Speaking through Silence: Narratives, Social Conventions, and Power in Java: Shifting Languages: Interaction and Identity in Javanese Indonesia

Speaking through Silence: Narratives, Social Conventions, and Power in Java. Laine Berman. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. 256 pp.
Shifting Languages: Interaction and Identity in Javanese Indonesia. J. Joseph Errington. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998.216 pp.     

Assessing Musical Abilities Objectively: Construction and Validation of the Profile of Music Perception Skills

A common approach for determining musical competence is to rely on information about individuals’ extent of musical training, but relying on musicianship status fails to identify musically untrained individuals with musical skill, as well as those who, despite extensive musical training, may not be as skilled. To counteract this limitation, we developed a new test battery (Profile of Music Perception Skills; PROMS) that measures perceptual musical skills across multiple domains: tonal (melody, pitch), qualitative (timbre, tuning), temporal (rhythm, rhythm-to-melody, accent, tempo), and dynamic (loudness). The PROMS has satisfactory psychometric properties for the composite score (internal consistency and test-retest r>.85) and fair to good coefficients for the individual subtests (.56 to.85). Convergent validity was established with the relevant dimensions of Gordon’s Advanced Measures of Music Audiation and Musical Aptitude Profile (melody, rhythm, tempo), the Musical Ear Test (rhythm), and sample instrumental sounds (timbre). Criterion validity was evidenced by consistently sizeable and significant relationships between test performance and external musical proficiency indicators in all three studies (.38 to.62, p<.05 to p<.01). An absence of correlations between test scores and a nonmusical auditory discrimination task supports the battery’s discriminant validity (−.05, ns). The interrelationships among the various subtests could be accounted for by two higher order factors, sequential and sensory music processing. A brief version of the full PROMS is introduced as a time-efficient approximation of the full version of the battery.     

Music in Our Ears: The Biological Bases of Musical Timbre Perception

Timbre is the attribute of sound that allows humans and other animals to distinguish among different sound sources. Studies based on psychophysical judgments of musical timbre, ecological analyses of sound''s physical characteristics as well as machine learning approaches have all suggested that timbre is a multifaceted attribute that invokes both spectral and temporal sound features. Here, we explored the neural underpinnings of musical timbre. We used a neuro-computational framework based on spectro-temporal receptive fields, recorded from over a thousand neurons in the mammalian primary auditory cortex as well as from simulated cortical neurons, augmented with a nonlinear classifier. The model was able to perform robust instrument classification irrespective of pitch and playing style, with an accuracy of 98.7%. Using the same front end, the model was also able to reproduce perceptual distance judgments between timbres as perceived by human listeners. The study demonstrates that joint spectro-temporal features, such as those observed in the mammalian primary auditory cortex, are critical to provide the rich-enough representation necessary to account for perceptual judgments of timbre by human listeners, as well as recognition of musical instruments.     

2009 Society for Medical Anthropology Conference: Training,Communication, and Competence: The Making of Health Care Professionals

