Steffen A Herff
Biographic Data
| ID | 6950582 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Steffen A Herff |
| GIVEN NAMES | Steffen A |
| FAMILY NAME | Herff |
| SIGNATURE | HERFF S A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Western Sydney University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8396-1306 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 0 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 10 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2018 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 0 |
Effects of high accent variability on monolingual English perceivers’ acquisition of Mandarin minimal-tone-contrast words
Natural phonetic variability such as talker differences facilitates second language (L2) word learning. Whether accent variability enhances the talker variability benefit, particularly in the learning of words that differ only in lexical tones, has not yet been examined despite its potential applied value for L2 tone language learning. Two groups of monolingual English speakers completed six training sessions on four minimal-tone quadrads of Mand…
Exploring the synergistic effectiveness of music and mental imagery to improve motor skill performance in sports
Prior literature suggests that both music and imagery have beneficial effects on motor skill performance in sport settings. However, evidence for their combined use is still scarce. We conducted a preregistered (PROSPERO protocol number CRD42024538656) systematic review following the PRISMA guidelines where we synthesized and critically appraised studies that have evaluated the efficacy of interventions that combine mental imagery and music (henc…
Traffic jams
Music and traffic noise are pervasive elements of modern everyday auditory environments. However, their combined effects on higher-order cognitive processes like mental imagery remain unclear. In a directed mental imagery task, 107 participants continued imaginary journeys towards a landmark, responded to prompts about each journey, and provided written descriptions. Each trial had either silence, traffic noise, music, or combined music and noise…
Music as social surrogate? A qualitative analysis of older adults’ choices of music to alleviate loneliness
People are living longer than ever. Loneliness is prevalent across various age groups, posing a serious threat to both wellbeing and health. The social surrogacy hypothesis predicts that people make use of temporary substitutes for interaction with other people. In this qualitative study, we explored the role of self-chosen music as a social surrogate. A sample of older adults ( N = 35) was asked to name three pieces of music they would choose to…
Understanding the prevalence of mental imagery, music, and their combined use among athletes and coaches
Introduction Both mental imagery and music have significant impacts on motor skill acquisition and improvement, as well as on the regulation of psychological factors crucial for athletic success. However, research on the prevalence of these mental practice strategies across sporting domains, as well as their combined application (hereafter reported as MIMUS), is limited. It therefore remains unclear which strategies athletes and coaches adopt in …
Hearing functional harmony in jazz
Functional harmony is an integral part of many repertoires in the Western musical practices, including both diatonic and extended tonality. In the latter context, music-theoretical accounts suggest that the three octatonic equivalence classes (OECs) consisting of pitch-classes related by stacked minor-third intervals may be associated with tonic (T), dominant (D), and subdominant (S) functions. Whether this theoretical description of music is als…
The perceptual relevance of balance, evenness, and entropy in musical rhythms
Context effects of background babbling on memory for melodies
Disruptive effects of background noise on memory have been thoroughly investigated. Potential beneficial context effects of background noise on memory, however, have received far less attention. Here, we explore whether and how unintelligible multiple talker background babbling affects melody recognition. Participants continuously listened to melodies, each of which appeared twice during the experiment. After each melody participants were asked t…
The role of divided attention and expertise in melody recognition
When attention is divided during memory encoding, performance tends to suffer. The nature of this performance decrement, however, is domain-dependent and often governed by domain-specific expertise. In this study, 111 participants with differing levels of musical expertise (professional musicians, amateur musicians, and non-musicians) were presented with novel melodies under full- or divided-attention conditions in a continuous melody-recognition…
Interference in memory for pitch-only and rhythm-only sequences
In human memory, the ability to recognize a previously encountered stimulus often undergoes cumulative interference when the number of intervening items between its first and second presentation increases. Although this is a common effect in many domains, melodies composed in tuning systems familiar to participants (e.g., Western tonal music) do not seem to suffer such cumulative decrements in recognition performance. Interestingly, melodies in u…
No prominent works on this page.
