Talk by Ina Bornkessel-Schlesewsky and Matthias Schlesewsky, University of South Australia, on “Naturalistic electrophysiological measures of music education reveal mechanisms of cognitive development in preschool children: a proof-of-concept study”.
Time: 10-11 am
Location: Liebermeisterstraße 18 (ZITh), R. 318, and via research colloquium zoom.
Abstract: In recent years, the field of cognitive neuroscience has become increasingly concerned with the extent to which experimental results reflect human information processing in the "real world". Accordingly, naturalistic studies are becoming more and more popular. Such studies do, however, continue to pose challenges in regard to their execution, analysis and interpretation due to the uncontrolled nature of many experimental parameters. These challenges increase further in the area of developmental research, particularly when working with young children. Here, we present the results of a proof-of-concept study in which we examined the feasibility of collecting meaningful electrophysiological (EEG) data from preschool children during a 30-minute music lesson. Fifty children enrolled at a preschool in Singapore (30 female; mean age: 5:5 years; age range: 4:8-6:4) participated in the study. We collected resting-state EEG data from all participants and additional on-task EEG from a subset of 35 participants. On-task recordings were undertaken while the children completed a series of musical tasks in a one-on-one interaction with a teacher. Crucially, the musical tasks -- targetting rhythm, pitch and melody -- formed part of the children's normal music curriculum and were not altered in any way for experimental purposes. We will present initial results, which indicate that it is indeed feasible to collect meaningful EEG data from preschoolers under ecologically valid conditions in a classroom setting..