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БИОГРАФИЯ КАК ФЕНОМЕН КУЛЬТУРЫ / THE PHENOMENON OF BIOGRAPHY IN CULTURE
Ирина Михайловна СПИВАК / Irina SPIVAK | Арина Сергеевна УРАЗОВА / Arina URAZOVA | Андрей Генрихович ЗАХАРЧУК / Andrey ZAKHARCHUK | Дмитрий Леонидович СПИВАК / Dimitry SPIVAK | Восприятие традиционной \ нетрадиционной музыки и его воздействие на ожидаемую продолжительность жизни: предварительное сообщение. Статья 1. Длина теломер / Perception of Traditional \ Non-traditional Music and its Influence upon Life Expectancy: Preliminary Report. Article 1: Telomere Length |
Ирина Михайловна СПИВАК / Irina SPIVAK
Институт цитологии Российской академии наук (ИНЦ РАН), Санкт-Петербург, Россия
Старший научный сотрудник, кандидат биологических наук Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет, биологический факультет, доцент Санкт-Петербургский государственный политехнический университет, кафедра медицинской физики, доцент
Institute of Cytology, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia, Senior Research Fellow St. Petersburg State University, Faculty of Biology, Associate Professor St. Petersburg State Politechnical University, Chair of Medical Physics, Associate Professor, PhD in Biology
irina_spivak@hotmail. com
Арина Сергеевна УРАЗОВА / Arina URAZOVA
Университет имени Мартина Лютера, Галле-Виттенберг, Германия Медицинский факультет, аспирант Научный сотрудник лаборатории кардиохирургии Университетской клиники Галле
Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), Halle (Saale), Germany Faculty of Medicine, PhD Student Halle University Clinic, Researcher arinasoulmate@mail. ru
Андрей Генрихович ЗАХАРЧУК / Andrey ZAKHARCHUK
198
Военно-Медицинская Академия им. С. М. Кирова, Санкт-Петербург, Россия _
Преподаватель 2-ой кафедры терапии усовершенствования врачей, кандидат медицинских наук Санкт-Петербургское Государственное казенное учреждение здравоохранения Хоспис №1 Заведующий выездной патронажной службой
S. M. Kirov Military Medical Academy, St. Petersburg, Russia
Lecturer, PhD in Medical Sciences St. Petersburg State Institution of Healthcare - Hospice No.1 a. g. zaharchuk@gmail. com
Дмитрий Леонидович СПИВАК / Dimitri SPIVAK
Российский НИИ культурного и природного наследия им. Д. С. Лихачева, Россия Руководитель Центра фундаментальных исследований в сфере культуры Институт мозга человека им. Н. П. Бехтеревой Российской Академии Наук (ИМЧ РАН), Россия Ведущий научный сотрудник, доктор филологических наук
D. S. Likhachev Russian Institute of Cultural and Natural Heritage, Russia
Head of Center for Basic Studies in the Sphere of Culture Human Brain Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia Principal Research Fellow, Doctor of Sciences in Philology d. spivak@mail. ru
ВОСПРИЯТИЕ ТРАДИЦИОННОЙ \ НЕТРАДИЦИОННОЙ МУЗЫКИ И ЕГО ВОЗДЕЙСТВИЕ НА ОЖИДАЕМУЮ ПРОДОЛЖИТЕЛЬНОСТЬ ЖИЗНИ: ПРЕДВАРИТЕЛЬНОЕ СООБЩЕНИЕ. СТАТЬЯ 1. ДЛИНА ТЕЛОМЕР
В статье представлены предварительные кулярно-биологических коррелятов. 65 практиче-
результаты комплексного исследования психоло- ски здоровых, молодых, русскоязычных городских
гических аспектов восприятия музыки и их моле- жителей были разделены на 3 подгруппы, одна из
