Melissa K. Jungers

Speed, accuracy, and serial order in sequence production.

The production of complex sequences like music or speech requires the rapid and temporally precise production of events (e.g., notes and chords), often at fast rates. Memory retrieval in these circumstances may rely on the simultaneous activation of both the current event and the surrounding context (Lashley, 1951). We describe an extension to a model of incremental retrieval in sequence production (Palmer & Pfordresher, 2003) that incorporates this logic to predict overall error rates and speed-accuracy trade-offs, as well as types of serial ordering errors. The model-assumes that retrieval of the current event is influenced by activations of surrounding events. Activations of surrounding events increase over time, such that both the accessibility of distant events and overall accuracy increases at slower production rates. The models predictions were tested in an experiment in which pianists performed unfamiliar music at 8 different tempi. Model fits to speed-accuracy data and to serial ordering errors support model predictions. Parameter fits to individual data further suggest that working memory contributes to the retrieval of serial order and overall accuracy is influenced in addition by motor dexterity and domain-specific skill.

Speech Priming: Evidence for Rate Persistence in Unscripted Speech.

Previous research has shown evidence for priming of rate in scripted speech. Two experiments examined the persistence of rate in production of unscripted picture descriptions. In Experiment 1, speakers heard and repeated priming sentences presented at a fast or slow rate and in a passive or active form. Speakers then described a new picture. The timing of their productions reflected the timing of the prime. In Experiment 2, participants heard but did not repeat the priming sentences. As in Experiment 1, their picture descriptions reflected the rate of the priming sentences. These experiments demonstrate persistence of rate, an acoustic dimension related to prosody, in unscripted speech. The persistence in timing may provide a social advantage and help to coordinate conversation.

Speech priming: An examination of rate and syntactic persistence in preschoolers

Interactional coordination is important for conversational competence. For example, the syntactic form and rate of perceived speech can influence future productions in adults. Previous work has shown that children are similarly primed by syntax. This experiment demonstrates that syntactic priming and rate priming exist simultaneously in children. Participants (4- and 5-years-old) alternated between listening to priming sentences that described visual scenes and producing their own descriptions of similar scenes. The priming sentences varied in rate (fast and slow) and syntactic structure (active and passive). Childrens sentences reflected the timing and syntactic structure of the primes, and there were developmental differences in their rate persistence.

Effect of Musical Experience on Verbal Memory in Williams Syndrome: Evidence from a Novel Word Learning Task.

Williams syndrome (WS) is a neurogenetic developmental disorder characterized by an increased affinity for music, deficits in verbal memory, and atypical brain development. Music has been shown to improve verbal memory in typical individuals as well as those with learning difficulties, but no studies have examined this relationship in WS. The aim of our two studies was to examine whether music can enhance verbal memory in individuals with WS. In Study 1, we presented a memory task of eight spoken or sung sentences that described an animal and identified its group name to 38 individuals with WS. Study 2, involving another group of individuals with WS (n=38), included six spoken or sung sentences that identified an animal group name. In both studies, those who had participated in formal music lessons scored significantly better on the verbal memory task when the sentences were sung than when they were spoken. Those who had not taken formal lessons showed no such benefit. We also found that increased enjoyment of music and heightened emotional reactions to music did not impact performance on the memory task. These compelling findings provide the first evidence that musical experience may enhance verbal memory in individuals with WS and shed more light on the complex relationship between aspects of cognition and altered neurodevelopment in this unique disorder.

Music lessons are associated with increased verbal memory in individuals with Williams syndrome

Williams syndrome (WS) is a genetic disorder characterized by intellectual delay and an affinity for music. It has been previously shown that familiar music can enhance verbal memory in individuals with WS who have had music training. There is also evidence that unfamiliar, or novel, music may also improve cognitive recall. This study was designed to examine if a novel melody could also enhance verbal memory in individuals with WS, and to more fully characterize music training in this population. We presented spoken or sung sentences that described an animal and its group name to 44 individuals with WS, and then tested their immediate and delayed memory using both recall and multiple choice formats. Those with formal music training (average duration of training 4½ years) scored significantly higher on both the spoken and sung recall items, as well as on the spoken multiple choice items, than those with no music training. Music therapy, music enjoyment, age, and Verbal IQ did not impact performance on the memory tasks. These findings provide further evidence that formal music lessons may impact the neurological pathways associated with verbal memory in individuals with WS, consistent with findings in typically developing individuals.

Prosodic persistence in music performance and speech production

Does the rate of melodies that listeners hear affect the rate of their performed melodies? Skilled adult pianists performed two short melodies as a measure of their preferred performance rate. Next they heard, on each trial, a computer‐generated performance of a prime melody at a slow or fast rate (600 or 300 ms per quarter‐note beat). Following each prime melody, the pianists performed a target melody from notation. The prime and target melodies were matched for meter and length. The rate of pianists’ target melody performances was slower for performances that followed a slow prime than a fast prime, indicating that pianists’ performances were influenced by the rate of the prime melody. Performance duration was predicted by a model that includes prime and preferred durations. Findings from an analogous speech production experiment show that a similar model predicts speakers’ sentence rate from preferred and prime sentence rates. [Work supported by NIMH Grant 45764 and the Center for Cognitive Science.]