Philip Fine

The effect of pattern recognition and tonal predictability on sight-singing ability

This study investigated the role of concurrent musical parts in pitching ability in sight-singing, concentrating on the effects of melodic and harmonic coherence. Twenty-two experienced singers sang their part twice in each of four novel chorales. The chorales contained either original or altered melody and original (tonal) or altered (atonal) harmony. Participants also performed an interval-singing task. Alterations from the original in both melody and harmony increased pitching errors in sight-singing. These results indicate respectively that pattern recognition and harmonic prediction are integral to sight-singing ability. Singers made fewer errors on the second reading, showing the role of familiarity. Error rate correlated with interval-singing performance. Less skilled sight-singers were significantly more affected by a disruption in harmony than were better sight-singers. The results suggest an increasing role for internal auditory representations with increasing expertise.

The Grounded Expertise Components Approach in the Novel Area of Cryptic Crossword Solving

This paper presents a relatively unexplored area of expertise research which focuses on the solving of British-style cryptic crossword puzzles. Unlike its American “straight-definition” counterparts, which are primarily semantically-cued retrieval tasks, the British cryptic crossword is an exercise in code-cracking detection work. Solvers learn to ignore the superficial “surface reading” of the clue, which is phrased to be deliberately misleading, and look instead for a grammatical set of coded instructions which, if executed precisely, will lead to the correct (and only) answer. Sample clues are set out to illustrate the task requirements and demands. Hypothesized aptitudes for the field might include high fluid intelligence, skill at quasi-algebraic puzzles, pattern matching, visuospatial manipulation, divergent thinking and breaking frame abilities. These skills are additional to the crystallized knowledge and word-retrieval demands which are also a feature of American crossword puzzles. The authors present results from an exploratory survey intended to identify the characteristics of the cryptic crossword solving population, and outline the impact of these results on the direction of their subsequent research. Survey results were strongly supportive of a number of hypothesized skill-sets and guided the selection of appropriate test content and research paradigms which formed the basis of an extensive research program to be reported elsewhere. The paper concludes by arguing the case for a more grounded approach to expertise studies, termed the Grounded Expertise Components Approach. In this, the design and scope of the empirical program flows from a detailed and objectively-based characterization of the research population at the very onset of the program.

Making myself understood: perceived factors affecting the intelligibility of sung text

Singing is universal, and understanding sung words is thought to be important for many listeners’ enjoyment of vocal and choral music. However, this is not a trivial task, and sung text intelligibility is probably affected by many factors. A survey of musicians was undertaken to identify the factors believed to have most impact on intelligibility, and to assess the importance of understanding sung words in familiar and unfamiliar languages. A total of 143 professional and amateur musicians, including singers, singing teachers, and regular listeners to vocal music, provided 394 statements yielding 851 references to one or more of 43 discrete factors in four categories: performer-related, listener-related, environment-related and words/music-related. The factors mentioned most frequently in each of the four categories were, respectively: diction; hearing ability; acoustic; and genre. In more than a third of references, the extent to which sung text is intelligible was attributed to the performer. Over 60% of respondents rated the ability to understand words in familiar languages as “very important,” but only 17% when the text was in an unfamiliar language. Professional musicians (47% of the sample) rated the importance of understanding in both familiar and unfamiliar languages significantly higher than amateurs but listed fewer factors overall and fewer listener-related factors. The more important the respondents rated understanding, the more performer-related and environment-related factors they tended to list. There were no significant differences between the responses of those who teach singing and those who do not. Enhancing sung text intelligibility is thus perceived to be within the singer’s control, at least to some extent, but there are also many factors outside their control. Empirical research is needed to explore some of these factors in greater depth, and has the potential to inform pedagogy for singers, composers, and choral directors.

An intervention using the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills Model: Tackling cyberaggression and cyberbullying in South African adolescents

Abstract Given the ever-increasing concern about cyberaggression and cyberbullying, the Information- Motivation-Behavioral Skills (IMB) model was used to develop an exploratory intervention to increase adolescents’ online risk perception and enhance online safety. The intervention workshops were piloted with 177 females in grades 8–10 (13–16 years) in South Africa. Participants’ online risk perception was assessed either before (control group) or after the workshop (intervention group). Results showed that the intervention group had higher online risk perception, indicating the intervention’s effectiveness in increasing online risk perception, a prerequisite for behavior change. The intervention was more effective when it was tailored to participants’ online behaviors and perceptions than when it was more general. The study demonstrates the utility of the IMB model for addressing cyberaggression and cyberbullying, and the chapter includes guidance for developing and conducting such an intervention.

‘The Penny Drops’: investigating insight through the medium of cryptic crosswords

A new protocol for eliciting insight (“Aha!”/Eureka) moments is proposed, involving the solving of British-style cryptic crosswords. The mechanics of cryptic crossword clues are briefly explained, and the process is set into the insight literature, with parallels being drawn between several different types of cryptic crossword clues and other insight-triggering problems such as magic, jokes, anagrams, rebus, and remote association puzzles (RAT), as well as “classic” thematic or spatial challenges. We have evidence from a previous survey of cryptic crossword solvers that the “Aha!” moment is the most important driver of continued participation in this hobby, suggesting that the positive emotional “payback” has an energizing effect on a participants motivation to continue solving. Given the success with which a good quality cryptic crossword elicits “Aha!” moments, cryptics should prove highly valuable in exploring insight under lab conditions. We argue that the crossword paradigm overcomes many of the issues which beset other insight problems: for example, solution rates of cryptic crossword clues are high; new material can easily be commissioned, leading to a limitless pool of test items; and each puzzle contains clues resembling a wide variety of insight problem types, permitting a comparison of heterogeneous solving mechanisms within the same medium. Uniquely among insight problems, considerations of expertise also come into play, allowing us to explore how crossword solving experts handle the deliberate misdirection of the cryptic clue more effectively than non-expert, but equally experienced, peers. Many have debated whether there is such a thing as an “insight problem” per se: typically, problems can be solved with or without insight, depending on the context. We argue that the same is true for cryptic crosswords, and that the key to the successful triggering of insight may lie in both the difficulty of the challenge and the degree to which misdirection has been used. Future research is outlined which explores the specific mechanisms of clue difficulty. This opens the way to an exploration of potential links between solving constraints and the experiencing of the “Aha!” moment, which may shed light on the cognitive processes involved in insight solution.

Neuropathic pain in a rehabilitation setting after spinal cord injury: an interpretative phenomenological analysis of inpatients’ experiences

Study designQualitative, semi-structured interviews.ObjectivesNeuropathic pain (NP) can be psychologically and physically debilitating, and is present in approximately half of the spinal cord injured (SCI) population. However, under half of those with NP are adherent to pain medication. Understanding the impact of NP during rehabilitation is required to reduce long-term impact and to promote adherence to medication and psychoeducation recommendations.SettingUnited Kingdom.MethodsFive males and three females with SCI and chronic NP, resident in rehabilitation wards at a specialist SCI center in the United Kingdom, took part. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants less than 15 months post-SCI (mean = 8.4 months). Verbatim transcripts were subject to interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA).ResultsThree super-ordinate themes were identified, mediating pain and adherence: (1) the dichotomy of safety perceptions; (2) adherence despite adversity; and (3) fighting the future. Analyses suggest that experience of the rehabilitation setting and responsiveness of care shapes early distress. Attitudes to medication and psychosocial adjustment are relevant to developing expectations about pain management.ConclusionsEnhancing self-efficacy, feelings of safety in hospital, and encouraging the adoption of adaptive coping strategies may enhance psychosocial and pain-related outcomes, and improve adherence to medication. Encouraging adaptive responses to, and interpretation of, pain, through the use of interventions such as coping effectiveness training, targeted cognitive behavioral pain management, and acceptance-based interventions such as mindfulness, is recommended in order to reduce long-term reliance on medication.