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БИОГРАФИЯ КАК ФЕНОМЕН КУЛЬТУРЫ / THE PHENOMENON OF BIOGRAPHY IN CULTURE
Ирина Михайловна СПИВАК / Irina SPIVAK | Арина Сергеевна УРАЗОВА / Arina URAZOVA | Андрей Генрихович ЗАХАРЧУК / Andrey ZAKHARCHUK | Дмитрий Леонидович СПИВАК / Dimitry SPIVAK | Восприятие традиционной \ нетрадиционной музыки и его воздействие на ожидаемую продолжительность жизни: предварительное сообщение. Статья 1. Длина теломер / Perception of Traditional \ Non-traditional Music and its Influence upon Life Expectancy: Preliminary Report. Article 1: Telomere Length |
которых прослушала аудиокурс легкой классической музыки, другая - курс современной дизайнер-музыки, третья - звуков природы. Звуковой ряд первого типа рассматривается нами как принадлежащий полю культурного наследия респондентов («традиционная музыка»), второго - как ему не принадлежащий («нетрадиционная музыка»), третий тип аудиостимулов использовался в качестве контрольного. Курс состоял в аудировании музыки / аудиоряда определенного типа в течение 2 недель, по 90 минут в день. Каждый респондент прошел обследование дважды, а именно перед началом курса, и после его завершения. Психологическая часть обследования состояла в заполнении 6 опросников, направленных на определение уровней настроения и невротизации, степени активации базовых психологических защит и стратегий совладания со стрессом, а также уровней напряженности интринзивных религиозно-психологических установок и признаков измененных состояний сознания. В заключение данной части, проводилась регистрация биографических и анамнестических данных. В рамках молекулярно-биологической части работы, проводился забор крови в количестве 5 мл, что позволяло провести анализ таких маркеров стресса и предикторов продолжительности жизни, как длина теломер и активность теломеразы. Данная часть исследования проводилась при помощи современных высокотехнологичных методик, прежде всего полимеразной цепной реакции в режиме реального времени по Р. Котону. В результате исследования, было доказано, что длина теломер повышается на статистически значимую величину как следствие прохождения курса «традиционной» музыки, и снижается в случае контрольной подгруппы (подгруппа «нетрадиционной» музыки, занимает промежуточное положение между указанными выше двумя подгруппами по данному показателю). Как следствие, восприятие музыки, принадлежащей полю куль-
турного наследия респондентов, следует связать с понижением уровня стресса и повышением ожидаемой продолжительности жизни. Указанная тенденция сопровождалась общим снижением напряженности таких примитивных копинг-стратегий, как избегание, а также конфронтация. Находясь по своему абсолютному значению в пределах нормальных значений (в широком смысле этого слова), данные психологические показатели сдвигались в указанном направлении на статистически значимые величины. На этом основании следует сделать вывод, что, не приводя к качественному изменению психологического состояния респондентов, наш аудиокурс оказался достаточно сильным, чтобы вызвать микро-сдвиги в определенном направлении, фиксируемые при помощи специальных методик. 199
Ключевые слова: восприятие музыки, культурное наследие, длина теломер, уровень стресса, ожидаемая продолжительность жизни.
