Reading Exercise: When individuals cannot perceive music

B. According to research by Dr. Isabelle Peretz of the University of Montreal, amusia is more complex than simply an inability to discern pitches. An individual with amusia can distinguish between widely spaced pitches but cannot differentiate between intervals smaller than a half step on the Western diatonic scale, whereas most people can easily detect smaller differences. When listening to melodies where a single note has been altered to be out of key, amusics often do not perceive the problem. As expected, amusics perform significantly worse in tasks such as singing along or tapping rhythms to a melody compared to non-amusics.

C. One of the most intriguing aspects of amusia is its specificity to music. Given music's close relationship with language, one might hypothesize that a musical impairment could stem from a language impairment. However, studies indicate that language and musical abilities are independent. Individuals with brain damage affecting language areas often retain the ability to sing, despite losing the ability to speak. Furthermore, while amusics struggle with pitch discrimination in melodies, they typically have no difficulty with tonal languages such as Chinese, where distinguishing between words based on intonation is crucial. The linguistic cues inherent in speech make meaning discrimination easier for amusics. Amusics are also generally proficient at discerning the emotional tone of melodies, recognizing speakers by voice, and identifying environmental sounds.

D. Recent research has focused on identifying the brain regions responsible for amusia. The temporal lobes of the brain, particularly the primary auditory cortex, have been traditionally implicated. It was long believed that since the temporal lobes, especially the right hemisphere, are highly active during musical activities, any impairment in music perception would logically originate there. However, since amusics do not exhibit hearing deficits, attention has turned to the temporal neocortex, where more sophisticated musical processing is thought to occur. Recent studies suggest that deficits in amusics are located outside the auditory cortex. Brain scans reveal that amusics do not show significant brain activity differences for differences smaller than a half step; instead, their brains overreact when larger tonal changes occur, showing double the activity on the right side compared to a normal brain exposed to the same stimuli. These findings indicate that the deficits of amusia are primarily related to higher-level processing of melodies rather than basic auditory impairments.

E. What implications does this have? Looking solely at Peretz's research in neuropsychology of music, amusia appears to be classified as a disorder. As a student of neurobiology, however, I am skeptical. Certainly, Peretz's studies showing significant brain differences between so-called amusics and typical brains are valid. The more pressing question now concerns what constitutes normality. Every characteristic, from skin color to intelligence to mood, exists on a spectrum—there is a vast range from one extreme to the other. Just because we acknowledge that basic musical ability is prevalent among the majority of people does not imply that its absence is abnormal.

F. What puts an amusic at a disadvantage compared to a musical prodigy? Musical ability is culturally esteemed and may have been advantageous for survival at one point in human history, but it does not seem to be a trait currently favored on an evolutionary scale. Darwin posited that music served an adaptive purpose in mate selection, but in an era where emotions can be expressed through a song on an iPod, singing prowess may not be essential to finding a partner.

G. While the concept of amusia is intriguing, it appears to represent only one extreme of inherent musical ability. Drawing comparisons between this 'disorder' and learning disabilities like specific language impairment may be overstating the case. Before amusia can be classified as a disability, further investigation is required to determine whether lack of musical ability genuinely carries any detrimental effects. If no disadvantages are found associated with amusia, it could be considered no more disabling than having poor fashion sense or messy handwriting.

Question 1-5

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D

Write the correct letter in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet

1. What does the writer tell US about people with tone deafness (amusia) in the first

paragraph?

• A  They usually have hearing problems
• B  Some can play a musical instrument very well
• C  Some may be able to sing well-known melodies
• D They have several inabilities in regard to music

2. What is the writer doing in the second paragraph?

• A  outlining some of factors that cause amusia
• B  summarising some findings about people with amusia
• C  suggesting that people with amusia are disadvantaged
• D  comparing the sing ability of amusia with their sense

3. What does the writer say about the relationship between language ability and musical ability?

• A People who are unable to speak can sometimes sing
• B  People with amusia usually have language problems too
• C
  Speakers of tonal languages like Chinese rarely have amusia
• D People with amusia have difficulty recognizing people by their voices

4. In the third paragraph, the writer notes that most amusics are able to

• A  learn how to sing in tune
• B  identify a song by its tune
• C  distinguish a sad tone from a happy tune
• D  recognise when a singer is not sing in tune

5. What is the writer doing in the fourth paragraph?

• A  claiming that amusics have problems in the auditory cortex
• B  outlining progress in understanding the brains of amusics
• C  proving that amuisa is located in the temporal lobes
• D  explaining why studies of hearing are difficult

Question 6-9

Are the following statements consistent with the opinions expressed by the author in the Reading Passage?

In boxes 6-9 on your answer sheet, write

YES                if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer

NO                 if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer

NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

6 Peretz’s research suggesting that amusia is a disorder is convincing.

7 People with musical ability are happier than those without this ability.

8 It is inappropriate to consider amusia as a real disorder.

9 People with amusia often have bad handwriting.

Question 10-14

Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-H below

Write the correct letter, A-H in boxes 10-14  on your answer sheet

10 The reason why some people are born with amusia is

11 One of the difficulties amusia experience is

12 For amusia, discrimination of meaning in speech is

13 Certain reactions in the brain of an amusia are

14 In most cultures, musical ability is

Answers:

1. D (Đoạn 1, “It is not simply that people with tone deafness (or’ amusia”) are unable to sing in tune, they are also unable to discriminate between tones or recognize familiar melodies.”)

2. B (Đoạn 2, “two pitches that are far apart, but cannot tell the difference between intervals smaller than a half step on the Western diatonic scale,…”)

3. A (Đoạn 3, “People with brain damage in areas critical to language are often still able to sing, despite being unable to communicate through speech.”)

4. C (Đoạn 3, “Amusics are also successful most of the time at detecting the mood of a melody…”)

5. B (Đoạn 4, “Recent work has been focused on locating the part of the brain that is responsible for amusia.”)

6. NO (Đoạn 2, “According to the research of Dr. Isabelie Peretz of the University of Montreat, amusia is more complicated than the inability to distinguish pitches.”)

7. NOT GIVEN (Không có thông tin)

8. YES (Đoạn 5, “Just because we recognize that basic musical ability is something that the vast majority of people have, this doesn’t mean that the lack of it is abnormal”)

9. NOT GIVEN (Không có thông tin)

10. E

11. C

12. D

13. G