are lacking.
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