‘Music of the Soul’ (animae musica): Marsilio Ficino and the Revival of musica humana in Renaissance Neoplatonism

Ficino explained the relationship between music, the soul and body along with the cultivation of singing as an integral part of intellectual and spiritual exercise – as the ‘contemplation of the divine.’ This article elucidates the musica humana which underlies the Platonic theology of music reclaimed by Ficino, in terms of the animae musica that exists in reason alone. It explains how the animae musica was perceived and pursued by Ficino, drawing upon his theory of the music-spirit (spiritus) relationship. It argues that the musica humana, which consists only in the voice, is embodied when the animae musica is imitated by the music involving speech (sermo), which the Platonists find in the gravis musica that is vocal, poetic and modulated. It then explains why as a human imitation of divina musica, vocal music in various metres, especially metrical psalmody, lies at the core of the sixteenth-century reform of sacred music.     

音乐意义传递的神经证据——基于启动范式的发现与思考

使用语义启动(semantic priming)、概念启动(conceptual priming)、情感启动(affective priming)以及和声启动(harmonic priming)四种启动范式及其变式,认知神经科学的研究证实:音乐能够传递不同的意义,其主要的神经证据是两大脑电指标:对应于外在音乐意义(extra-musical meaning)的N400与对应于内在音乐意义(intra-musical meaning)的N5。对4种启动范式的分析发现:1)音乐以"语义"与"非语义"两种形式为媒介传递意义;2)启动范式的核心特征即是对基于"音乐知觉与图式"的"期望匹配与不匹配效应"的操作。与此同时,近期的研究表明N400与N5间的关系并非完全的"彼此独立",而是倾向于共存与共变,甚至是一个成分的两种表达。未来研究在进一步厘清音乐内、外在意义深层关联的同时,有必要将音乐意义传递的神经科学研究纳入到更为宏阔的时代、地域与社会性背景之中。     

音乐与个体发展

人类对音乐的感知体验起始于生命早期。近年来认知神经科学领域的研究表明, 音乐对个体发展具有深远的影响。在大脑发育的过程中, 音乐经验主要调节大脑加工信息的方式, 同时会影响语言、空间、以及运动能力的发展。本文回顾了近年来研究者们在音乐认知领域的新发现, 重点关注于音乐对脑发育的影响。     

音乐传达哲理性概念的认知神经机制

哲理性概念是音乐表现的对象之一。由于音乐不具有类似语言的语义性, 对哲理性概念的理解常常成为音乐欣赏者的困扰。基于此, 本项目聚焦于听者对哲理性概念的理解。通过选取音乐训练经历不同的人群为被试, 系统考察哲理性概念加工的认知神经机制。本项目成果将揭示音乐诱发哲理性概念加工的神经机制, 厘清音乐训练对音乐外在意义加工的作用, 从而在一定程度上回答人类对音乐意义理解的普遍性问题。     

The effect of auditory versus visual violent media exposure on aggressive behaviour: The role of song lyrics, video clips and musical tone

Five decades of research have shown clear links between exposure to violent visual media and subsequent aggression, however there has been little research that directly compares the effects of exposure to violent visual versus auditory media, or which has experimentally tested the effect of violent song lyrics with musical ‘tone’ held constant. In the current study 194 participants heard music either with or without lyrics, and with or without a violent music video, and were then given the chance to aggress using the hot sauce paradigm. Musical tone was held constant across groups, and a fifth (control) group had no media exposure at all. Experimental groups, on average, were significantly more aggressive than controls. The strongest effect was elicited by exposure to violent lyrics, regardless of whether violent imagery accompanied the music, and regardless of various person-based characteristics. Implications for theories of media violence and models of aggression are discussed.     

亚里士多德关于以音乐教育培养少儿道德品行的思想探析

在快乐中培养少儿的道德品行是亚里士多德音乐教育思想的道德目标。在审美通感的基础上,通过道德移情进行理性灵魂的德性活动,是音乐教育培养少儿道德品行的心理机制。“执中”为善、积习成德是音乐教育培塑未来道德公民的基本途径。     

The influence of background music on learners with varying extraversion: Seductive detail or beneficial effect?

Seductive details in general affect learning and cognitive load negatively. However, especially background music as a seductive detail may also influence the learner's arousal, whose optimal level depends on the learner's extraversion. Therefore, the effects of extraversion and background music on learning outcomes, cognitive load, and arousal were investigated. We tested 167 high school students and found better transfer outcomes for the group with background music. They also reported higher germane load, but no impact of background music on extraneous cognitive load or arousal was found. In the group without background music, learners with higher extraversion reached better recall scores, which was not found in the group with background music. Results may cautiously be interpreted that there is a beneficial impact of background music that compensates for the disadvantages of low extraverted learners and which cannot be explained through arousal.     

音乐训练对大脑前注意加工的影响

前注意加工(pre-attentive processing)是发生在注意之前不依赖于意识的一种认知过程, 它反映了大脑对刺激的无意识的、自动的加工。失匹配负波(mismatch negativity, MMN)是研究前注意加工最常用的指标。MMN波幅降低已成为精神分裂症、抑郁症等精神类疾病的重要临床指征。MMN的研究范式主要包括经典oddball范式和多特征范式等。音乐训练对于人脑结构和功能有重要的影响, 对于增加灰质体积、改善注意记忆功能都有着显著的功效。音乐训练对MMN也有显著影响, 并表现在由各类声音特征构建的范式上。未来研究应进一步比较东西方音乐对MMN的影响, 探索更具生态化效度的研究范式, 揭示音乐训练对老年人MMN的影响及机制。     

Drunkenness as a Communal Practice: Platonic and Peripatetic Perspectives

Greek philosophers in general share a strong commitment to a life of reason and excellence. It is therefore surprising to see some of them argue in defense of symposiastic drunkenness. This essay investigates several such arguments. Its main source texts are books I and II of Plato’s Laws and a passage in the excerpts on Peripatetic ethics in the doxography of Arius Didymus. The arguments are analyzed and situated in a broader cultural and philosophical context. The Peripatetic passage approves of drunkenness as an aspect of certain established forms of communal activity, with the caveat that the virtuous person will not desire drunkenness for its own sake. While it is clear that the Peripatetic author grounds the need for communal activities in our social nature, he fails to justify the existence of communal activities that lead to drunkenness. Plato’s arguments, by contrast, sketch out and justify a new, non-traditional framework for certain highly regulated forms of communal drunkenness. His first main argument relates to the goal of testing and nursing self-control through exposure to wine, while the second is based on the idea that the rejuvenating force of wine renders mature men again susceptible to the formative influence of song and dance as vehicles of good ethical qualities.     

Hearing histories of Hammer Hill: Pop music as auditory geography

Focusing on artful, embodied listening as a method of analysing the emotional intensities of place, this article calls for academic geographers to listen to practitioners of nonacademic geography. It explores an ethical and methodological agenda for understanding how pop musicians have heard the world, and for taking them seriously as creative geographers who contribute sophisticated interpretations of and interventions in space. It listens emotionally to Jens Lekman's auditory reminiscences – informed by listening and expressed through song – pertaining to the marginalised and stigmatised Gothenburg suburb of Hammarkullen (or ‘Hammer Hill’). By understanding how Lekman's ideas about his home suburb relate to pop musical history, the article analyses the musician's interpretive geographical methods and the effect sound can have on space. It juxtaposes these methods with recent scholarly research on sonic and listening geographies, and embraces the emotional listening practised by pop music fans to appreciate how scholars can learn from this form of nonacademic geography.