Presentation of my third PhD research project presented at the International Multisensory Research Forum in Suzhou, China in 2016.

1. Long-term musical training
alters the interaction
between frames of reference
Simon P. Landry
Doctoral candidate | Université de Montréal, Canada
Presented at the International Multisensory Research Forum
Suzhou, China
June 15th, 2016
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2. Introduction
• Musical training can alter sensory abilities (Herholz et al.,
2012)
• Musicians have faster tactile RTs (Landry et al.,
submitted)
• Crossed arm TOJ task (Yamamoto et al., 2001).
• RTs increases when the SOA decrease (Yamamoto et al., 2001;
Heed et al., 2012).
• No significant difference between groups with pianists
• Excluded “inverted responses” (Kobor et al., 2006).
• Can eliminate a significant differences (Cadieux et al., 2010).
• The impact of musical training on this task and its RT
remains unknown.
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3. Objective
• Investigate the crossed-arm TOJ task in musicians and
measure reaction times.
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4. Participants
• Musicians (n=17)
• 6 males; 11 females
• mean age=24
• Mean musical training: 92th percentile
• Control group (n=20)
• 5 males; 15 females
• mean age=24
• Mean musical training: 34th percentile
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5. Methodology (Cadieux et al., 2010)
• Participants indicated which cube vibrated first using foot
pedals.
• 8 stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) :
• ±400ms, ±200ms, ±100ms, ±50ms
• + = right first, - = left first
• 40 times in random order
• Arms uncrossed and crossed.
• Uncrossed: Indicate which side vibrated first
• Crossed: Indicate which side in space vibrated first
• Unspeeded reaction times were recorded for every
stimulation.
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6. Crossed-arm TOJ
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
-400 -200 0 200 400
Proportion"Rightfirst"responses
Stimulus onset asychrony (ms)
Controls: uncrossed
Musicians: uncrossed
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7. Crossed-arm TOJ
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
-400 -200 0 200 400
Proportion"Rightfirst"responses
Stimulus onset asychrony (ms)
Controls: uncrossed
Controls: crossed
Musicians: uncrossed
Musicians: crossed
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8. Crossed-arm TOJ
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
-400 -200 0 200 400
Proportion"Rightfirst"responses
Stimulus onset asychrony (ms)
Controls: uncrossed
Controls: crossed
Musicians: uncrossed
Musicians: crossed
2
3
4
5
PCDscore
*
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9. Reaction times: Uncrossed posture
9
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
-400 -200 -100 -50 50 100 200 400
Reactiontime(ms)
Stimulus Onset Asynchrony (ms)
Controls
Musicians
*
*
*
*

10. Reaction times: Crossed posture
10
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
2000
-400 -200 -100 -50 50 100 200 400
Reactiontime(ms)
Stimulus Onset Asynchrony (ms)
Controls
Musicians
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

11. Discussion
• Musicians have a higher PCD score.
• More incorrect responses in the crossed condition.
• Musicians have faster RTs:
• all crossed SOAs
• -200ms, -100ms, -50ms, and 50ms uncrossed SOAs
• Faster musician RT could cause incorrect responses.
• In accordance with a theory proposed by Shore et al. (2002)
• No time to consolidate conflicting information before TOJ response.
• New understanding of the behavioural mechanism
underlying the crossed-arm TOJ task.
• Novel insight on the effects of musical training on sensory
abilities.
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