PERCEPTION OF TRADITIONAL \ NON-
TRADITIONAL MUSIC AND ITS INFLUENCE UPON LIFE EXPECTANCY: PRELIMINARY REPORT. ARTICLE 1: TELOMERE LENGTH
The paper presents preliminary results of a complex study of psychological aspects of perception of music and their molecular biological correlates. 65 normal, young, Russian-speaking urban dwellers were divided into 3 subgroups, one of which passed a course of light classical music, another one of modern designer music, the third one of sounds of nature. The former type of music was regarded as belonging to cultural heritage of the subjects ('traditional music'), the latter one, as not belonging to it ('non-traditional'one), the third type of audiostimuli was used as control. The
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БИОГРАФИЯ КАК ФЕНОМЕН КУЛЬТУРЫ / THE PHENOMENON OF BIOGRAPHY IN CULTURE
Ирина Михайловна СПИВАК / Irina SPIVAK | Арина Сергеевна УРАЗОВА / Arina URAZOVA | Андрей Генрихович ЗАХАРЧУК / Andrey ZAKHARCHUK | Дмитрий Леонидович СПИВАК / Dimitry SPIVAK | Восприятие традиционной \ нетрадиционной музыки и его воздействие на ожидаемую продолжительность жизни: предварительное сообщение. Статья 1. Длина теломер / Perception of Traditional \ Non-traditional Music and its Influence upon Life Expectancy: Preliminary Report. Article 1: Telomere Length |
course consisted in listening to the music of a definite type for 2 weeks, 90 minutes a day. Each subject was examined twice, e.g. prior to the course, and right after it. Psychological survey comprised 6 questionnaires, revealing levels of mood and neuroticization, levels of activation basic psychological defense mechanisms and strategies of stress coping, intrinsic religiosity, and features of altered states of consciousness, temporarily induced in the service of the ego. Details of biography and of anamnesis were registered simultaneously. In each case, samples of blood (5 ml) were taken, which allowed us to conduct study of molecular biological correlates of the psychological shifts, at the level of such stress markers as telomere length, and telomerase activity, often regarded as predictors of life expectancy. In processing the samples, contemporary hi-tech methodologies were applied, primarily real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (PCR) by R.Cawthon. As a result, telomere length was proved
to increase in the case of the subgroup which passed a course of traditional music, and to fall in the case of the control subgroup. The difference between them was statistically significant. The 'non-traditional' subgroup proved to occupy intermediate position between the 'traditional' one, and the control subgroup; no statistically significant differences were found in this case. As a result, perception of 'traditional' music was tentatively linked to stress reduction, and to an increase in life expectancy. This major shift was most possibly supported by general decrease of tension of such primitive strategies of coping with stress as avoidance, and confrontation. Judging by absolute values, these psychological shifts took place in the intervals which were proper for norms. At the same time they were statistically significant.
200
Key words: perception of music, cultural heritage, telomere length, stress reduction, life expectancy.
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БИОГРАФИЯ КАК ФЕНОМЕН КУЛЬТУРЫ / THE PHENOMENON OF BIOGRAPHY IN CULTURE
Ирина Михайловна СПИВАК / Irina SPIVAK | Арина Сергеевна УРАЗОВА / Arina URAZOVA | Андрей Генрихович ЗАХАРЧУК / Andrey ZAKHARCHUK | Дмитрий Леонидович СПИВАК / Dimitry SPIVAK | Восприятие традиционной \ нетрадиционной музыки и его воздействие на ожидаемую продолжительность жизни: предварительное сообщение. Статья 1. Длина теломер / Perception of Traditional \ Non-traditional Music and its Influence upon Life Expectancy: Preliminary Report. Article 1: Telomere Length |
Systematic description of psychological aspects of music perception and of its correlates upon various levels of human psyche and of the organism as a whole forms the subject of a long-term program of fundamental interdisciplinary studies conducted by our research team, under the general guidance of D. L. Spivak, basing on the facilities of the Heritage Institute in Moscow, Russia, and Human Brain Institute in St.Petersburg, Russia. Basic results of the previous stage of our research were already presented to the scientific audience as a series of papers at the International Journal of Cultural Research1. It was dedicated to psychological aspects of music perception, primarily at the level of neuroticization and psychological defense mechanisms, and to its brain correlates, at the level of both the EEG bandpass, and the ultraslow one - that is, to both of the basic 'languages of the brain'. The main task of the present series of papers consists in expanding this study to the molecular biological level.
