David Shenk mentions a fact about the ability of violinists in modern society compared to past generations (Page 9). Somehow a myriad of modern day violinists are capable of playing music that just generations ago were thought to be impossible to play. How does the fact that the ability of violinists between generations has increased reflect on Shenk's argument that skills are not predetermined or engraved in our DNA? What environmental factors may have caused this augmentation of ability? Does this change in ability reflect the G+E or GXE model (Page 31)?
Joseph Hugener
Musical ability in society has evolved over the past few generations, and not necessarily in a biological manner. There are several different theories as to why our abilities have augmented through the generations. One theory as to why music ability started off and has always been a process of natural selection is the tribalism theory. The tribalists believe that music offered us a unique way to coordinate group movements as a tribe which was vital for our success as a species and that this importance of music has always been engrained in our bodies as a part of natural selection. Modernists believe that music ability has increased not because it has always been a part of natural selection, but that recently it has become a part of our culture to appreciate music ability more. It was found that people who played music instruments proficiently also tended to be more intelligent and more capable, and that this ultimately caused them to find spouses with more ease. This process here is what proves to support Shenk’s environmental effects. This clearly demonstrates GxE situation because we have the societal culture values affecting the evolution of our musical ability.
ReplyDeleteHowever, more recent studies point to specific actions associated with musicianship that leads to increased brain functions and better intelligence. And intelligence of course, can help to drive natural selection; a more intelligent human being can better survive and reproduce because he/she is more likely to find a spouse and produce children to pass down his/her genes. This is in particular related to neuroscience. Music is a human invention (is what this theory proposes) and thus cannot be a part of our genome. Thus by engaging in human-invented activities, the neural synaptic connections between neurons are changed, although this could be true for a variety of activities. Because it is a human invention of the brain, it is built from existing brain systems which leads to an impact on a variety of mental abilities. The reason why musical ability is so different from just listening to hip/hop, pop, or country is that to be able to play causes different effects on the neural synapses and causes release of hormones. One such hormone is serotonin a neurotransmitter that helps chemical transfer of information.
However, reading this theory online I personally believe that it is a combination of these theories that truly accounts for the why the past few generations’ musical abilities have improved. It is true that biologically speaking, music enhances our nervous system increasing our spatial recognition and cognitive abilities but this must be linked back to the theme of evolution. It is because of this enhanced mental ability that musical ability is now linked to a process of natural selection. Those who have higher musical playing abilities also tend to have better chances of survival and reproduction. And of course bringing it back full circle, Shenk’s idea of an environment is also extremely important and I would argue today more than ever people are stressing the importance of being able to play an instrument proficiently.
http://cnx.org/content/m34255/latest/
https://groups.google.com/group/sci.bio.evolution/browse_thread/thread/b4e22affc9a6bee8?pli=1
http://www.classicalforums.com/articles/Music_Brain.html
woops i forgot to add email and name
ReplyDeleteKevin.liuxu@gmail.com
Kevin Xu
I agree with Kevin about how the two theories are synergistic and have influenced future generations to have such well developed musical skills. Referring to the GxE equation, the reason that violinists, or anyone for the matter, seem to have better capabilities than past generations is for the same reason that IQ scores have increased in the past few decades. As time goes on, the environment changes because people are constantly trying to improve the way they live. With constantly changing lives, people are forced to adapt in order to survive their style of living. During the twentieth century, many changes occurred throughout the world. With the improvement of technology, people live faster paced lives which require them to achieve tasks more efficiently. A perfect example would be violinists that “got better faster than their peers had in previous centuries” (Shenk 9). Due to the rapidly changing environment, younger generations must achieve more, faster in order to keep up with the rest of the world. Many may believe that these violinists are prodigies and that they were born musically gifted. The real reason for the increase in talent in younger generations is that “people are training harder – and smarter – than before” (Shenk 10), which leads them to greater chances of success because “talent is not a thing; it’s a process” (Shenk 10). As of right now, we are unable “to tap into what we already have” (Shenk 11), but scientists say that we “have not even come close to tapping what scientists call our ‘unactualized potential’” (11). The unactualized potential is the potential that everyone has within them because genes do not restrict or limit our ability to develop certain traits. It is not impossible for someone with asthma to become the track star or for someone with dyslexia to become an avid reader.
ReplyDeleteSkills are not predetermined or engraved in our DNA because skills are a result of traits, which are a result of proteins, which are a result of DNA. The genotypes sequenced in the DNA can be altered depending on what environmental variables are present to turn on and off certain genes. Some environmental factors that have caused this augmentation of ability specifically in violinists may be that they have been trained since a very young age. It has been discovered that children have a critical period, which “is a period during the early life of an animal when some property develops rapidly, and is most susceptible to alteration by the environment” (http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Critical_period). This is a period of time in which a child can absorb new information and develop new skills more easily, and it is also known as the sensitive period (Campbell 1126). The brain of a child has more plasticity at a younger age and can be shaped by the environmental factors it endures. Most parents utilize their child’s critical period by introducing them to different languages because it is easiest for a child to learn different languages at such a young age. Ultimately, teaching a child a new skill at a young age gives the child a better chance of excelling. Also, by doing this, certain genes of the child may be turned on or off that alter in favor of improving the skill. Great violinists may have also been exposed to listening to prodigious orchestras and other musicians that may have primed them into wanting to do more. Priming is an effect where exposure to a certain stimulus influences a response to a later stimulus (Weiten 223). Witnessing others do great things has a powerful impact on one’s motivation. When a beginner violinist sees the greatness and success of an established musician, this may stimulate the desire to improve one’s skill.
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ReplyDeleteThere may not be many biological factors in the improvement of one’s skills, but there are plenty of psychological ones. According to Shenk’s GxE, “genes, proteins, and environmental signals (including human behavior and emotion) constantly interact with one another, and this interactive process influences the production of proteins, which then guide the functions of cells, which form traits” (Shenk 31). As Kevin said, this equation does reflect the change in increased ability to play more challenging music at an earlier age. I also agree that the ability to play music increases ones chances of surviving and reproducing since it has been linked to also improve other cognitive abilities. There has been lots of evidence proving that classical music improves one’s math abilities. This is because music that is taught with emphasis on sequential skills such as rhythm and pitch improve one’s ability to use spatial temporal reasoning and language analytical reasoning (http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1869). These types of reasoning are also used when trying to solve mathematical problems. By practicing these skills through music, applying them to mathematics is made easier for those who are musically trained. When one’s cognitive abilities are generally enhanced than those around them, it is more likely that they will find a correspondingly talented spouse. With this, they couple is more likely to survive and reproduce children who will probably receive training as their parents did. Over time, those with enhanced cognitive skills are at a selective advantage compared to those who don’t.
(Kalista Noegroho, Kalista.dara@gmail.com)