The Rational-Scientific
Mediating Model (R-SMM)
 Provides a link between basic and applied
research
 Provides a scientific foundation for clinical
interventions
Reasons for the Model
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To understand the connection between:
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Musical Behavior
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Non-Musical Behavior
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Therapeutic Applications of Music
Level One: Musical Response Models
 Neurological, Physiological, and Psychological
Foundations of Musical Behavior
 Explains how people perceive, produce or respond
to music
 Basic Research
Level Two: Non-Musical Parallel
Models
 Processes in Non-Musical Brain and Behavior
Function
 Identifies parallel processes between musical and
non-musical models of perception and behavior
 Basic Research
Level Three: Mediating Models
 Influence of Music on Non-Musical Brain and
Behavior Function
 Explains how music mediates to elicit the nonmusical behavior
 Basic Research
Level Four: Clinical Research Models
 Therapeutic Effects of Music
 Tests a therapeutic strategy based on prior scientific
evidence
 Emphasizes lasting functional behavior change and
carry-over after treatment
 Applied Research
Application of the Model
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Potential Research Question:
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What is the effect of a therapeutic singing program on
the speech intelligibility of children with Down
Syndrome?
Level One Research
 Musical Response Model
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How do children learn to sing?
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Basic Research
Level Two Research
 Non-Musical Parallel Model
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How do children learn to speak?
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Basic Research
Level Three Research
 Mediating Model
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Does singing influence speaking in young
children?
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Basic Research
Level Four Research
 Clinical Model
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What is the effect of a therapeutic singing
program on the speech intelligibility of children
with Down Syndrome?
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Applied Research
The Transformational Design
Model (TDM)
 Translates information from the R-SMM into
functional therapeutic music experiences.
 Also developed to help clinicians (and students)
avoid, perhaps two potential pitfalls:
Potential Weaknesses
 An activity-based approach
 The application of therapeutic music experiences
that address goal areas and functional outcomes
indirectly or on a very broad basis.
Five Steps of the TDM
Step 1
 Steps 1,2,3, & 5 are common to all disciplines.
 1.Diagnostic and functional assessment of patient
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Provides the diagnostic profile for a patient as well as
subsequent deficits in functioning.
Step 2
 Development of therapeutic goals and objectives
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Goals and objectives are synthesized directly from
patient’s areas of deficit or difficulty.
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Objectives are measurable so that attainment can be
tracked over the course of treatment.
Step 3
 Design of functional non-musical therapeutic
exercises and stimuli.
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Appropriate for exercises to be similar to or based on
standardized techniques utilized in other disciplines.
Step 3 cont’d
 Thaut asserts that:
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“This approach also ensures patient-centered rather than
discipline-centered therapy programs”.
Avoids PT goals, OT goals, ST goals, MT goals.
Maintains focus on the patient’s goals.
Step 4
 Enter - Music Therapist
 Translation of Step 3 into functional therapeutic
music experiences.

Isomorphic translation of therapeutic nonmusical
exercises and stimuli into functional therapeutic music
experiences.
Three Determinant Principles
of Step 4
 Validity of the translation of functional behavior
into music therapy techniques.

Translation process must be checked against knowledge
obtained through the R-SMM, especially level 4.

If translation occurs without considering the basic and
clinical research regarding music perception and
nonmusical parallels, it is unlikely that subsequent
interventions will be functionally effective.
Three Determinant Principles
of Step 4
 The musical stimuli used in a therapeutic
experience should conform to principles of “good”
musical forms.

The perceptual influence of music is determined to a
great extent by its conformity to optimal musical
structure and patterns.
Three Determinant Principles
of Step 4
 The functional logic of the transformation process.
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TME’s need to be similar in structure and application to
nonmusical therapeutic experiences.
MT needs to create good musical analogues for
nonmusical behavior and stimuli.
Step 5
 Transfer of therapeutic learning to real world
applications.
Application of the TDM
Step 1
 Diagnostic and functional assessment of children with Down
Syndrome
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Epicanthal folds of skin on the inner corners of the eyes and
upwards slant of the eyes.
Fissured and thick tongues.
Hypotonic musculature Oral-facial?
Hyperflexibility - unusual flexibility of the joints
IQ ranges typically from moderate to profound retardation
Language and speech are delayed and relatively weak receptive typically stronger than expressive.
Application of the TDM
Step 1 cont’d
 Factors that can contribute to low speech
intelligibility

Difficulty with the strength, timing and coordination of
muscle movements for speech.