Conceptual notions of our research were already presented at the aforementioned papers. They would not be reiterated here. However we wish to reaffirm that inner structure and inner regularities are regarded by us as absolutely essential for culture: outer influences and factors are definitely of minor and secondary importance for it2. At the same time, culture is
1 Spivak D.L., Pustoshkin E.A., Khesina A.A., Zakharchuk A.G., Spivak I.M. Psychological Effects of Perception of Traditional / Non-traditional Music and their Brain Correlates. Article 1: Psychological Effects | // International Journal of Cultural Research, 2016, No.1 (22), p.142-155; Spivak D.L., Shemyakina N.V., Nagornova Z.V., Pustoshkin E.A., Zakharchuk A.G., Spivak I.M. Psychological Effects of Perception of Traditional / Non-traditional Music and their Brain Correlates. Article 2: Brain Correlates // International Journal of Cultural Research, 2016, No.2 (23), p.159-169.
2 This viewpoint is associated primarily with the classical works of F.Boas and his scientific school of cultural anthropology. To cite one of his students, culture is a "domain with ordering principles and laws that could not be ex-
rooted at the human psyche, which in its turn is based at the brain and the organism as a whole. The corresponding network of multilevel connections has been formed as part of a long evolutionary process. Study of these connections is able to complement the study of inner regularities of culture in a most constructive
3
way .
Being fully aware of the importance of cognitive and communicative functions of culture, we would focus our research at this stage upon its adaptive function, which is absolutely basic for it, in the most literal sense of this term. As we have stated earlier, such research strategy belongs to an influential trend in Russian cultural studies4. In a wider perspective, it prolongs a most constructive intuition of a classic of present-day cultural studies, Leslie White, who tended to shift his interest from the symbolic functions of culture 201 to the adaptive one, at the later stages of his work5.
The group studied by us consisted of 65 normal, young (aged 19-26 years), Russian-speaking Ss, mostly students of universities or, institutes based in St.Petersburg, Russia. It was divided into three sub-
plained by or reduced to biology" (Kroeber A.L. The Super-
organic // American Anthropologist, New Series, 1917, Vol. 19, No.2, p. 163-213).
3 In present-day science this research strategy is currently regarded primarily in the context of the so-called mind-body problem, see Young R.M. The Mind-Body problem // Companion to the History of Modern Science. London / NY, Taylor and Francis, 1996, pp. 702-711.
4 For parallels see: Danilenko O.I. Individuality in Context of Culture. Psychology of Mental Health. St.Petersburg, St.Petersburg State Universiy, 2008, p.126-128 (in the context of cultural psychology); Fundamentals in Culturology / Ed. by I.M.Bychovskaya. Moscow, Editorial URSS, 2005, p. 443-444 (in the context of cultural studies) (both in Russian).
5 White L.A. Energy and the Evolution of Culture // American Anthropologist, 1943, Vol.45, No.3, p.335-356. For parallels in the Western tradition, see a most constructive review: Croom A. Music, Neuroscience, and the Psychology of Well-being: a Précis // Frontiers in Psychology, 2012 // http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00393.
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БИОГРАФИЯ КАК ФЕНОМЕН КУЛЬТУРЫ / THE PHENOMENON OF BIOGRAPHY IN CULTURE
Ирина Михайловна СПИВАК / Irina SPIVAK | Арина Сергеевна УРАЗОВА / Arina URAZOVA | Андрей Генрихович ЗАХАРЧУК / Andrey ZAKHARCHUK | Дмитрий Леонидович СПИВАК / Dimitry SPIVAK | Восприятие традиционной \ нетрадиционной музыки и его воздействие на ожидаемую продолжительность жизни: предварительное сообщение. Статья 1. Длина теломер / Perception of Traditional \ Non-traditional Music and its Influence upon Life Expectancy: Preliminary Report. Article 1: Telomere Length |
groups, roughly equal in number, all of which passed a music course, for two weeks, 90 minutes each day. In case of each subgroup, all of it listened to a music of a definite type, being seated altogether in an especially equipped studio, at the premises of Human Brain Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences in St.Petersburg, Russia.