The role of medical anthropology in tackling the problems and challenges at the intersections of public health, medicine, and technology was addressed during the 2009 Society for Medical Anthropology Conference at Yale University in an interdisciplinary panel session entitled Training, Communication, and Competence: The Making of Health Care Professionals.The discipline of medical anthropology is not very formalized in the health setting. Although medical anthropologists work across a number of health organizations, including schools of public health, at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and at non-governmental organizations (NGOs), there is an emerging demand for an influential applied medical anthropology that contributes both pragmatically and theoretically to the health care field.The role of anthropology at the intersections of public health, medicine, and technology was addressed during the 2009 Society for Medical Anthropology Conference at Yale University in September. In a conference session entitled Training, Communication, and Competence: The Making of Health Care Professionals, health professional career issues, including training and education, medical entrepreneurship, and the maintenance of clinical relationships with patients were examined. The presentations encompassed macro approaches to institutional reform in training, education, and health care delivery, as well as micro studies of practitioner-patient interaction. Seemingly disparate methodological, disciplinary, and theoretical orientations were united to assess the increasing relevance of medically oriented anthropology in addressing the challenges of health care delivery, health education, and training.Margaret Bentley, a professor of public health at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, spoke about the increasing “epidemic of global health” in universities, noting a doubling of global health majors within the past three years. Despite this expansion of the field, a common discipline of global health continues to be developed. In September, the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH) and the University of Minnesota hosted a Global Health Core Competency Development Consensus Conference with the initiative to explore “workforce needs, practice settings, and to identify core constructs, competency domains, and a preliminary global health competency model”¹. Given the current variability in training, Bentley believes medical anthropology is uniquely suited to inform training in global health because of its offerings in the way of interdisciplinary methods and team-based applied field experience.Anthropologists Carl Kendall of Tulane University and Laetitia Atlani of Université de Paris X Nanterre have seen medical anthropologists examine models of health strictly within a clinical experience. Understanding of the social determinants of epidemiology, methodological issues of population health, and survey research is crucial. However, training individuals through a more formalized program (currently in development in Europe) will allow anthropologists to better understand context, explain complex models, humanize aggregate statistics, and articulate methods of the multidimensional “social field” of health outside of the clinical experience.The social field of health, however, as Robert Like of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey explained, shares an uncomfortable interface with clinical medicine. Recent efforts by the New Jersey Board of Examiners to incorporate cultural competency legislation have been robustly criticized. Evaluations of six-hour training sessions on cultural competency training have revealed health professionals’ frustration with the health care system’s inability to deal with “culturally different” individuals. In fact, the majority of health professionals who were required to complete the training believe cultural competency to be an area of study that is a “waste of time.”This opposition to cross-cultural education and the value of “cultural competence” training also has been a topic of great debate among anthropologists and health researchers. Despite the ubiquitous use of the term among research and health professionals, cultural competency is a term that cannot be defined precisely enough to operationalize.In “Anthropology in the Clinic: The Problem of Cultural Competency and How to Fix It,” Arthur Kleinman and Peter Benson asserted that the static notion of culture in the medical field “suggests that a culture can be reduced to a technical skill for which clinicians can be trained to develop expertise” [1]. T.S. Harvey, a linguistic and medical anthropologist at the University of California, Riverside, expounded on Kleinman’s opposition to competence as an acquired “technical skill” [1] and suggested reconceptualizing the approach to competence as communication. Although Kleinman’s explanatory models approach [2] provides a health care professional with what to ask the patient, Harvey pulls from Dell Hymes’ communicative competence [3] to understand how to ask it. Harvey recommended viewing competence as a “sociolinguistic acquisition … like a foreign language” where competencies are rule-governed and communication and speech events are formulaic.Harvey also noted that the “onus of cultural competency” is too often placed on the practitioner. Inevitably, there is an asymmetry in every clinical encounter, whereby the “would-be patient” is perpetually considered the “passive receptor.” Patients also share a stake in their health and, as such, should be taught communicative competence as well.Harvey also noted that the “onus of cultural competency” is too often placed on the practitioner. Inevitably, there is an asymmetry in every clinical encounter, whereby the “would-be patient” is perpetually considered the “passive receptor.” Patients also share a stake in their health and, as such, should be taught communicative competence as well.The role of the patient is made ever more complex by the power relationship that exists in the patient-provider context. Through ethnographic research, Sylvie Fainzang, director of research in the Inserm (Cermes), examines how doctors and patients lie. She argues that lying, in the context of secrecy, is an indication of a power relationship [4]. Fainzaing’s further research on the relationship between doctors and patients has yielded additional information on how patients learn about their diagnoses and how they will react to these diagnoses. Though a clinical encounter between a doctor and patient is expected to be one of informed consent, doctors often judge patients upon their ability to “intellectually understand” [4] and assess who is “psychologically ready” [4] to bear the information. This leads to manipulated, misinformed, and “resigned consent” [4]. This sort of social training of obligation of a subject to medical authority provides the patient with the choice either to conform or overthrow the rules as defined by society.Collectively, this interdisciplinary panel worked to inform the discussion on how medical anthropology can address training, communication, and competence at the intersections of medicine, public health, and education. By reviewing health professionals’ growing interest in public health, training in health education and competence, and the patient-provider relationship, medical anthropology can be seen as both relevant and necessary to addressing the challenges faced by the medical and health community today.     

