Music-reading training alleviates crowding with musical notation.

Yetta Kwailing Wong,Alan C.-N Wong

doi:10.1167/16.8.15

Abstract

Crowding refers to the disrupted recognition of an object by nearby distractors. Prior work has shown that real-world music-reading experts experience reduced crowding specifically for musical stimuli. However, it is unclear whether music-reading training reduced the magnitude of crowding or whether individuals showing less crowding are more likely to learn and excel in music reading later. To examine the first possibility, we tested whether crowding can be alleviated by music-reading training in the laboratory. Intermediate-level music readers completed 8 hr of music-reading training within 2 weeks. Their threshold duration for reading musical notes dropped by 44.1% after training to a level comparable with that of extant expert music readers. Importantly, crowding was reduced with musical stimuli but not with the nonmusical stimuli Landolt Cs. In sum, the reduced crowding for musical stimuli in expert music readers can be explained by music-reading training.

Highlights

Fluent music reading is crucial for musicians to expose themselves to a wide range of music pieces and activities
Real-world music-reading experts experienced less crowding than novices when a simplified note was crowded either by extra flanker dots or by extra lines. Both groups experienced a similar level of crowding with the control nonmusical stimuli, Landolt Cs. These findings suggest that music-reading experience may reduce crowding for musical stimuli
Following 8 hr of music-reading training in the laboratory, the threshold duration was reduced by 44.1% for reading musical notes but not for reading random digit sequences

Summary

Introduction

Fluent music reading is crucial for musicians to expose themselves to a wide range of music pieces and activities. Empirical evidence shows that music-reading experts can encode short music sequences, each with four to five notes, at a rate of three sequences per second, which is three times faster than novices K. Wong & Gauthier, 2010a, 2010b, 2012; Y. K. Wong, Peng, Fratus, Woodman, & Gauthier, 2014). How do musicreading experts achieve such an amazing reading speed?

Methods

Results

Conclusion