In one case (subgroup 2), our Ss listened to light classical music, recommended by Centre of Rehabilitation Medicine of the Federal Ministry of Health of Russia, for means of 'stress reduction, relaxation, and healing'6. Another subgroup (subgroup 3) listened to music which was sharply different in both key and timbre from that of subgroup 2. The recordings applied in this case were produced in the laboratories of the iAwake Technologies company in the USA, basing on the general approach elaborated by an outstanding expert in this field, E.Thompson7. Combining quite different traditions and techniques, recordings provided by the iAwake Technologies are aimed at activating healing mechanisms of the human psyche and body; they can be either relaxing or, activating or, both8. Thus subgroup 2 listened to music which formed part of the cultural heritage of its members, in the most general sense of this word; as to subgroup 3, the situation was opposite.
Subgroup 1 was envisaged to serve for control. Thus it had to listen to sounds which preferably would not belong to music, and which would be neutral to the dichotomy 'cultural tradition - cultural innovation'. At the same time, they had to sound fairly common for every member of the subgroup 1. Thus we have chosen sounds of living nature, as they complied to all of these
6 Ocean of Love. An MP3 collection / © «Healing Music». Moscow, Diskart RU, s.a. (audiorecordings certified by the Russian Academy of Pedagogy in 2007).
7 The authors are grateful to E.Thompson for having kindly provided recordings for this part of our research.
8 For more detailed information, see the web site of the
iAwake Technologies: http://www.iawaketechnologies.com.
requirements9. This choice of ours has been quite novel for studies of this kind10.
We would also like to notice that our group comprised no professional musicians. The majority of our SS have not even graduated from a music college, which is quite often in Russia. In fact, only 10 respondents out of 65 have got this kind of education certificate. However the majority of our Ss reported that they felt quite positive about music, and even tended to listen to some kind of music recordings now and then. In this way our group was quite representative of the population of Russian urban dwellers in principle, concerning both their musical background, and their general relation to music.
Prior to our study, each subject underwent a brief examination of a professional physician, filled in the set of our psychological questionnaires, passed a 202 neurophysiological examination, and finally a 5 ml blood sample was taken. The same procedure was reiterated right after the end of the two week-long music course, which allowed us to make a formal comparison between two subsequent states, divided by the music course. In this way, the basic hypothesis of our study was tested. It consisted in the supposition that both higher psychological processes, and the lower ones, belonging to different levels of organism, are not only involved into the perception of music, but that this involvement tends to be qualitatively different, depend-
9 Recordings recommended by the aforementioned centre of the Federal Ministry of Health, were applied in our research, cf. Sounds of Nature. Collection / © 'Healing Music". Moscow, CD Club, s.a. (audiodisc, copyright 2007); A Walk in the Forest / © 'Healing Music'. Moscow, CD Club, s.a. (au-diodisc, copyright 2007) (both in Russian).
10 Environmental sounds are now and then used in studies of music perception, especially in the neurophysiological ones. However they usually do not serve as the reference point, as in the case of our study, cf. Altenmuller E., Schurmann K., Lim V., Parlitz D. Hits to the Left, Flops to the Right: Different Emotions during Listening to Music are Reflected in Cortical Lateralisation Patterns // Neuropsychologic 2002, Vol.40, p. 2245.
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БИОГРАФИЯ КАК ФЕНОМЕН КУЛЬТУРЫ / THE PHENOMENON OF BIOGRAPHY IN CULTURE
Ирина Михайловна СПИВАК / Irina SPIVAK | Арина Сергеевна УРАЗОВА / Arina URAZOVA | Андрей Генрихович ЗАХАРЧУК / Andrey ZAKHARCHUK | Дмитрий Леонидович СПИВАК / Dimitry SPIVAK | Восприятие традиционной \ нетрадиционной музыки и его воздействие на ожидаемую продолжительность жизни: предварительное сообщение. Статья 1. Длина теломер / Perception of Traditional \ Non-traditional Music and its Influence upon Life Expectancy: Preliminary Report. Article 1: Telomere Length |
ing primarily on whether the musical text is traditional or, non-traditional.
