Daniele
Schön
Researcher
INCM-CNRS
31 chemin J. Aiguier
13402 Marseille Cedex 20
Phone: 33 (0) 4 91 16 41 30.
Fax: 33 (0) 4 91 16 49 69.
Email: schon at
incm.cnrs-mrs.fr
Research interests
The central aim of my research is to integrate data from methods having different spatial and temporal resolution in order to elaborate a neuro-functional model of the cognitive operations that are common to music and other cognitive functions. I am convinced that it is extremely important to compare different cognitive functions using different approaches to better understand how the brain processes information. Indeed, focussing on one single investigation method, on a single brain region, on a single cognitive function, will give a partial view of the functioning of the brain. By coupling the study of differences with the study of similarities, a comparative approach may provide a more complete picture of which computations are specific and which ones rely on more general cognitive principles. Current projects are:
- Syntactic processing in language and music. Since both language and music are rule-based systems, with syntax governing sentence structure and harmony favouring the expectancy of specific sequences of notes/chords, it will be of particular interest to determine whether activation in Broca’s area, but also in other regions involved in linguistic and music processing covary with the complexity of the syntactic/harmonic structure of the stimuli. What is common to syntactic processing in language and music? The hypothesis is that a key part of syntactic processing is structural integration (i.e. connecting each incoming element X to one or more elements Y, Z) …
- The effect of music in general learning processes. We recently found that an appropriate combination of music and words in singing facilitates word segmentation and learning. We are currently studying more in depth the precise musical parameters that affect this phenomenon (spectral information, melodic/harmonic structure, temporal structure, general arousal).
- The
use of music as a mean of investigating
neuropsychological disorders.
If we were to study aphasics
patients only with linguistics tasks, no wonder one would find purely
linguistic deficits … The complexity of musical processing
and
its similrity to language allows to study the specificity of these
deficits. Moreover, in other types of deseases (Altzheimer, Parkinsons,
strokes …) music may help to better (and earlier) understand
the
type of deficit. Finally, testing with music is more fun for patients! GET HERE MY
BATTERY
- EEG and fMRI simultaneous acquisition. This allows to correlate the EEG activity (amplitude or latence of ERPs, spectral energy) with the BOLD signal acquired in the fMRI scanner. The interest is two-folded. First this will allow to better understand the relationship between the electrical activity (EEG) anf the cerebral blood flow (BOLD). Second, the correlation of EEG activity is a unique cue, as far as it allows to analyse fMRI data from a completely physiological perspective. For instance, one may have two classes of stimuli (congruous words & incogruous words). Rather than only using these two classes to do standard subtraction analyses, the EEG signal will allow to use the amplitude of the ERPs component to each single stimulus (N400) to see which neural network covary with this component.
- Upcoming projects: The
influence of music on attentional
processes … Musical semiotics …
Collaborations
Besides the
other members of the Group and of the Lab (Christine Deruelle, Bruno
Wicker), I
have current collaborations with other researchers in the field of Cognitive
neuroscience: (Barbara
Tillmann ,
Isabelle Peretz ,
Stephanie
Khalfa ,
Catherine
Liegeois-Chauvel ,
Boris Burle) of sound
synthesis (Richard
Kronland-Martinet and Solvi Ystad)
,
modelization
(Emmauel
Daucé) and in the neuroscience
methodological
field (fMRI
Centre
in Marseille , Neurophysiology
Laboratory, Christian
Bénar, Boris Burle,
Publications
- Schön, D; Boyer, M; Moreno, S; Besson, M; Peretz, I; Kolinsky, R (2008), « Songs as an aid for language acquisition », Cognition , 975–983 PDF
- Besson, M; Schön, D; Moreno, S; Santos, A; Magne, C (2007), « Influence of musical exprtise and musical training on pitch processing in music and language », Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience, 25, 1-12 PDF
- Magne, C; Schön, D; Besson, M (2006), « Musician children detect pitch violations in both music and language better than non musician children. », Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 18, 199-211 PDF
- Astesano, C; Schön, D; Besson, M (2005), « Le langage et la musique dans le chant. », Revue de Neuropsychologie, sous presse
- Deruelle, C; Schön, D; Rondan, C; Mancnini, J (2005), « Global and local music processing in children with Williams syndrome », NeuroReport., 16, 631-634 PDF
- Deruelle, C; Schön, D; Rondan, C; Mancnini, J (2005), « Global and local music processing in children with Williams syndrome », NeuroReport, 16, 631-634 PDF
- Khalfa, S; Schön, D; Anton, JL; Liegeois-Chauvel, C (2005), « Brain regions involved in the recognition of happiness and sadness in music. », Neuroreport, 16(18):1981-4. PDF
- Schön, D; Besson, M (2005), « Visually induced auditory expectancy in music reading: A behavioural and electrophysiological study. », Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 17, 693-704. PDF
- Schön, D; Gordon, R; Besson, M (2005), « Musical and Linguistic Processing in Song Perception. », Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., 1060: 1–11. PDF
- Schön, D; Regnault, P; Ystad, S; Besson, M (2005), « Sensory consonance: An Event-Related brain Potential study », Music Perception., 23, 105-117. PDF
- Schön, D; Lorber, B; Spacal, M; Semenza, C (2004), « A selective deficit in the production of exact musical intervals following right hemisphere damage. », Cognitive Neuropsychology, 21, 773-785. PDF
- Schön, D; Magne, C; Besson, M (2004), « The music of speech: Electrophysiological study of pitch perception in language and music. », Psychophysiolog, 41 341-349 PDF
- Besson, M; Magne, C; Schön, D (2003), « Emotional prosody: sex differences in sensitivity to speech melody. », Trends in Cognitive Science, 6, 405-407 PDF
- Magne, C; Schön, D; Besson, M (2003), « Prosodic and melodic processing in adults and children : Behavioural and electrophysiological approaches. », Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 999, 461-476
- Schön, D; Anton, JL; Roth, M; Besson, M (2002), « An fMRI study of music sight-reading. », Neuroreport., 13 (17), 2285-9. PDF
- Schön, D; Besson, M (2002), « Processing pitch and duration in music reading: A RT � ERP study. », Neuropsychologia, 40, 868-878. PDF
- Schön, D; Besson, M (2002), « Musica Maestro! », In Psychology at the turn of the millennium: Cognitive, biological and health perspectives., Lars Bäckman & Claes von Hofsten, Eds (Vol I). PDF
- Schön, D; Semenza, C; Denes, G (2001), « Oral reading of music: A selective deficit in one musical clef. », Cortex, 37, 407-421 PDF