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Adolescents are a population that is particularly vulnerable to the effects of music, while depression is the most common psychopathology in this developmental period. Studying the connection between musical preferences and depression in adolescents therefore needs to be given special attention. The purpose of our study was to examine how different musical preferences are associated with depression and whether these links differ according to gender. The database collected on a sample of 272 adolescents (193 female and 79 male) was obtained using the Beck Depression Inventory - BDI II and the Short Test of Music Preferences - STOMP. On the basis of results from the research, we found that a preference for Reflective & Conventional music styles was connected negatively to depression, while a preference for the Rebellious music style is positively connected to depression. The important value of our research consists in our having tested the Slovene version of STOMP. The results show that STOMP’s validity is questionable.

The aim of this study was to explore the differences in musical preferences between Slovene and Croatian students. The sample consisted of 369 students from Slovenia and 371 students from Croatia. The results show that there are significant differences in musical preferences between Slovene and Croatian students. Furthermore, differences with regard to gender, age and study program were confirmed.

The aim of our study was to explore musical preferences in preschool children and also to shed light on parental influence. Quantitative study was conducted on 250 five- and six-year olds, 118 boys and 132 girls In the second part, we performed qualitative study on 15 children and their parents. Participants evaluated 10 one minute long musical excerpts and in qualitative study also reported reasons for (dis)liking. The results reveal that preschool children appreciate most of the musical styles, among which they like children song sung by a child the most. Parental influence was confirmed in qualitative part.

The aim of the present study was to investigate job resources and demands and their relatedness to work flow. In line with the three-dimensional model of flow, absorption, work enjoyment and intrinsic work motivation were explored as separate outcomes. Our predictions were tested using a sample of 293 higher education teachers in Slovenia. The participants indicated their levels of flow, job demands (e.g., workload) and job resources (e.g., variety and autonomy) using the Slovenian version of the work flow inventory and job demands-resources scales. Our hypotheses were tested using moderated multiple regression where main as well as interactive effects between job resources and demands were examined. Autonomy and variety were found to enhance absorption, work enjoyment and intrinsic work motivation. Furthermore, autonomy was found to be the most important predictor of all the work flow dimensions. In contrast, workload was not significantly related to any of the outcomes. We also found interactive effects of variety and workload as well as variety and autonomy on absorption.

The aim of the present study was to examine the predictive value of elementary school teachers' workplace characteristics on work stress and burnout. Workplace characteristics were defined as job demands and resources, which were further divided into general and specific, related to work with special education needs students. We examined whether variables related to work with special education needs students explained incremental variance in stress and burnout above and beyond general workplace characteristics. Elementary school teachers from all twelve regions of Slovenia (N ranges from 439 to 886) took part in the study. The results have shown that workplace characteristics independently predict a significant amount of variance in stress, emotional exhaustion and depersonalization among teachers. General job demands and specific demands related to special education needs students are the highest and most stable predictors of all three studied criteria. Based on our findings, we suggest several measures which can help to alleviate stress and foster efficient coping strategies.

Relationship between brain and music is of interest to musicians, psychologists and neuroscientists. In recent years no other area of psychology of music has seen as much advancement as neuropsychology of music. The aim of the article is to present some main issues in the neuropsychology of music abroad and in Slovenia, to classify research studies into larger categories and to predict the future development of this field.There are different levels of inquiry into the neuropsychology of music: (1) the analysis of normal and abnormal psychological and physiological functions to determine the principles and modes by which the human brain processes, codifies, stores, and produces music, and (2) a description of the clinical deficits in music perception or performance resulting from localized or diffuse damage to the nervous system. Main topics that occupy neuropsychology of music are neuropsychological models of musical processing, functional imaging of musical perception and cognition, and the use of music as a therapeutic and clinical tool. Although some important studies have already been conducted since the year 2003, in Slovenia we faced a "formal" turning point in acknowledging the importance of the connection between music, mind and brain with the Sinapsa's Week of the brain 2009 under the title Brain and music.