The objective of the present paper consists in testing the basic hypothesis of our interdisciplinary research at the molecular biological level. To speak in practical terms, we intend to link in this paper the perception of music of different types, and dynamics of predictors of life expectancy. Admitting that this formulation tends to sound somewhat unusual, we wish to regard now briefly two major phenomena in the contemporary ageing studies, namely telomeres and te-lomerase.
Telomeres are repetitive nucleotide sequences situated at the edge parts (termini) of the chromosomes, which are the main bearers of the human heredity. Each cell division, which tends to occur regularly, is accompanied by telomere shortening, which protects in this way genes from being truncated. This process, known to the contemporary molecular biology as incomplete replication, is currently regarded as one of the main factors of biological ageing.
Too swift shortening of the telomere length would have conditioned too rapid ageing of the cell and, finally, of the whole of the organism. To counteract it, there exists at least one mechanism at the cell level, which is supported by a special enzyme called telomerase. The rate of activity of this enzyme tends to rise in certain conditions (as part of the so-called reverse transcription mechanism), allowing telomeres to withhold their lengths or, even to increase it.
Having elaborated the notions of telomere length and telomerase activity, present-day science has acquired a rather effective tool to formally measure the pace of the ageing process and, even more, life expectancy. The next move consisted quite logically in the detection of factors enhancing the aforementioned pace, and those impeding it. By the middle of the previous decade, life stress, arising in hopeless situations, was proved to inhibit telomerase activity and, as a result, to condition telomere shortening. Accelerated
ageing and reduced life expectancy form a predictable result of such stress, as it may be often seen in everyday life, for instance, in case of relatives of far gone chronic patients, who've got to take care of them on daily basis, without any hope of improvement11.
Theoretical possibility of a reverse process, i.e. increasing telomerase activity, and stabilizing or, even, increasing telomere length, has also been regarded in the contemporary research. Lifestyle changes, including a whole range of psychosomatic practices, from healthier diet to measured physical training, were proved to enhance dynamics of this kind, most possibly resulting in overall increase in life expectancy12.
The realm briefly described here tends to remain in fact rather fragmentary for now, mostly due to the fact of its relative novelty. One could remind here that C. Greider, E. Blackburn and J. Szostak were 203 awarded Nobel Prize for discovery of the mechanism of reverse transcription as late as in 200913. The bulk of notions and of regularities acquired by now is in fact much more complex and contradictory than it might
11 Epel E.S., Blackburn E.H., Lin J. et al. Accelerated Telomere Shortening in Response to Life Stress // Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 2004, Vol.101, p. 17312-17315. For a review of intermediate results of research of this realm cf. Lansdorp P.M. Stress, Social Rank and Leukocyte Telomere Length // Aging Cell, 2006, Vol.5, p. 583-584, and our recent literature review:: Bernadotte A., Mikhelson V.M., Spivak I.M. Markers of Senescence. Telomere Shortening as a Marker of Cellular Senescence // Aging, 2016, Vol.8, No.1, p.3-11.
12 For an example of telomerase activation, see Ornish D., Lin J., Daubenmier J. et al. Increased Telomerase Activity and Comprehensive Lifestyle Changes: a Pilot Study // Lancet Oncology, 2008, Vol.9, No.11, p.1048-1057; for increase in telomere length, cf. Puterman E., Lin J., Blackburn E. et al. The Power of Exercise: Buffering the Effect of Chronic Stress on Telomere Length // PLOS ONE, 2010, Vol.5, № 5, e1837.
13 For an introductory monograph, co-authored by one of the aforementioned scientists, cf.: Blackburn E., Epel E. The Telomere Effect: a Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier, Longer. NY, Grand Central Publishing, 2017, especially see Part 1, chapters 2-3.
