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Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine selected baseline acoustic features of hypokinetic dysarthria in Spanish speakers with Parkinson's disease (PD) and identify potential acoustic predictors of ease of understanding in Spanish. Method: Seventeen Spanish-speaking individuals with mild-to-moderate hypokinetic dysarthria secondary to PD and eight healthy controls were recorded reading a translation of the Rainbow Passage. Acoustic measures of vowel space area, as indicated by the formant centralization ratio (FCR), envelope modulation spectra (EMS), and articulation rate were derived from the speech samples. Additionally, 15 healthy adults rated ease of understanding of the recordings on a visual analogue scale. A multiple linear regression model was implemented to investigate the predictive value of the selected acoustic parameters on ease of understanding. Results: Listeners' ease of understanding was significantly lower for speakers with dysarthria than for healthy controls. The FCR, EMS from the first 10 s of the reading passage, and the difference in EMS between the end and the beginning sections of the passage differed significantly between the two groups of speakers. Findings indicated that 67.7% of the variability in ease of understanding was explained by the predictive model, suggesting a moderately strong relationship between the acoustic and perceptual domains. Conclusions: Measures of envelope modulation spectra were found to be highly significant model predictors of ease of understanding of Spanishspeaking individuals with hypokinetic dysarthria associated with PD. Articulation rate was also found to be important (albeit to a lesser degree) in the predictive model. The formant centralization ratio should be further examined with a larger sample size and more severe dysarthria to determine its efficacy in predicting ease of understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is devoted to the influence of neuropsychology on the modern student. The concepts of "neuropsychology" and "neuropsychological research", research and publications of domestic and foreign scientists on the development of neuropsychology and the use of methods that improve the work of the right and left hemispheres of the brain are considered in the article. The scientific potential of neuropsychology is indicated. Attention is drawn to the views of scientists who studied the neuropsychology of childhood. It has been found that there are many more books and periodicals in foreign literature that contain information on neuropsychology. A foreign project aimed at studying the brain is covered. It is emphasized that in modern educational institutions in Spain, teachers pay special attention to the neuropsychological characteristics of each child. Emphasis is placed on the difficulties of primary school children who need neuropsychological care. The focus is on the features of functional blocks of the brain and their mutual development. Emphasis is placed on the need to use health-preserving and play technologies in the organization of the educational process for teachers working on the Concept of the "New Ukrainian School". The effectiveness of kinesiological exercises for brain function, which contribute to the harmonious development of personality, has been proven. The significance of moving activities for the body of a child of primary school age is revealed. The powerful influence of means of musical and fine arts which help to develop visual perception, difficult spatial abilities, visual attention, memory, verbal and visual-motor skills on overcoming of neuropsychological frustration is proved. A block of neuropsychological exercises to activate the brain is presented. Samples of corrective exercises are highlighted: breathing exercises, massage, oculomotor exercises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic and the measures taken to mitigate its impact (e.g., confinement orders) have affected people's lives in profound ways that would have been unimagable only months before the pandemic began. Media reports from the height of the pandemic's initial international surge frequently highlighted that many people were engaging in music-related activities (from singing and dancing to playing music from balconies and attending virtual concerts) to help them cope with the strain of the pandemic. Our first goal in this study was to investigate changes in music-related habits due to the pandemic. We also investigated whether engagement in distinct music-related activities (singing, listening, dancing, etc.) was associated with individual differences in musical reward, music perception, musical training, or emotional regulation strategies. To do so, we collected detailed (~1 h-long) surveys during the initial peak of shelter-in-place order implementation (May–June 2020) from over a thousand individuals across different Countries in which the pandemic was especially devastating at that time: the USA, Spain, and Italy. Our findings indicate that, on average, people spent more time in music-related activities while under confinement than they had before the pandemic. Notably, this change in behavior was dependent on individual differences in music reward sensitivity, and in emotional regulation strategies. Finally, the type of musical activity with which individuals engaged was further associated with the degree to which they used music as a way to regulate stress, to address the lack of social interaction (especially the individuals more concerned about the risk of contracting the virus), or to cheer themselves up (especially those who were more worried about the pandemic consequences). Identifying which music-related activities have been particularly sought for by the population as a means for coping with such heightened uncertainty and stress, and understanding the individual differences that underlie said propensities are crucial to implementing personalized music-based interventions that aim to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The strict lockdown experienced in Spain during March–June 2020 as a consequence of the COVID-19 crisis has led to strong negative emotions. Music can contribute to enhancing wellbeing, but the extent of this effect may be modulated by both personal and context-related variables. This study aimed to analyze the impact of the two types of variables on the perceived efficacy of musical behaviors to fulfill adults' emotional wellbeing-related goals during the lockdown established in Spain. Personal variables included age, gender, musical training, personality, resilience, and perception of music's importance. Contextual variables referred to living in a region with a high COVID-19 impact, perception of belonging to a risk group, being alone, having caring responsibilities during confinement, and amount of time of music listening as compared to prior to the crisis. The study was conducted retrospectively during August–December 2020, when the strict lockdown was over in Spain. An online survey was disseminated among the general population and groups of musicians, and the answers of 507 adults (from 18 years on, 73.9% females, 51.3% musically trained adults) were analyzed. Only personal, but