Featured news
13 Mar 2025
Round up, just below, or precise amount? Choosing the final price of a product may be just a cultural thing
Researchers established a link between cultural dimensions and prevalence of round, just below, and precise prices.
20 news posts in Culture
Featured news
26 Mar 2024
Italians’ and Swedes’ gestures vary when they tell stories, which may show cultures think differently about narratives
Researchers found that Swedes and Italians use different gestures, which may reveal culturally different ways of conceptualizing narratives when telling a story
Featured news
27 Jul 2021
‘Talking drum’ shown to accurately mimic speech patterns of west African language
By Peter Rejcek, science writer The Ifesowapo dùndún ensemble performing in Igbo Ora, southwest Nigeria. Image: Dr Cecilia Durojaye A novel analysis into the acoustical similarities between Yorùbá vocalizations and a west African instrument called the dùndún found a high degree of correlation. The researchers discovered that the talking drum mimics the microstructure of the tonal language and can be categorized into four different modes. In addition, the study emphasizes the value of studying non-western culture to understand various phenomena in mainstream musicology and linguistics that go beyond western domains. Musicians like Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton are considered virtuosos, guitarists who could make their instruments sing. Drummers in west Africa who play hourglass-shaped percussion instruments called dùndúns can make their instrument not only sing, but talk. New research published in the journal Frontiers in Communication is one of the first to show the high degree of acoustic correlation between these talking drums and the spoken Yorùbá language. Dùndún drumming is a musical-oral tradition where skilled drummers, manipulating the intensity and pitch of the instrument, can mimic Yorùbá, a tonal language mainly spoken in southwest Nigeria. Dubbed ‘talking drums’, dùndúns can be used as purely musical instruments or what scientists […]
Featured news
17 Apr 2020
Dance with your grandma (after COVID-19 of course)
Dance Movement Therapy as a tool to improve mood, promote exercise, and create closeness between grandparents and grandchildren: Frontiers in Psychology
Featured news
03 Apr 2020
One size does not fit all: not all men idolize Western ideals of muscularity
Study finds men in non-Western cultures were less preoccupied with media ideals of body appearance: Frontiers in Psychology
Featured news
03 Mar 2020
Researchers study role culture plays in feeling sick
A person’s cultural values may shape their views and actions on “socially appropriate sickness”: Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
Featured news
05 Feb 2020
Tunes for training
High-tempo music may increase the benefits of exercise and reduce perceived effort: Frontiers in Psychology
Featured news
29 Jul 2019
Artificial intelligence enables recognizing and assessing a violinist’s bow movements
A system developed by David Dalmazzo and Rafael Ramírez, members of the Music Technology Group, allows violin students to benefit from real-time accurate information about their movements when playing the instrument; Frontiers in Psychology
Featured news
23 Apr 2018
Making music from animal migrations
What does elephant seal migration sound like? A study by prominent marine researchers is the first to find out.
Featured news
19 Apr 2018
Music lessons improve children’s cognitive skills and academic performance
Structured music lessons significantly enhance children’s cognitive abilities which lead to improved academic performance: Frontiers in Neuroscience
Neuroscience
01 Nov 2017
What happens when technology opens up the brain — and its information?
Limbo, a novel by neurosurgeon and inventor Eric Leuthardt, explores what happens when neurotechnology is used for nefarious purposes.
Neuroscience
02 Oct 2017
No evidence of permanent hearing loss from common recreational noise
A study in Frontiers in Neuroscience finds no evidence that loud events cause auditory nerve injury or permanent hearing loss in young adults.
Humanities
26 Jul 2017
Beyond the Score: Interview with Professor Johanna Devaney
Professor Johanna Devaney is new Specialty Chief Editor for Digital Musicology. In this interview, she discusses her goals and motivations for the section
Neuroscience
18 Jul 2017
Creating music by thought alone
Neurologists have created a hands-free, thought-controlled musical instrument, which they’ve recently described in a report in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.
Humanities
17 Jul 2017
New Specialty Chief Editor for Digital Musicology: Professor Johanna Devaney
Professor Johanna Devaney new Specialty Chief Editor of Digital Musicology, specialty section within Frontiers in Digital Humanities.