When Music and Long-Term Memory Interact: Effects of Musical Expertise on Functional and Structural Plasticity in the Hippocampus

The development of musical skills by musicians results in specific structural and functional modifications in the brain. Surprisingly, no functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study has investigated the impact of musical training on brain function during long-term memory retrieval, a faculty particularly important in music. Thus, using fMRI, we examined for the first time this process during a musical familiarity task (i.e., semantic memory for music). Musical expertise induced supplementary activations in the hippocampus, medial frontal gyrus, and superior temporal areas on both sides, suggesting a constant interaction between episodic and semantic memory during this task in musicians. In addition, a voxel-based morphometry (VBM) investigation was performed within these areas and revealed that gray matter density of the hippocampus was higher in musicians than in nonmusicians. Our data indicate that musical expertise critically modifies long-term memory processes and induces structural and functional plasticity in the hippocampus.     

Sexual Desire,Piety, and Law in a Javanese Pesantren: Interpreting Varieties of Secret Divorce and Polygamy

Very little anthropological research has explored the polygamous worlds of women in Indonesia's traditional Islamic boarding schools known as pesantren. These traditional schools are patriarchal institutions that teach women to be ideal Muslims according to male-defined notions of shari'ah-based piety that construct polygamy as normative. This article challenges dominant discourses on polygamy, which are mostly concerned with public protest and feminist agendas that seek to have the practice banned, and instead reveals an agentive side of women in polygamous marriages. It examines the experiences of a group of pesantren women whose actions transgress state and Islamic laws on marriage and divorce in their endorsement of polygamous union and nikah batin (Sufi spiritual marriage). It builds on feminist arguments that recognise female agency in polygamy by considering the legal ambiguity surrounding secret and informal divorce and polygamous practices initiated by women restricted from obtaining legal divorces for socio-cultural reasons. In doing so, it further considers some aspects of a notion of a woman-centric polygamy that includes polyandry, which women create based on their understanding that Islam acknowledges women's sexual rights in marriage.     

Knowing and the truth: Three histories of Daugo Island,Papua New Guinea

Courts of law in Melanesian countries, particularly in the aftermath of the colonial period, have attempted to accommodate ‘custom’. In Papua New Guinea they commonly hear land claims under terms of reference that acknowledge the wide variety of customs among the many ethno‐linguistic groups comprising the nation. A corollary of this liberalism is that, in theory, they admit ‘traditional evidence’ including legends and myths. Yet as courts of law they are required to apply some criteria of proof and to search for the ‘truth’ by examining the ‘facts’. A long‐running land case from Papua New Guinea and its aftermath raises interesting questions about what happens when oral history encounters these legal imperatives, and may help us appreciate why Melanesians often do not regard a court's decision as final.     

Music and Video Gaming during Breaks: Influence on Habitual versus Goal-Directed Decision Making

Different systems for habitual versus goal-directed control are thought to underlie human decision-making. Working memory is known to shape these decision-making systems and their interplay, and is known to support goal-directed decision making even under stress. Here, we investigated if and how decision systems are differentially influenced by breaks filled with diverse everyday life activities known to modulate working memory performance. We used a within-subject design where young adults listened to music and played a video game during breaks interleaved with trials of a sequential two-step Markov decision task, designed to assess habitual as well as goal-directed decision making. Based on a neurocomputational model of task performance, we observed that for individuals with a rather limited working memory capacity video gaming as compared to music reduced reliance on the goal-directed decision-making system, while a rather large working memory capacity prevented such a decline. Our findings suggest differential effects of everyday activities on key decision-making processes.     