not COVID-19 context-related variables, showed an impact on music's efficacy. The youngest age group of adults and those with musical training reported the highest efficacy of music for wellbeing enhancement, and music's importance was found to be the main significant predictor of music's perceived efficacy. Our findings suggest that the people who have been reported to be emotionally more vulnerable during the lockdown, due to either a strong impact on their daily lives or their lower resilience, perceive a higher benefit from musical behaviors. Being musically trained, even for a small number of years, also leads to a perception of higher efficacy of music for the achievement of emotional wellbeing goals. However, this effect is explained by the musically trained individuals' higher perception of music's importance. Although musical behaviors can be generally considered as important for wellbeing enhancement, our study highlights who are the potential individuals who could benefit the most from music-related activities for obtaining better levels of wellbeing, at least within the current context of the COVID-19 crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this article is to analyse the adequacy of the written programs offered by Spanish universities in relation to the training of High School music teachers to the demands of schools and music classrooms in the knowledge-based society and economy. To reach this goal, a comparative documentary analysis of the programs of 26 Masters that offer music teacher education in Spain is executed. The results both in a general way, describing denominations, competences, structures, and credits of the programs; as well as in a specific way, defining typologies in the musical modules and practical training are presented. The conclusion is drawn that certain programs promote the construction of fundamental capacities to respond to the knowledge-based society and economy, such as reflective collective thinking and interdisciplinarity, creative thinking and entrepreneurship, technological integration, and innovation, as well as sensitivity to social issues. Although currently this is not the most common university orientation, since music teacher programs are still focused on the adaptation and perpetuation of eminently academic models, it does offer a positive vision of a commitment to teacher training that is desirable for all university programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes musical practices of rurality in Asturias (northern Spain), focusing on these practices as transits beyond rural-urban, local-transnational, and music-life dichotomies. We map out three modes of the production of locality in relation to musical heritage in order to point out a prevalence of the phenomena of "aural friction" (García-Flórez) and "mutuality" (Colón-Montijo) in expressive practices connected to this underground scene in the context of 2008's rise of neo-liberalism. The introduction of these two concepts leads us to point out a correlation between the current transformation of the local and the social that coincides with a general questioning of the multicultural politics of recognition in Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flow is a positive and optimal state of mind, during which people are highly motivated and absorbed in the activity they are doing. It is an experience that can occur in any area of life. One of the measurement instruments which is most commonly used to evaluate this construct is the Flow State Scale-2 (FSS-2). This instrument has been used in different languages, mainly in the field of sport. In this research work, the FSS-2 has been translated into Spanish and administered to 486 musicians from different regions of Spain in order to examine the psychometric properties. A version which uses six dimensions from the original questionnaire has been used—those that constitute the experience of flow—and four alternative models have been analysed (Six related factors model, two second order factor models and a bifactor model).The results revealed that the dimension time could be controversial and more research could be needed. In general terms, the six-factor model (RMSEA =.04; GFI =.99; AGFI =.99) and a second-factor one (RMSEA =.033; GFI =.99; AGFI =.99) are solutions consistent with previous studies and show that the questionnaire can be considered a reliable (Alphas of the dimensions range from.81 to.94; Omegas from.86 to.97; and mean discrimination of the dimensions from.64 to.88) and useful tool, both in clinical and educational contexts, as well as an instrument for the evaluation of this construct in future research. However, the results of this study also suggest that flow can be explored in greater depth in musicians, taking into account that the writing of the original items was based on the experience of athletes and that the role of time in flow needs to be investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In postmodern music education there has been a great demand for new ways of conceptualizing teaching-learning processes to make musical appropriation and empowerment more meaningful and effective. This demand calls for the use of tools derived from modern music, from rhizomatic learning as well as those from the participant's own social context. As a result of this demand many educational proposals have arisen, such as the Informal Music Learning and the Performative Music Education This research paper is a case study on collective instrumental classes given in a further education center for music in Spain, made in order to investigate the methodological practices used and to analyse the way in which they are moving towards the practices previously mentioned. It also serves as a means of research to see if these practices have a significant impact on the training of future professional musicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a result of exposure, infants acquire biases that conform to the rhythmic properties of their native language. Previous lexical stress preference studies have shown that English- and German-, but not French-learning infants, show a bias toward trochaic words. The present study explores Spanish-learning infants' lexical stress preferential patterns and the role of syllable weight at 9 months of age. Spanish is a syllable-timed language with no vowel reduction and variable stress. Around 50% of the word types in Spanish are disyllabic, with a superior proportion of trochees than iambs (60% and 40%, respectively). Experiment 1 with CV.CV pseudo-words failed to reveal a clear trochaic bias in 9-month-old Spanish-learning infants. However, when preference was explored with items containing a heavy syllable (CVC.CV and CV.CVC, respectively), both a trochaic (Experiment 2) and an iambic preference (Experiment 3) could be elicited. These results suggest that knowledge about the close and highly regular link between heavy syllables and stress assignment in Spanish can be easily acquired and determines infants' preference at 9 months of age, while for CV.CV items, the trochaic bias appears to be weak. Our results broaden the current knowledge on the factors that determine the emergence of rhythmic biases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]