Articulation problems with specific sounds, low oralfacial muscle tone, difficulty with sensory integration and
oral tactile feedback, use of phonological processes (e.g.
leaving off final sounds in words) and difficulties in
motor planning for speech
Application of the TDM
Step 2
 Design of functional therapeutic goals and
objectives

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Objective for Speech Pt. DS will increase clarity of speech as rated by two
independent raters to 80% intelligibility by …
Application of the TDM
Step 3
 Design of functional non-musical therapeutic
exercises or interventions

Speech Stimulation

Speech Cuing
Application of the TDM
Step 4
 The translation of Step 3 into functional
therapeutic music experiences

Musical Speech Stimulation (MSS)

Rhythmic Speech Cuing
Application of the TDM
Step 5
 Transfer of therapeutic “learning” to real world
situations
Short Break
The R-SMM and Affective Processing
Level One
 Berlyne
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Gestalt theorist and aesthetic biologist
Humans have a biological need to pursue pleasant levels
of arousal through the perception of “good Gestalts” or
patterns
At any given moment, a person possesses a particular
level of arousal and therefore particular arousal needs.
Extreme levels of arousal are uncomfortable.
A moderate change in direction toward homeostasis is
often experienced as quite pleasurable.
The R-SMM and Affective Processing
Level One
 Berlyne
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Hedonic value refers to the intrinsic reward, motivation,
and positive feedback one experiences when perceiving a
given stimulus.
The stronger the hedonic value/reward experience of a
stimulus, the more motivated the human organism is to
pursue it, and the greater influence it has over that
human’s behavior.
Music is a sensory-related stimulus generally highly
arranged in structures, patterns, or Gestalts
The R-SMM and Affective Processing
Level One
 Meyer - Expectation Theory
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Contends that emotion rises from the perception of
musical structures/patterns
Affect is aroused when an expectation, activated by the
music stimulus is temporarily inhibited or blocked.
Argues that it is the interruption of expectation followed
by a period of suspension and finally resolution that
facilitates arousal and evokes an affective response in the
listener.
Based on Dewey’s Conflict Theory of Emotions
The R-SMM and Affective Processing
Level One
 Expectation Theory in Outline Form
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Expectation set up through repetition and learning
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Inhibition of expectation through novelty
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Suspension of inhibition
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Resolution
The R-SMM and Affective Processing
Level One
 Meyer cont’d
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Requires that the listener be familiar with or understands
the “rules” of the musical patterns so that expectations
can be created.
Meaning - anything acquires meaning if it is connected
to or indicates something beyond itself, so that its full
nature is revealed in that connection.
One musical event has meaning when it points to , and
makes us expect, a subsequent musical event.
The R-SMM and Affective Processing
Level One
 Kraut
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Like Meyer believes that someone “understands” music
when they have a correct qualitative response to it.
Musical understanding is best thought of as a set of
experiences that are connected with the music, e.g.
experiences of stability and tension, of metrical
groupings, tonal centers, variations on harmonic,
rhythmic, or melodic structure and similar musical
events.
The R-SMM and Affective Processing
Level One
 Raffman
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An experienced listener can no more fail to understand
his native music than his native tongue.
Perception of musical grammar is unconscious, but the
results of those perceptions are experienced consciously.
Because you feel a sequence moving from instability to
stability it is analyzed as a cadence.
Because you feel a chord to be the most stable chord in a
key, it is analyzed as tonic.
The R-SMM and Affective Processing
Level One
 Jackendoff
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Also like Meyer, believes that expectations fulfilled bring
satisfaction and positive affect while unfulfilled
expectations in music bring disappointment and negative
affect (in general).
The R-SMM and Affective Processing
Level One
 Peretz
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Research points to activation of the amygdala, changes
in musculo-facial expression, frontal lobe activity, limbic
system, and Galvonic Skin Response (GSR) under a
variety of listening conditions.
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Current work involves amusics, in order to establish
complex neuro-systems involved with affective processing
of music.
The R-SMM and Affective Processing
Level Two
 LeDoux
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Conditioned rats to associate hand clapping with water.
Conditioned response was equally as strong for
cortically intact rats as those who had their neocortex
removed.
Auditory pathways into the limbic system allowed for the
conditioning to take place.
LeDoux’s current work further substantiates the sensory