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БИОГРАФИЯ КАК ФЕНОМЕН КУЛЬТУРЫ / THE PHENOMENON OF BIOGRAPHY IN CULTURE
Ирина Михайловна СПИВАК / Irina SPIVAK | Арина Сергеевна УРАЗОВА / Arina URAZOVA | Андрей Генрихович ЗАХАРЧУК / Andrey ZAKHARCHUK | Дмитрий Леонидович СПИВАК / Dimitry SPIVAK | Восприятие традиционной \ нетрадиционной музыки и его воздействие на ожидаемую продолжительность жизни: предварительное сообщение. Статья 1. Длина теломер / Perception of Traditional \ Non-traditional Music and its Influence upon Life Expectancy: Preliminary Report. Article 1: Telomere Length |
seem at first glance. A reader interested in finding a more detailed introduction into the field, could consult a recent review of ours14.
At the same time, it seems obvious by now that telomere length and telomerase activity are to serve as indispensable tools in studying ageing and longevity, even if their connection to life expectancy is by no means direct, and if they are not the only factors by far which are having to do with its enhancement15.
Dynamics of the predictors of ageing and life expectancy as a result of passing a music course were studied by us basing on the facilities of the Institute of Cytology, Russian Academy of Sciences in St.Petersburg, Russia. A range of contemporary methodologies of molecular biological analysis were applied, primarily real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (PCR)16. Telomere length prior to onset of the music course was defined as mean value of its two independent measurements. The same procedure was applied to define telomere length after the music course. Finally, difference of these two mean values was calculated, serving as an assessment of telomere length alteration as a result of passing the music course.
The difference was regarded as significant if it exceeded the threshold of 30 base pairs (bp). As a result, each subject was classified as member of either a subgroup with significant increase in telomere length
14 Spivak I.M., Mikhelson V.M., Spivak D.L. Telomere Length, Telomerase Activity, Stress, and Aging // Advances in Gerontology, 2016, Vol.6, No.1, pp. 29-35).
15 For a full list of the aforementioned factors, detected by now, see: Anisimov V.N. Molecular and Biological Mechanisms of Ageing. St.Petersburg, Nauka Publishers, 2003 (especially cf. Table 1, Introduction; and also Chapter 3) (in Russian).
16 For details, cf. Cawthon R.M. Telomere Measurement by Quantitative PCR // Nucleic Acids Research, 2002, Vol.30, No.10, e47; O'Callaghan N.J., Dhillon V.S., Thomas P., Fenech M. A Quantitative Real-time PCR Method for Absolute Telomere Length // Biotechniques, 2008, Vol.44, No.6, p.807-809.
(exceeding the threshold of 30 bp); or, significant decline in the telomere length (exceeding the same threshold); or, finally, as a member of subgroup characterized by no statistically significant alteration of telomere length (in case if the difference did not exceed the aforementioned threshold of 30 bp).
Having processed our materials according to the methodology briefly described above, we got the result presented at Figure 1. The essence of the result seems to be quite clear: passing a course of traditional music enhances an increase in telomere length and, correspondingly, in life expectancy. In the case of the control group, the effect was reverse. As to the subgroup of subjects who passed a course of non-traditional music, their result proved to be intermediate between the traditional subgroup, and the control one.
Basing on this result, one can suppose that the 204 perception of a traditional musical text involves at least some processes belonging to the molecular biological level which are qualitatively different from those involved into the perception of non-traditional musical text. These processes include qualitative shifts of telomere length, which are in their turn most probably linked to the life expectancy.
