Optimizing Music Learning: Exploring How Blocked and Interleaved Practice Schedules Affect Advanced Performance.

In music learning, an interleaved schedule that continuously alternates tasks, was found to be more effective than simple repetition, during which repetition was used on a single task until mastered. Front Psychol. 2016 Aug 18;7:1251.

Comment: Variety is the spice of life, and the key to learning according to this study. Repeating a task over and over requires less cognitive processing, may reduce long-term learning as a result.

What carers and family said about music therapy on behaviours of older people with dementia in residential aged care.

This study of families and care givers taking care of elderly people with dementia found that the study participants all wanted policymakers to ensure more, not less, music therapy. More funding for music therapy was determined to be important as part of ongoing care in the residential aged care context.  (Int J Older People Nurs. 2015 Jun;10(2):146-57)

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Music and emotions: from enchantment to entrainment.

Music activates a combination of emotional and motivational, motor, attention, and memory-related brain regions.  (Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2015 Mar;1337(1):212-22.)

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Familiarity with music increases walking speed in rhythmic auditory cuing.

In gait rehabilitation (e.g. after a stroke), when patients listened to familiar music during rehab, the result was a elicited faster stride velocity and less variable strides.  (Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2015 Mar;1337(1):53-61)

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Music performance anxiety in young musicians: comparison of playing classical or popular music.

Performance anxiety was high for classical musicians between 7 and 16 yrs, which decreased with experience. Performance anxiety increased with age in popular music musicians, regardless of number of performances.  (Med Probl Perform Art. 2015 Mar;30(1):30-7.)

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Conclusions: These findings suggest that MBSR, a secular meditation training program, is associated with improved depressive symptoms regardless of affiliation with a religion, sense of spirituality, trait level of mindfulness before MBSR training, sex, o

Mindfulness based stress reduction was found to decrease depression, regardless of affiliation with religion or a sense of spirituality.  (J Altern Complement Med. 2015 Feb 19.x)

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The acute effects of yoga on executive function.

This study found that the practice of yoga improved thinking ability.  (J Phys Act Health. 2013 May;10(4):488-95)

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