Understanding the neurocognitive mechanisms of learning culturally unfamiliar music

我们的目标是了解支持学习陌生音乐节奏的大脑机制，以及这些机制和集体音乐制作如何支持跨文化合作和态度。过去的研究表明，与他人一起创作音乐可以增强信任、合作和纽带，但这些影响还没有在跨文化背景下进行研究。就像一门外语一样，来自陌生文化的音乐经常被误解，但教育和积极参与陌生音乐可以提高感知能力。我们的目标是揭示学习复杂陌生音乐的神经机制，并测试跨文化音乐制作是否增加了跨文化亲社会性。我们的跨学科团队融合了传统土著音乐家和知识持有者(合作者Hill和Buck)，土著福祉、文化和文化间关系的专业知识(共同申请者Freeman和Monture)，土著音乐学专业知识(合作者Cronk)，以及儿童音乐认知神经科学(Pi Trainor，博士后卡梅隆)。我们将汇集来自大河地区六国的儿童和来自汉密尔顿地区的非土著儿童，在每周6次的工作坊中学习唱歌和演奏Haudenosaunee传统音乐。作为对照，来自相同社区的其他儿童将参加文化研讨会，只听这种音乐。我们将使用组间、前后设计来测试神经振荡的变化(使用EEG)和在三个节奏任务(索引音乐学习)上的表现是否预测亲社会跨文化合作、态度和心理健康的变化。我们的跨学科方法依赖神经科学和本土知识来测试学习不熟悉的音乐系统的神经机制，以及它与建立跨文化亲社会的关系。我们预计将对以下领域产生影响：认知神经科学(学习机制)、社会发展(音乐制作对儿童跨文化亲社会性的影响)、教育和土著研究(在和解中使用传统土著音乐)和音乐教育(主动教育与被动教育的作用)。我们将音乐学习作为和解工具的独特做法有可能通过增进土著和非土著儿童之间的理解来影响加拿大社会。我们希望这一结果将为加拿大和国际上新的跨文化音乐项目和政策提供参考。

We aim to understand the brain mechanisms that support learning unfamiliar musical rhythms and how those mechanisms and group music-making can support intercultural cooperation and attitudes. Past research shows making music with others enhances trust, cooperation and bonds, but these effects have not been studied in cross-cultural contexts. Like a foreign language, music from an unfamiliar culture is often misperceived but instruction and active engagement with unfamiliar music can improve perception. Our objective is to uncover neural mechanisms of learning complex unfamiliar music and test whether intercultural music-making increases intercultural prosociality. Our interdisciplinary team integrates traditional Indigenous musicians and knowledge-holders (collaborators Hill and Buck), expertise in Indigenous well-being, culture & intercultural relationships (co-applicants Freeman and Monture), expertise in Indigenous musicology (collaborator Cronk), and in the cognitive neuroscience of music in children (PI Trainor, postdoc Cameron).We will bring together children from the Six Nations of the Grand River territory and non-Indigenous children from the Hamilton area to learn to sing and play traditional Haudenosaunee music in 6 weekly workshops. As a control, other children from the same communities will attend cultural workshops with listening-only exposure to this music. We will use a between-groups, pre-post design to test whether changes in neural oscillations (using EEG) and performance on three rhythm tasks (indexing music learning) predict changes in prosocial intercultural cooperation, attitudes, and mental health.Our interdisciplinary approach relies on neuroscience and Indigenous knowledge to test neural mechanisms of learning an unfamiliar musical system and how it relates to building intercultural prosociality. We expect to impact fields including cognitive neuroscience (mechanisms of learning), social development (effects of music-making on intercultural prosociality in children), education and Indigenous studies (using traditional Indigenous music in reconciliation) and music education (the role of active vs. passive education). Our unique approach of using music learning as a tool of reconciliation has the potential to impact Canadian society by enhancing understanding between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children. We expect the results to inform new cross-cultural music programs and policies across Canada and internationally.