Background: Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is a spinal deformity that affects approximately 4% of the world’s population. Several hypotheses regarding the etiology of AIS have been investigated. In the last decades, impaired visual-spatial perception, alterations in spatial body orientation and sensory integration deficits have been documented. Objective: We aimed to summarize the neurophysiological, balance, and motion evidence related to AIS published in the last fifteen years, between January 2008 and April 2023. Both observational and interventional studies were considered. Only studies using quantitative assessment methods, such as electroencephalography (EEG), electromyography (EMG), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), somatosensory evoked potentials, force platform, or motion capture, were included. Methods: 1250 eligible records identified from online database searching were filtered by duplicate removal, title and abstract screening, and qualitative analysis. 61 articles met the inclusion criteria (i.e., Cobb range 10°-35°, age range 10-18 years) and were summarized. Results: We found significant evidence of impaired standing balance in individuals with AIS who greatly rely on visual and proprioceptive information to stay upright. EMG studies frequently reported an increased activity on the convex side of the intrinsic spinae muscles. EEG data show increased delta and theta power, higher alpha peak frequencies, and significant suppression in the alpha and beta bands in subjects with AIS during standing tasks. MRI studies report changes in white matter structures, differences in the vestibular system, and abnormal cortical activations over motor-related areas in subjects with AIS. Bracing appears to be an effective treatment for AIS, leading to improvements in static balance and gait. Methodological issues prevent reliable conclusions about the effects of other treatment options. Conclusions: This review underscores the importance of quantitative assessment methods to explore the etiology and pathophysiology of AIS. Further research is needed to measure the impact of physical therapy and orthotic treatments on the neurophysiological mechanisms of the disease.

Practice is the process through which musicians improve their performance abilities and increase their level of expertise. Deliberate Practice (DP) is a theory of expertise based on the concept that interindividual differences in the level of proficiency in a specific domain can be mostly explained by interindividual differences in the amount of deliberate practice; despite its popularity, subsequent studies have demonstrated several critical issues in Ericsson’s DP concept, due to its vagueness in definitions, arbitrary measurements of expertise, and inability to account for the possible role of genes. The present project aimed at creating a new questionnaire, capable of measuring practice quality in terms of deliberate practice for the music domain, regardless of the instrument and musical genre played, at any level of expertise. Based on data from a sample of 1,558 musicians, ranging from amateurs to world-renowned soloists, the Deliberate Practice in Music Inventory (DPMI) was created, a self-report questionnaire and measurement instrument for practice quality consisting of a main DP scale and four subscales: Process improvement, Practice competences, Mindless practice (inverted scale), and Task decomposition. Results indicated that musicians who implement effective practice habits are focused on solving problems related to music playing and often refine their practice routines to increase their effectiveness. In addition, musicians who usually exhibit high amounts of DP behavior often decompose long and complex tasks into shorter and simpler elements, aiming to master them more easily and in shorter time. The DPMI instrument shows good convergent validity with measures related to expertise in music as well as good predictive validity for performance improvement. The DPMI generates new perspectives for the field of musical expertise research.

The acquisition of skills, such as learning to play a musical instrument, involves various phases that make specific demands on the learner. Knowledge of the cognitive and motor contributions during learning phases can be helpful in developing effective and targeted interventions for healthy aging. Eighty-six healthy older participants underwent an extensive cognitive, motoric, and musical test battery. Within one session, one piano-related and one music-independent movement sequence were both learned. We tested the associations between skill performance and cognito-motor abilities with Bayesian mixed models accounting for individual learning rates. Results showed that performance was positively associated with all cognito-motor abilities. Learning a piano-related task was characterized by relatively strong initial associations between performance and abilities. These associations then weakened considerably before increasing exponentially from the second trial onwards, approaching a plateau. Similar performance–ability relationships were detected in the course of learning a music-unrelated motor task. Positive performance–ability associations emphasize the potential of learning new skills to produce positive cognitive and motor transfer effects. Consistent high-performance tasks that demand maximum effort from the participants could be very effective. However, interventions should be sufficiently long so that the transfer potential can be fully exploited.

Introduction: During their career, musicians need to undergo intense periods of training to master musical instruments and become accomplished artists. Dysfunctional practice behaviors and anxiety are often mentioned among the possible risk factors for playing-related injuries in musicians. However, the mechanism through which these might lead to the onset of these injuries is still unclear. The present study aims at overcoming this limitation by investigating the relationship between quantitative measurements of anxiety, practice behaviors and music performance quality.Methods: The experiment consisted in monitoring practice behaviors in 30 pianists practicing a short musical task.Results: Most self-report anxiety measurements were positively correlated with practice time, especially those collected right before the practice sessions. Similar correlations were identified between anxiety and the number of repetitions of the musical task. Physiological markers of anxiety were only weakly related to practice behaviors. Subsequent analyses showed that high levels of anxiety were associated with poor quality of music performances at baseline. Nevertheless, the interaction between participants’ learning rate and anxiety measures showed no association with performance quality scores. Moreover, anxiety and performance quality co-developed during practice sessions, showing that pianists who improved their playing were also less anxious in the latter part of the experiment.Discussion: These findings suggest that anxious musicians are likely at higher risk of developing playing-related injuries related to overuse and repetitive strains. Future directions and clinical implications are discussed.

The age-related decline in proprioception contributes to poor balance and motor coordination, increasing the risk of falls. Ten female participants (> 65 years) with osteoporosis underwent the Mini Balance Evaluation System test before (T0) and after (T1) a three-week programme involving the application of neuro-muscular taping to the lumbar, rhomboid and gastrocnemius muscles, alongside 15 minutes of simple physical exercises each day to improve proprioception. High-density electroencephalography (EEG) data were collected during the sensory orientation tasks, i.e., standing with eyes open or closed on solid and foam surfaces. Changes in spectral power over time (T0, T1) and across tasks were assessed using linear mixed effects regression models. Participants showed a significant increase in absolute theta power (p < 0.001) and a decrease in absolute beta power (p < 0.001) at T1, compared to T0. When standing on the foam, there was a significant decrease in both theta (p < 0.001) and alpha (p < 0.01) absolute power values at T0, with the decrease in theta being significantly attenuated by T1 (p < 0.001). The EEG results, together with improvements in balance test scores, suggest that participants experienced improved attentional control to monitor and maintain balance.

Music performance anxiety (MPA) affects most musicians and is commonly listed among the triggering factors of several pathologies, such as depression, overuse syndrome, choking under pressure and focal dystonia. The study aimed at investigating the relationship between the S.F.E.R.A. model theory (SFERA), a multidimensional model for enhancing sport performances, and MPA in professional musicians. The model allows to analyze performances by monitoring five constructs representing underlying cognitive and metacognitive factors that influence performance, highlighting individual strengths and improvement areas. The results confirmed that severe MPA symptoms are a common issue among musicians (47%), while 36% of the sample experienced musculoskeletal pain related to playing their musical instrument in the 2 months preceding the study. Moreover, musicians who suffered from practice-related pain reported higher levels of MPA. The SFERA factors were strongly and negatively correlated with MPA scores, suggesting that improving the SFERA factors might be helpful in reducing MPA: musicians with high MPA showed significantly lower SFERA scores. Moreover, Energy was the strongest predictor of MPA scores among the five SFERA factors, suggesting that musicians with high anxiety levels present difficulties on emotional regulation during the performance and struggle to focus on their performances while ignoring dysfunctional thoughts. The study indicates that SFERA scores can predict MPA and that sport psychology programs applied to the music field may also be useful protective factors for musicians’ psychophysiological health, especially in music academies and universities.