Cranial morphology of Javanese Homo erectus: new evidence for continuous evolution, specialization, and terminal extinction

Our current knowledge of the evolution of Homo during the early to middle Pleistocene is far from complete. This is not only because of the small number of fossil samples available, but also due to the scarcity of standardized datasets which are reliable in terms of landmark identification, interobserver error, and other distorting factors. This study aims to accurately describe the cranial morphological changes of H. erectus in Java using a standardized set of measurements taken by the authors from 18 adult crania from Sangiran, Trinil, Sambungmacan, and Ngandong. The identification of some obscure landmarks was aided by the use of micro-CT imaging. While recent studies tend to emphasize evolutionary conservatism in Javanese H. erectus, our results reinforce the theory that chronologically later groups experienced distinct morphological changes in a number of cranial traits. Some of these changes, particularly those related to brain size expansion, are similar to those observed for the genus Homo as a whole, whereas others are apparently unique specializations restricted to Javanese H. erectus. Such morphological specializations in Java include previously undescribed anteroposterior lengthening of the midcranial base and an anterior shift of the posterior temporal muscle, which might have influenced the morphology of the angular torus and supramastoid sulcus. Analyses of morphological variation indicate that the three crania from Sambungmacan variously fill the morphological gap between the chronologically earlier (Bapang-AG, Bapang Formation above the Grenzbank zone in Sangiran) and later (Ngandong) morphotypes of Java. At least one of the Bapang-AG crania, Sangiran 17, also exhibits a few characteristics which potentially indicate evolution toward the Ngandong condition. These strongly suggest the continuous, gradual morphological evolution of Javanese H. erectus from the Bapang-AG to Ngandong periods. The development of some unique features in later Javanese H. erectus supports the hypothesis that this Javanese lineage went extinct without making significant contributions to the ancestry of modern humans.     

Javanese species of the mite genus Macrocheles (Arachnida: Acari: Gamasina: Macrochelidae)

Twelve mite species of the genus Macrocheles (Acari: Macrochelidae) were collected from the body surface of dung beetles in Java, Indonesia. Of these, three species, i.e., Macrocheles jabarensis, M. jonggolensis, and M. sukabumiensis, were described as new to science. Female of M. dispar was redescribed. Two species, i.e., M. baliensis and M. sukaramiensis, were recorded from Java for the first time. The occurrence of five species previously recorded from Java, i.e., M. hallidayi, M. kraepelini, M. limue, M. oigru, and M. merdarius, were reconfirmed. Taxonomic status of M. sp. aff. glaber was not settled in the present study, because we could not obtain the male and immatures which are indispensable for exact identification. In total 15 species of the genus Macrocheles, including 3 species already recorded but not collected in this research (M. crispa, M. krantzi, and M. subbadius), are known from Java up to date.     

先天性音乐障碍者音乐加工障碍及其特异性争议

人群中存在少量先天性音乐障碍(congenital amusia)个体,表现出音乐感知和表达方面有选择性障碍。本文总结了前人甄别先天性音乐障碍个体的工具,述评了先天性音乐障碍者对音乐加工时的障碍表现,以及先天性音乐障碍者其障碍领域特异性争议,并从行为遗传学和音乐加工脑机制角度,综述了先天性音乐障碍者可能的原因,最后对先天性音乐障碍未来可能的研究方向做了四个方面的展望。     

Longitudinal analysis of deciduous tooth emergence: III. Sexual dimorphism in Bangladeshi, Guatemalan, Japanese, and Javanese children