Interference in memory for pitch-only and rhythm-only sequences
In human memory, the ability to recognize a previously encountered stimulus often undergoes cumulative interference when the number of intervening items between its first and second presentation increases. Although this is a common effect in many domains, melodies composed in tuning systems familiar to participants (e.g., Western tonal music) do not seem to suffer such cumulative decrements in recognition performance. Interestingly, melodies in u…
The role of divided attention and expertise in melody recognition
When attention is divided during memory encoding, performance tends to suffer. The nature of this performance decrement, however, is domain-dependent and often governed by domain-specific expertise. In this study, 111 participants with differing levels of musical expertise (professional musicians, amateur musicians, and non-musicians) were presented with novel melodies under full- or divided-attention conditions in a continuous melody-recognition…
The perceptual relevance of balance, evenness, and entropy in musical rhythms
Context effects of background babbling on memory for melodies
Disruptive effects of background noise on memory have been thoroughly investigated. Potential beneficial context effects of background noise on memory, however, have received far less attention. Here, we explore whether and how unintelligible multiple talker background babbling affects melody recognition. Participants continuously listened to melodies, each of which appeared twice during the experiment. After each melody participants were asked t…
Hearing functional harmony in jazz
Functional harmony is an integral part of many repertoires in the Western musical practices, including both diatonic and extended tonality. In the latter context, music-theoretical accounts suggest that the three octatonic equivalence classes (OECs) consisting of pitch-classes related by stacked minor-third intervals may be associated with tonic (T), dominant (D), and subdominant (S) functions. Whether this theoretical description of music is als…
Music as social surrogate? A qualitative analysis of older adults’ choices of music to alleviate loneliness
People are living longer than ever. Loneliness is prevalent across various age groups, posing a serious threat to both wellbeing and health. The social surrogacy hypothesis predicts that people make use of temporary substitutes for interaction with other people. In this qualitative study, we explored the role of self-chosen music as a social surrogate. A sample of older adults ( N = 35) was asked to name three pieces of music they would choose to…
Understanding the prevalence of mental imagery, music, and their combined use among athletes and coaches
Introduction Both mental imagery and music have significant impacts on motor skill acquisition and improvement, as well as on the regulation of psychological factors crucial for athletic success. However, research on the prevalence of these mental practice strategies across sporting domains, as well as their combined application (hereafter reported as MIMUS), is limited. It therefore remains unclear which strategies athletes and coaches adopt in …
Effects of high accent variability on monolingual English perceivers’ acquisition of Mandarin minimal-tone-contrast words
Natural phonetic variability such as talker differences facilitates second language (L2) word learning. Whether accent variability enhances the talker variability benefit, particularly in the learning of words that differ only in lexical tones, has not yet been examined despite its potential applied value for L2 tone language learning. Two groups of monolingual English speakers completed six training sessions on four minimal-tone quadrads of Mand…
Exploring the synergistic effectiveness of music and mental imagery to improve motor skill performance in sports
Prior literature suggests that both music and imagery have beneficial effects on motor skill performance in sport settings. However, evidence for their combined use is still scarce. We conducted a preregistered (PROSPERO protocol number CRD42024538656) systematic review following the PRISMA guidelines where we synthesized and critically appraised studies that have evaluated the efficacy of interventions that combine mental imagery and music (henc…
Traffic jams
Music and traffic noise are pervasive elements of modern everyday auditory environments. However, their combined effects on higher-order cognitive processes like mental imagery remain unclear. In a directed mental imagery task, 107 participants continued imaginary journeys towards a landmark, responded to prompts about each journey, and provided written descriptions. Each trial had either silence, traffic noise, music, or combined music and noise…
Neuroscience and Music Perception (8 works) · Cognitive psychology (6 works) · Psychology (6 works) · Communication (4 works) · Computer Science (4 works) · Diverse Music Education Insights (4 works) · Music and Audio Processing (4 works) · Speech recognition (4 works) · Cognition (3 works) · Melody (3 works)