By: Kasaundra Eason and Katie Antigua Heinz Werner By: Kasaundra Eason and Katie Antigua

ABOUT WERNER Lived 1890-1964, born in Vienna Had always had an interest in music and began studying to be a composer and music historian After being exposed to the philosophy of Kant, he decided to pursue degrees in philosophy and psychology instead Joined the Gestalt psychology movement Leipzig school focused on development rather than just perception

GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY basic claim: we perceive things as whole forms, not as parts to be analyzed in terms of their separate element this tendency to perceive whole forms is governed by organizing forces in the central nervous system greatly influenced Werner’s work

THE ORTHOGENIC PRINCIPLE Orthogenic Principle: “whenever development occurs, it proceeds from a state of relative lack of differentiation to a state of increasing differentiation and hierarchic integration” Differentiation: global wholes separate into parts with different forms or functions ex: embryo development into different organs or limbs Hierarchical organization: behaviors come under the control of higher regulating centers

SELF-OBJECT DIFFERENTIATION Sensorimotor-affective level the world exists only as a part of my immediate actions, sensations, and feelings Perceptual level the world exists outside of me, but my perceptions are still bound in my actions and feelings Conceptual level consists of a detached and objective view of the world, I can think in general and abstract dimensions

MICROGENETIC MOBILITY Microgenesis is a developmental process that occurs every time we confront a new task this process mimics development--we begin with undifferentiated impressions and gradually move toward more differentiated perceptions that become hierarchically organized Microgenetic Mobility the ability to fully utilize both primitive and advanced forms of thinking “The more creative the person, the wider his range of operations in terms of developmental level, or in other words, the greater his capacity to utilize primitive as well as advanced operations.”

PHYSIOGNOMIC PERCEPTION Physiognomic Perception involves us reacting to dynamic, emotional, expressive qualities of stimuli as opposed to geometric-technical perception that is concerned with objective, measurable qualities This type of perception is prevalent in children because of a lack of self/environment boundaries. All objects have life and emotion like they do A cup laying on its side is sleeping Drawing a sun with a face on it “happy line” “sad line”

SYNESTHESIA Synesthesia is the syncretic unity of the senses high pitched sounds are fine, pointed, fresh, energetic, colorful, quick low pitched sounds are big, awkward, muggy, dull, slow colors can be warm or cold This type of experience is developmentally primitive and exists prior to sense differentiation--children are prone to this type of perception

KEY TERMS Orthogenic principle Differentiation Hierarchical organization Self-object differentiation Microgenetic mobility Physiognomic perception Synesthesia

NATURE VS. NURTURE WERNER Nature Nurture

OUR STUDY The purpose of this research study is to investigate synesthesia in children, based on the work of Heinz Werner. Based on Werner’s work on synesthesia, will children’s choices be affected by varying visual and audible stimuli? Will children develop a preference for different types of playground equipment as a result of changing intercessory experiences? Will there be a difference among the experiences between boys and girls? Hypothesis: we thought that hearing the high pitched music would make the students feel more positive towards the playground equipment.

BACKGROUND OF OUR STUDY A Private Catholic School in Texas Consisted of 5 girls and 4 boys in fourth grade Visited the school two times (two separate days)

STUDY PROCESS Asked students to look at black and white pictures of playground equipment (Monkey bars and a slide) First we asked the students to look at the picture with no music. 2a. We then paired the picture with two different types of music A high pitched song A low pitched song 3. The students then circled words of how the music made them feel about the picture.

WORD BANK GIVEN Excited Bored Sad Cheerful Nervous Tired Shy Silly Loving Afraid Glad Curious Joyful Terrible Thrilled Lonely Amazed Safe Playful Relaxed Weird Other:_____

NO MUSIC Day 1 Day 2 Day 1:Excited 1 Bored: 1 2 3 5 6 7 8 9 Sad: 2 7 9 Cheerful:1 Nervous: 1 2 4 7 9 Tired: 3 7 Shy: 2 3 4 6 7 Silly: 1 Loving: 1 Afraid: 1 2 3 7 Glad: 1 Curious: 2 3 4 5 6 Joyful: 1 9 Terrible: 2 6 7 Thrilled: 2 7 9 Lonely: 2 4 6 Amazed: 1 9 Safe Playful: 1 3 5 Relaxed: 1 3 Weird: 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 Other: scared (1), drowsy (6) Day 2 Excited: 4 Bored: 1 6 Sad: 1 2 4 5 6 Cheerful Nervous: 2 5 6 8 9 Tired: 6 9 Shy: 1 8 Silly: 6 Loving Afraid: 1 2 5 6 8 9 Glad Curious: 1 2 4 5 Joyful Terrible: 9 Thrilled: 1 2 Lonely: 9 Amazed: 4 Playful Relaxed: 6 Weird: 1 2 5 9 Other: unsafe (2), unsafe (6), dum (9)

SLIDE (HIGH PITCH VS. LOW PITCH) High pitch was given on day 1, low pitch on day 2

SLIDE (HIGH PITCH VS. LOW PITCH)

MONKEY BARS (HIGH PITCH VS. LOW PITCH) Low pitch on day 1, high pitch on day 2

MONKEY BARS (HIGH PITCH VS. LOW PITCH)

Playground Equipment Preference Child Day 1 Day 2 1 Monkey Bars Monkey Bars oh 2 3 4 Monkey Bars <3 5 6 Slide 7 Sad Slide 8 9

CONCLUSION Based on our study music had no effect on the child’s choice of playground equipment

LIMITATION We were not able to work with our intended age group which was third graders or second graders The students already had a presupposition of their favorite piece of playground equipment They were very talkative and would express their opinion By the second day the students lost interest The color of the pictures may also have effected how the students felt about the picture On the second day we visited the school we forgot the individual pictures of the playground equipment and had to show all of the children one big picture. For the study to be truly effective it should take place in a very controlled environment As fourth graders they were very talkative. They would talk to each other and express their opinion so some students would talk to each other and abandond their initial thought and go with the thought of their pierce I have a background of working with children and believe that if were would have worked with younger kids we would have maybe received more accurate results because they do not talk as much and are easier to control. If we were going to do the study again maybe we would wait a couple of days