Previous studies, mostly in European populations, found sex differences in the pattern of deciduous tooth emergence. Most studies find that the anterior dentition in males is precocial relative to the female dentition, and the pattern reverses so that females lead males in the emergence of the posterior deciduous dentition. Less is known about sex differences in the dental development and emergence of non-European populations. Here we examine the pattern of sex differences in deciduous tooth emergence in Japanese, Javanese, Guatemalan, and Bangladeshi children. The data come from four longitudinal or mixed longitudinal studies using similar study protocols. Survival analysis was used to estimate parameters of a log-normal distribution of emergence for each of the 10 teeth of the left dentition, and sexual dimorphism was assessed by sex-specific differences in mean emergence times and by Bennett's index. The results support the pattern of developmental cross-over observed in other populations. We conclude that there is little evidence to support the hypothesis of Tanguay et al. ([1984] J. Dent. Res. 63:65-68) that ethnic factors mediate sex differences in the emergence of deciduous teeth.     

Tone Language Speakers and Musicians Share Enhanced Perceptual and Cognitive Abilities for Musical Pitch: Evidence for Bidirectionality between the Domains of Language and Music

Psychophysiological evidence suggests that music and language are intimately coupled such that experience/training in one domain can influence processing required in the other domain. While the influence of music on language processing is now well-documented, evidence of language-to-music effects have yet to be firmly established. Here, using a cross-sectional design, we compared the performance of musicians to that of tone-language (Cantonese) speakers on tasks of auditory pitch acuity, music perception, and general cognitive ability (e.g., fluid intelligence, working memory). While musicians demonstrated superior performance on all auditory measures, comparable perceptual enhancements were observed for Cantonese participants, relative to English-speaking nonmusicians. These results provide evidence that tone-language background is associated with higher auditory perceptual performance for music listening. Musicians and Cantonese speakers also showed superior working memory capacity relative to nonmusician controls, suggesting that in addition to basic perceptual enhancements, tone-language background and music training might also be associated with enhanced general cognitive abilities. Our findings support the notion that tone language speakers and musically trained individuals have higher performance than English-speaking listeners for the perceptual-cognitive processing necessary for basic auditory as well as complex music perception. These results illustrate bidirectional influences between the domains of music and language.     

Longitudinal analysis of deciduous tooth emergence: II. Parametric survival analysis in Bangladeshi,Guatemalan, Japanese,and Javanese children

We present a form of parametric survival analysis that incorporates exact, interval-censored, and right-censored times to deciduous tooth emergence. The method is an extension of common cross-sectional procedures such as logit and probit analysis, so that data arising from mixed longitudinal and cross-sectional studies can be properly combined. We extended the method to incorporate and estimate a proportion of agenic teeth. While we concentrate on deciduous tooth emergence, the method is relevant to studies of permanent tooth emergence and other developmental events. Deciduous tooth emergence data were analyzed from four longitudinal studies. The samples are 1,271 rural Guatemalan children examined every three months up to age two and every six months thereafter as part of the INCAP study; 397 rural Bangladeshi children examined monthly to age one and quarterly thereafter as part of the Meheran Growth and Development Study; 468 rural Indonesian children examined monthly as part of the Ngaglik study; and 114 urban Japanese children examined monthly in studies from 1910 and 1920. Although all four studies were longitudinal, many observations from the Guatemala and Bangladesh studies were effectively cross-sectionally observed. Three different parametric forms were used to model the eruption process: a normal distribution, a lognormal distribution, and a lognormal distribution with age shifted to shortly after conception. All three distributions produced reliable estimates of central tendencies, but the shifted lognormal distribution produced the best overall estimates of shape (variance) parameters. Estimates of emergence were compared to other studies that used similar methods. Japanese children showed relatively fast emergence times for all teeth. Bangladeshi and Javanese children showed emergence times that were slower than are found in most previous studies. Estimates of agenesis were not significantly different from zero for most teeth. One or two central incisors showed significant agenesis that ranged from 0.1 to 0.8% in three of the samples; even so, failure to model the agenic proportion did not seriously bias the estimates. Am J Phys Anthropol 105:209–230, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.