Musicians often experience performance anxiety, which impairs their performance on stage and, in extreme cases, leads to poor well-being and the abandonment of a musical career. Therefore, it is crucial to constantly monitor music performance anxiety (MPA) and implement appropriate strategies to manage MPA in musicians. The aim of this study is to adapt the Mazzarolo Music Performance Anxiety Scale (M-MPAS) to the Polish language. In this cross-sectional study, the Polish version of the brief, 5-item, M-MPAS, was validated among 270 musicians. In the present study, we confirmed that the Polish version of the M-MPAS scale has a bi-factor structure and adequate reliability for the Factor 1 (MPA Symptoms), Factor 2 (Performance Aversion), and General Factor of MPA (with Cronbach’s α .78, .88, and .83, respectively), and is a valid measure of MPA. High levels of MPA were associated with low musical experience, young age, and female gender. MPA correlated positively with neuroticism and negatively with dispositional mindfulness. Consistent with Fredrickson’s broaden-and-build theory, neuroticism fully mediated the relationship between dispositional mindfulness and MPA. Monitoring both neuroticism and mindfulness traits is crucial to managing MPA in musicians. The Polish version of the M-MPAS scale proved to be a reliable and concise tool that can be recommended for MPA screening in musicians in clinical and educational contexts.
Groove, the compelling urge to move to music, is known to be related to rhythmic complexity in an inverted U-shaped manner, but its underlying neural dynamics over time remain unclear. Using electroencephalography (EEG), we investigated the temporal evolution of groove perception and its neural correlates. Participants listened to rhythm patterns of varying syncopation complexity (low, medium, high) and rated their subjective desire to move and feeling of pleasure. We analyzed mid-frontal theta-band (4-8 Hz) power across four repetitions of the core rhythmic phrase. Behavioral ratings confirmed the inverted U-shaped relationship, peaking at medium syncopation complexity. Consistent with this pattern, mid-frontal theta power was largest for medium syncopation, particularly in later repetitions. Crucially, theta power during the 3rd repetition positively correlated with desire to move. Source localization provided converging, exploratory evidence for contributions from a medial frontal network encompassing the supplementary motor area and cingulate cortex. Together, these findings suggest that mid-frontal theta dynamics track groove-related experience as rhythmic exposure unfolds, potentially reflecting the engagement of control/attentional mechanisms that support precision-weighted predictive updating under intermediate rhythmic complexity.
Researchers across the behavioral sciences are increasingly using games as a means of data collection. Intrinsically motivating digital games are especially promising for music cognition, where large, diverse, and engaged samples are needed. In this article, we focus on a specific class of game paradigms suited to cross-cultural contexts and applicable across the developmental lifespan: auditory matching-pairs (Memory) games. We present the conception, design, and initial evaluation of TuneTwins, a solitaire auditory matching-pairs paradigm developed to study musical memory and auditory cognition. Building on self-determination theory and prior game-based research, TuneTwins employs an 8-pair (4 × 4) board to balance playability with psychometric sensitivity. Our web-based auditory adaptation introduces clear visual–auditory mappings, a three-click turn structure, and a dual scoring system that distinguishes memorized matches from lucky guesses and memory errors. Large-scale simulations of chance and optimal strategies guided the choice of board size, demonstrating that this configuration yields meaningful separation between performance extremes while avoiding ceiling effects. We further report empirical evidence from four implementations: a proof-of-concept online study, a cross-cultural field study with Mbendjele BaYaka hunter-gatherers, a study with visitors to a science museum, and an online global deployment. In the proof-of-concept study, TuneTwins captured systematic performance differences between stimulus conditions; across all settings, it elicited high voluntary engagement, including repeated play and the completion of multiple difficulty levels. We argue that matching-pairs games such as TuneTwins provide an engaging, intuitive, and scalable paradigm for collecting behavioral data using primarily auditory stimuli—and that they can be used to probe the mental representation of music across cultures, across development, and potentially across species.
Listening to music can affect time perception via musical, individual, and contextual factors. Timbre, a vital element of music, has never yet been studied in this context. In this paper we investigated whether timbre affects the perceived speed of the passage of time (PoT) and duration estimates (DE); two different types of temporal judgement. In two experiments, participants listened to different timbre versions of musical phrases: either sung by human or artificial voices. We assessed PoT, DE and ratings of enjoyment, valence, arousal, timbre “naturalness.” Our results showed that timbre influenced PoT, but not DE. PoT was judged as faster for the human voice, which was judged as happier and more pleasant and natural than the artificial voices. Results point to PoT being affected via different levels of musical enjoyment evoked by different timbres. These findings align with existing evidence: they suggest that a previously reported preference for human-like timbres in human-computer interaction may also occur in musical domains, support an independence between PoT and DE, and confirm a relationship between enjoyment and PoT. We discuss how both timbral and melodic features appear to influence PoT via musical emotions, paving the way for future studies on how music shapes time perception.
Early childhood is considered a sensitive period for both musical and linguistic development, yet there are few multi-year studies tracing how group music instruction may shape these abilities over time. We present four years of data from a single-arm longitudinal study of 216 children aged 3–7 years enrolled in an early childhood music education class in a conservatory setting. Children in the program were tested annually in a battery that measured vocabulary, phonological skills, pre-reading abilities, speech in noise perception, and singing and tapping abilities. Linear mixed-effect models showed significant improvements for several, but not all measures, with planned baseline to follow-up comparisons indicating improvements relative to baseline performance. Multiple regressions including the factors of age and years of classes showed independent contributions of training to several of the phonological outcome measurements as well. These findings suggest that participation in early childhood music education can be associated with cumulative improvements in musical and language skills, adding to the body of evidence on early childhood music education.