perceptual/limbic system connectivity at a pre-cognitive
or subconscious level.
The R-SMM and Affective Processing
Level Two
 Izard
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Affect & Cognition are seen as two separate systems that
consistently interact with each other.
Emotional feeling states (non-cognitive phenomenon),
are the motivation for our actions and through
development they become linked to images, symbols, and
thoughts (cognitions).
Cognitive processes are used to control intensity and
duration of innate expressions of genuine emotion. This
process is culturally regulated.
The R-SMM and Affective Processing
Level Two
 Izard
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Affective/Cognitive structures (the interaction of
biological and sociocultural influences) become more
and more predominant with age.
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Most important thing to remember from Izard is that
emotions generally occur pre and sub consciouisly and
that they prime our nervous systems for action or
behavior.
Associative Network Theory
Bower’s Associative
Network Theory
Emotions enter into memory
units with coincident events.
Memories, and thoughts in
general, are most easily
brought into awareness when
someone is in a mood state
congruent with the emotional
quality of the cognition
•I’m a failure
•Life is hopeless
•No one will ever love me.
Emotion
Influence of Music
Music can influence cognition
(memories, perception of self
and others, self-talk, etc.)
Because of its strong
influence on affect and mood.
Cognition
•I’m O.K.!
•I’ve had some fun times
•I have some really good friends
The R-SMM and Affective Processing
Level Two
 Teasdale
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Discusses the relationship between cognition and
depressed mood states.
Indicates that findings from various studies indicate
negative cognitions can initiate and maintain a state of
depression.
Findings also suggest that mood affects the accessibility
of positive and negative cognition.
There is a reciprocating relationship between
depression and negative cognitions.
The R-SMM and Affective Processing
Level Three
 Clark
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Compared 2 mood induction techniqes (Velten Card &
Music) to see which technique induced a mood that was
more representative of a naturally occurring mood.
Velten Card - 50%-75% actually felt the moods implied b
the card statements and met the mood change criterion.
Music - 87% reported a change in mood and met the
mood change criterion in the musical MIP.
MMIP showed stronger effects such as “loss of incentive,
psychomotor retardation, etc.”
The R-SMM and Affective Processing
Level Three
 Sutherland
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Hypothesized that unwanted/intrusive thoughts are difficult to remove during
depressed mood states. First experiment verified this.
2nd experiement - Subjects were musically induced into either a “happy” or
“sad” mood.
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MMIP were shown to induce moods effectively in both directions.
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Negative thoughts are difficult to remove because the material necessary for
forming a pleasant alternative thought is less accessible when depressed.
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Music creates greater accessibility to positive cognitions due to its strong
effect on mood.
The R-SMM and Affective Processing
Level Three
 Thaut & d el’Etoile
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Compared the effects of music as a mood induction
procedure to music as a background stimulus on recall.
Found that MMIP produced best recall performance
when used prior to encoding in learning tasks.
Music was played as a background stimulus while
subjects were asked to create a list of antonyms to a
series of adjectives.
Music was used as a mood induction procedure - then
subjects were asked to perform adjective/antonym task.
The R-SMM and Affective Processing
Level Three
 Thaut & d el’Etoile
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Results indicated that subjects who were induced into a
similar mood during encoding and retrieval yielded the
highest performance results on the recall of antonyms.
Study supports the principle that music can promote
retrieval processes in cognitive memory tasks.
Authors state that investigation is necessary to determine
if “…therapeutic music experiences may be used
systematically as a tool for affect modification to access
positive memories about oneself and one’s life, and thus
support cognitive interventions in the tx of depression.
The R-SMM and Affective Processing
Level Four
 Eiffert
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Used music to modify mood in a classical conditioning
methodology with phobics who were afraid of specific
animals (Australian - lizards, etc.)
Used background music to see whether perceptions and
associations could be shifted as mood is altered through
exposure to music.
Phobic group that had music showed a significant
decrease in negative attitudes toward the feared animal,
a decreased heart rate, and a positive change in their
ratings of the feared animals.
The R-SMM and Affective Processing
Level Four
 There are a great deal of Level IV studies.
 Many are narrative in nature.
 Strong foundation for use of music in affective
disorders (could use much more neuro research at Level III)
 Good, structurally sound Level IV research an area of
need.
Thank You !
 …just in case