Acquired and congenital disorders of sung performance: A review

• Authors: Magdalena Berkowska , Simone Dalla Bella

Abstracts

EN

Many believe that the majority of people are unable to carry a tune. Yet, this widespread idea underestimates the singing abilities of the layman. Most occasional singers can sing in tune and in time, provided that they perform at a slow tempo. Here we characterize proficient singing in the general population and identify its neuronal underpinnings by reviewing behavioral and neuroimaging studies. In addition, poor singing resulting from a brain injury or neurogenetic disorder (i.e., tone deafness or congenital amusia) is examined. Different lines of evidence converge in indicating that poor singing is not a monolithic deficit. A variety of poor-singing "phenotypes" are described, with or without concurrent perceptual deficits. In addition, particular attention is paid to the dissociations between specific abilities in poor singers (e.g., production of absolute vs. relative pitch, pitch vs. time accuracy). Such diversity of impairments in poor singers can be traced to different faulty mechanisms within the vocal sensorimotor loop, such as pitch perception and sensorimotor integration.

Keywords

EN

singing proficiency; musical disorders; tone deafness; congenital amusia; song system; neurosciences of music

• Publisher: Wyższa Szkoła Finansów i Zarządzania w Warszawie
• Journal: Advances in Cognitive Psychology
• Year: 2009
• Volume: 5
• Pages: 69-83

Contributors

author

Magdalena Berkowska

• Department of Cognitive Psychology, WSFIZ, Warsaw, Poland

author

Simone Dalla Bella

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Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/v10053-008-0068-2