title: Moral development, executive functioning, peak experiences and brain patterns in professional and amateur classical musicians: interpreted in light of a Unified Theory of Performance.
abstract: This study compared professional and amateur classical musicians matched for age, gender, and education on reaction times during the Stroop color-word test, brainwaves during an auditory ERP task and during paired reaction-time tasks, responses on the Gibbs Sociomoral Reflection questionnaire, and self-reported frequencies of peak experiences. Professional musicians were characterized by: (1) lower color-word interference effects (Stroop task), (2) faster categorization of rare expected stimuli (P3b), and a trend for faster processing of rare unexpected stimuli (P3a), (3) higher scores on the Sociomoral Reflection questionnaire, and (4) more frequent peak experiences during rest, tasks, and sleep. Both groups had high values on the Brain Integration Scale. These findings are interpreted in light of a Unified Theory of Performance, which posits that effectiveness in any area is influenced by one's level of mind-brain development-emotional, cognitive, moral, ego and cortical development-with higher mind-brain development supporting greater effectiveness in any domain.
authors.affiliation: Center for Brain, Consciousness and Cognition, Maharishi University of Management, Fairfield, IA, USA. ftravis@mum.edu
authors.forename: Frederick
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Travis
authors.forename: Harald S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Harung
authors.forename: Yvonne
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lagrosen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D018913:Event-Related Potentials, P300 / Q000502:physiology; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009014:Morals; D009146:Music / Q000523:psychology*; D011930:Reaction Time; D057190:Stroop Test; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires