Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusia: Validity evidence and norms for adolescents in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Nunes-Silva, Marília; Haase, Vitor Geraldi

doi:10.1590/S1980-57642012DN06040008

ABSTRACT

The Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusia (MBEA) is a battery of tests that assesses six music processing components: scale, contour, interval, rhythm, metric, and music memory. The present study sought to verify the psychometric characteristics of the MBEA in a sample of 150 adolescents aged 14-18 years in the city of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil, and to develop specific norms for this population. We used statistical procedures that explored the dimensional structure of the MBEA and its items, evaluating their adequacy from empirical data, verifying their reliability, and providing evidence of validity. The results for the difficult levels for each test indicated a trend toward higher scores, corroborating previous studies. From the analysis of the criterion groups, almost all of the items were considered discriminatory. The global score of the MBEA was shown to be valid and reliable (r _K-R20=0.896) for assessing the musical ability of normal teenagers. Based on the analysis of the items, we proposed a short version of the MBEA. Further studies with larger samples and amusic individuals are necessary to provide evidence of the validity of the MBEA in the Brazilian milieu. The present study brings to the Brazilian context a tool for diagnosing deficits in musical skills and will serve as a basis for comparisons with single case studies and studies of populations with specific neuropsychological syndromes.

Key words:
music; cognition; neuropsychological tests; validation studies; Montreal battery

RESUMO

A Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusia (MBEA) é uma bateria de testes que avalia funções musicais referentes a seis componentes do processamento musical: escala, contorno, intervalo, ritmo, métrica e memória musical. O presente estudo objetivou verificar as características psicométricas da MBEA em uma amostra de 150 adolescentes de 14 a 18 anos da cidade de Belo Horizonte e compor normas específicas para essa população. Foram utilizados procedimentos estatísticos que permitiram explorar a estrutura dimensional da MBEA e dos itens componentes, avaliar a adequação dos itens a partir de dados empíricos, verificar a confiabilidade e levantar evidências de validade a partir da análise fatorial. A análise de grupos-critério indicou que quase todos os itens podem ser considerados discriminativos. O índice global da MBEA se mostrou válido e fidedigno (r _K-R20=0,896) para avaliar as habilidade musicais de adolescentes normais. A partir da análise dos itens foi proposta uma versão reduzida da MBEA. O presente estudo, além de trazer para o contexto brasileiro um instrumento para o diagnóstico de déficits de funções musicais, poderá servir como base de comparação para estudos de caso simples e estudos posteriores em populações com síndromes neuropsicológicas específicas.

Palavras-chave:
música; cognição; testes neuropsicológicos; estudos de validação; bateria Montreal

TEXTO COMPLETO DISPONÍVEL APENAS EM PDF.

FULL TEXT AVAILABLE ONLY IN PDF FORMAT.