The pre-school period plays a very important role in the language development. One of the significant indicators of this development is the phonological awareness. Some of the previous studies reported the presence of the relation between the phonological awareness and musical abilities. Our main goal was to examine this relation with the Test of the phonological awareness and the Test of musical abilities on 67 Slovene preschool children, aged from 5 to 6. We also wanted to investigate the differences between boys (N = 36) and girls (N = 31) and the differences between two age groups (aged from 5 to 5.5 years, N = 32, and from 5.5 to 6 years, N = 35). The results confirmed the connection between musical abilities and the phonological awareness. They also indicated that the recognition of the first and the last phoneme is related to melodic awareness and that phoneme merging is mainly related to rhythm awareness. No significant differences were found between male and female children or between the groups of the children of different ages.

The influence of music on cognitive functioning was investigated with the Mozart effect, i. e. the increase in spatial-temporal reasoning performance immediately after exposure to the Mozart piano sonata K.448. The experiment was performed on the sample of 315 students. Based on the results of the main experiment, two groups) were formed: the enhancement group (N = 30) and the stagnation group (N = 30). Differences between these extreme groups in intellectual, personal, emotional characteristics, and in the learning styles were examined. The Mozart effect on the spatial-temporal reasoning performance was confirmed. The effect was not influenced by gender, musical knowledge, or the study area. It was also not affected by personality and emotional characteristics. On the other hand, there was an influence of the general intelligence factor (the effect was more pronounced in the individuals with lower IQ in comparison with those with higher IQ) and in the learning styles (the enhancement group processed information more on auditory and holistic level, while the stagnation group was more visual and analytical). Our study confirmed that Mozart's music has a positive influence on cognitive functioning, but this influence depends on intellectual capacities, perceptual style, and information processing style.

This article provides an overview of the theoretical underpinnings and some empirical findings regarding the Mozart effect. The "Mozart effect" refers to an enhancement of performance or change in neurophysiological activity associated with listening to Mozart's music. It was first reported in 1993 by researchers at the University of California, Irvine. They decided to choose Mozart since he started composing at the age of four. Thus they suggested that he was exploiting the inherent repertoire of spatial-temporal firing patterns in the cortex. Causal basis for relations between music ability and spatial reasoning ability is provided by the trion model of cortex. In this research context music is used as a window into higher brain functions. The Mozart effect can be referred to two different phenomena. The first is short-term increase in spatial abilities, the other is the possibility of formal training in music to bring benefits to other areas of human's knowledge. The effect can be found in the subsequently improved performance on spatial test results, increased EEG coherence, increased correlations of neurophysiological activity on the temporal and left frontal areas, increased spatial-temporal reasoning after piano lessons in preschool children, an enhanced learning of a maze by rats, changes in amplitude of alpha rhythm and increased interhemispheric coherence, in changes in EEG power and coherence, especially on the right temporal area, significant decreases in epileptiform activity, and enhanced short-term spatial-temporal reasoning in Alzheimer patients.

The aim of the research was to study the influence of performance anxiety on efficiency of solo music performance. Internal (self-contempt, positive self-evaluation) and external criteria (musical rewards, successful solo performances, successful auditions) of efficiency of solo music performance were taken into consideration. The research was grounded on studies from the field of sports psychology and on the few studies that were carried out in the field of psychology of music. The research was conducted on 94 students of Music Academy, grouped by gender and field of study (instrumentalists, solo vocalists and composers vs. students of music teaching). The symptoms of performance anxiety were measured by a part of the Performance Anxiety Questionnaire, and efficiency of solo music performance by the Efficiency of Music Performance Questionnaire. Both questionnaires were developed for the purpose of the study. The results reveal the interrelationship between the internal criteria of efficiency in solo music performance and performance anxiety. On the other hand, only trends of correlation were established between performance anxiety and the external criteria of solo music performance. The research findings imply the important role of cognition as a mediator between performance anxiety and performance efficiency.