REFERENCES

Johnson JK, Graziano AB. August Knoblauch and amusia: A nineteenth-century cognitive model of music. Brain Cogn 2003;51:102-114.
Levitin D. Tone deafness: failures of musical anticipation and self-reference. International Journal of Computing and Anticipatory Systems. 1999;4:243-254.
Peretz I, Cummings S, Dubé MP. The genetics of congenital Amusia (Tone Deafness): A family-aggregation study. Am J Hum Genet. 2007; 81:582-588.
Benton AL. The Amusias. In. Critchley M, Henson RA, orgs. Music and the Brain. London: Heinemann; 1977:378-397.
Marin O, Perry D. Neurological aspects of music perception and performance. In: Deutsch D, editor. The Psychology of Music. California: Academic Press; 1999: 653-712.
Hyde K, Peretz I. Brains that are out of tune but in time. Psychol Sci 2004;15:356-360.
Ayotte J, Peretz I, Hyde K. Congenital amusia: A group study of adults afflicted with a music-specific disorder. Brain 2002;125:238-251.
Peretz I, Champod S, Hyde K. Varieties of Musical Disorders: The Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusia. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2003;999:58-75.
Peretz, I., & Coltheart, M. (2003). Modularity of music processing. Nat Neurosci. 2003;6:688-690.
Peretz I, Kolinsky R, Tramo M et al. Functional dissociations following bilateral lesions of auditory cortex. Brain 1994;117:1283-1302.
Besson M, Faïta F, Peretz I, Bonnel A, Requin J. Singing in the brain: Independence of lyrics and tunes. Psychol Sci 1998;9:494-498.
Peretz I, Belleville S, Fontaine F-S. Dissociations entre musique et langage après atteinte cérébrale: un nouveau cas d'amusie sans aphasie. Can J Exp Psychol. 1997;51:354-367.
Piccirilli M, Sciarma T, Luzzi S. Modularity of music: evidence from a case of pure Amusia. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2000;69:541-545.
Warren J, Warren J, Fox N, Warrington E. Nothing to Say, Something to Sing: Primary Progressive Dynamic Aphasia. Neurocase 2003;9: 140-155.
Ayotte J, Peretz I, Rousseau I, Bard C, Bojanowski M. Patterns of music agnosia associated with middle cerebral artery infarcts. Brain . 2000; 123:1926-1938.
Peretz I. Processing of local and global musical information in unilateral brain-damaged patients. Brain 1990;113:1185-1205.
Peretz I, Kolinsky R. Boundaries of separability between melody and rhythm in music discrimination: A neuropsychological perspective. Q J Exp Psychol 1993; 46A:301-325.
Vignolo L. Music agnosia and auditory agnosia: dissociations in stroke patients. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2003;999:50-57.
Liégeois-Chauvel C, Peretz I, Babaï M, Laguitton V, Chauvel P. Contribution of different cortical areas in the temporal lobes to music processing. Brain 1998;121:1853-1867.
Peretz, I. Brain specialization for music: New evidence from congenital amusia. In: Peretz I, Zatorre R. editors. The Cognitive Neuroscience of Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2003:192-203.
Peretz I, Ayotte J, Zatorre R, et al. Congenital Amusia: A Disorder of Fine-Grained Pitch Discrimination. Neuron 2002;33:185-191.
Sobreira S. Afinação e desafinação: Parâmetros para a avaliação vocal. Augustus. 2002;7:58-72.
Sobreira S. Desafinação Vocal. Rio de Janeiro: MusiMed; 2003.
Oliveira JZ, Ranvaud R, Tiedemann K. Assimetria funcional dos hemisférios cerebrais na percepção de timbre, intensidade ou altura, em contexto musical. In: Anais do Simpósio Internacional de Cognição e Artes Musicais. Curitiba: Deartes 2005:91-98.
Aguiar FN, Branco C. Amusia e a questão da inclusão no ensino de música. Cadernos do Colóquio. 2009;10:90-101.
Souza AR. A percepção musical da fala e o problema do alinhamento da curva de freqüência fundamental. Anais do Colóquio Brasileiro de Prosódia da Fala 2011;1:82-85.
Nunes M, Loureiro CMV, Loureiro MA, Haase VG. Tradução e validação de conteúdo de uma bateria de testes para avaliação de Amusia. Aval Psicol 2010;9:211-232.
Crawford JR, Howell DC. Comparing an individual's test score against norms derivedfrom small samples. Clin Neuropsychol 1998;4:482-486.
Hair JF, Anderson RE, Tatham RL, Black WC. Multivariate Data Analysis. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Press; 2005.
Sloboda JA, Wise KJ, Peretz I. Quantifying Tone Deafness in the General Population. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci 2005;1060:255-261.

Publication Dates

Publication in this collection
Oct-Dec 2012

History

Received
29 Aug 2012
Accepted
03 Nov 2012

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License

[1] Johnson JK, Graziano AB. August Knoblauch and amusia: A nineteenth-century cognitive model of music. Brain Cogn 2003;51:102-114.

[2] Levitin D. Tone deafness: failures of musical anticipation and self-reference. International Journal of Computing and Anticipatory Systems. 1999;4:243-254.

[3] Peretz I, Cummings S, Dubé MP. The genetics of congenital Amusia (Tone Deafness): A family-aggregation study. Am J Hum Genet. 2007; 81:582-588.

[4] Benton AL. The Amusias. In. Critchley M, Henson RA, orgs. Music and the Brain. London: Heinemann; 1977:378-397.

[5] Marin O, Perry D. Neurological aspects of music perception and performance. In: Deutsch D, editor. The Psychology of Music. California: Academic Press; 1999: 653-712.

[6] Hyde K, Peretz I. Brains that are out of tune but in time. Psychol Sci 2004;15:356-360.

[7] Ayotte J, Peretz I, Hyde K. Congenital amusia: A group study of adults afflicted with a music-specific disorder. Brain 2002;125:238-251.

[8] Peretz I, Champod S, Hyde K. Varieties of Musical Disorders: The Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusia. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2003;999:58-75.

[9] Peretz, I., & Coltheart, M. (2003). Modularity of music processing. Nat Neurosci. 2003;6:688-690.

[10] Peretz I, Kolinsky R, Tramo M et al. Functional dissociations following bilateral lesions of auditory cortex. Brain 1994;117:1283-1302.

[11] Besson M, Faïta F, Peretz I, Bonnel A, Requin J. Singing in the brain: Independence of lyrics and tunes. Psychol Sci 1998;9:494-498.

[12] Peretz I, Belleville S, Fontaine F-S. Dissociations entre musique et langage après atteinte cérébrale: un nouveau cas d'amusie sans aphasie. Can J Exp Psychol. 1997;51:354-367.

[13] Piccirilli M, Sciarma T, Luzzi S. Modularity of music: evidence from a case of pure Amusia. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2000;69:541-545.

[14] Warren J, Warren J, Fox N, Warrington E. Nothing to Say, Something to Sing: Primary Progressive Dynamic Aphasia. Neurocase 2003;9: 140-155.

[15] Ayotte J, Peretz I, Rousseau I, Bard C, Bojanowski M. Patterns of music agnosia associated with middle cerebral artery infarcts. Brain . 2000; 123:1926-1938.

[16] Peretz I. Processing of local and global musical information in unilateral brain-damaged patients. Brain 1990;113:1185-1205.

[17] Peretz I, Kolinsky R. Boundaries of separability between melody and rhythm in music discrimination: A neuropsychological perspective. Q J Exp Psychol 1993; 46A:301-325.

[18] Vignolo L. Music agnosia and auditory agnosia: dissociations in stroke patients. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2003;999:50-57.

[19] Liégeois-Chauvel C, Peretz I, Babaï M, Laguitton V, Chauvel P. Contribution of different cortical areas in the temporal lobes to music processing. Brain 1998;121:1853-1867.

[20] Peretz, I. Brain specialization for music: New evidence from congenital amusia. In: Peretz I, Zatorre R. editors. The Cognitive Neuroscience of Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2003:192-203.

[21] Peretz I, Ayotte J, Zatorre R, et al. Congenital Amusia: A Disorder of Fine-Grained Pitch Discrimination. Neuron 2002;33:185-191.

[22] Sobreira S. Afinação e desafinação: Parâmetros para a avaliação vocal. Augustus. 2002;7:58-72.

[23] Sobreira S. Desafinação Vocal. Rio de Janeiro: MusiMed; 2003.

[24] Oliveira JZ, Ranvaud R, Tiedemann K. Assimetria funcional dos hemisférios cerebrais na percepção de timbre, intensidade ou altura, em contexto musical. In: Anais do Simpósio Internacional de Cognição e Artes Musicais. Curitiba: Deartes 2005:91-98.

[25] Aguiar FN, Branco C. Amusia e a questão da inclusão no ensino de música. Cadernos do Colóquio. 2009;10:90-101.

[26] Souza AR. A percepção musical da fala e o problema do alinhamento da curva de freqüência fundamental. Anais do Colóquio Brasileiro de Prosódia da Fala 2011;1:82-85.

[27] Nunes M, Loureiro CMV, Loureiro MA, Haase VG. Tradução e validação de conteúdo de uma bateria de testes para avaliação de Amusia. Aval Psicol 2010;9:211-232.

[28] Crawford JR, Howell DC. Comparing an individual's test score against norms derivedfrom small samples. Clin Neuropsychol 1998;4:482-486.

[29] Hair JF, Anderson RE, Tatham RL, Black WC. Multivariate Data Analysis. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Press; 2005.

[30] Sloboda JA, Wise KJ, Peretz I. Quantifying Tone Deafness in the General Population. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci 2005;1060:255-261.

Brasil