Figure 1. Alteration of telomere length as a result of
passing a music course of a certain type
Abbreviations. Abscissa axis - subgroups: 1 -course of 'nature sounds', 2 - course of traditional music, 3 - course of non-traditional music. Ordinata axis
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БИОГРАФИЯ КАК ФЕНОМЕН КУЛЬТУРЫ / THE PHENOMENON OF BIOGRAPHY IN CULTURE
Ирина Михайловна СПИВАК / Irina SPIVAK | Арина Сергеевна УРАЗОВА / Arina URAZOVA | Андрей Генрихович ЗАХАРЧУК / Andrey ZAKHARCHUK | Дмитрий Леонидович СПИВАК / Dimitry SPIVAK | Восприятие традиционной \ нетрадиционной музыки и его воздействие на ожидаемую продолжительность жизни: предварительное сообщение. Статья 1. Длина теломер / Perception of Traditional \ Non-traditional Music and its Influence upon Life Expectancy: Preliminary Report. Article 1: Telomere Length |
- number of respondents. Colours and codes of histograms - blue: increase in telomere length (L), red: no significant difference (N), yellow: decline of telomere length (S). Measurement error did not exceed 0.05 in all cases.
Using above the term 'qualitative shifts', we have in fact expressed nothing more than an assumption which is still to be proved by means of formal analysis of the data. For results of such analysis, see Table 1. As shown by its data, the increase in telomere length registered by us in the case of the subgroup which passed a course of traditional music, is absolutely statistically significant, in comparison with the control subgroup. As to the non-traditional subgroup, its data remained ambivalent, not being qualitatively different either from those of the traditional subgroup or, of the control one. Thus the general regularity, concerning the telomere length, presented by Figure 1, has been proved by data of Table 1.
Table 1. Assessment of statistical significance of telomere length alteration in subgroups which passed music course of different types
Index / P-value P-value by Dunn test (with Sidak correction for three comparisons by pairs) P-value by Kruskal-Wallis test
Comparison 'control subgroup -non- traditional subgroup' Comparison 'control subgroup -traditional subgroup' Comparison 'traditional subgroup -non- traditional subgroup'
Shift in telomere length 0.45 0.02* 0.13 0.03*
test with Sidak correction of p-values for multiple comparisons), and of the Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric criterion. Statistically significant results (at the level of 0.05) are marked by red colour and an asterisk (*).
Basing on literary data, one may suppose that members of the traditional subgroup did not experience stress, and that their impressions were mostly positive. This assumption of ours is corroborated by psychological characteristics of our group. As we have stated above, a number of psychological questionnaires was conducted simultaneously, primarily aimed at assessing the level of stress, and of the level of activation of stress coping strategies. Corresponding data are presented at Table 2. As shown by it, there was no statistically significant difference between the three subgroups prior to passing the music course.
As a result of passing the course, the level of neuroticization of all our subgroups did not shift radically 17. However due to definite micro-shifts, the difference between subgroups 2 and 3 became statistically significant: the former subgroup shifted a little towards neuroticization, the latter one somewhat farther from it. Application of a more intensive music technology would allow us to detect in future whether the micro-shifts of this kind pointed at the directions of further development or, presented no more than artefacts.
205
Abbreviations. Assessments of the statistical reliability of differences between the three subgroups (control, non-traditional music, traditional music) is presented, by means of the post hoc analysis by Dunn
17 Two basic statistical criteria were applied by us in this case, as one of them (Friedman criterion) is applicable in the case of dependent samples, while the other one (Kruskal-Wallis criterion) is applicable in the case of independent samples.
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БИОГРАФИЯ КАК ФЕНОМЕН КУЛЬТУРЫ / THE PHENOMENON OF BIOGRAPHY IN CULTURE
Ирина Михайловна СПИВАК / Irina SPIVAK | Арина Сергеевна УРАЗОВА / Arina URAZOVA | Андрей Генрихович ЗАХАРЧУК / Andrey ZAKHARCHUK | Дмитрий Леонидович СПИВАК / Dimitry SPIVAK | Восприятие традиционной \ нетрадиционной музыки и его воздействие на ожидаемую продолжительность жизни: предварительное сообщение. Статья 1. Длина теломер / Perception of Traditional \ Non-traditional Music and its Influence upon Life Expectancy: Preliminary Report. Article 1: Telomere Length |
Table 2. Mean levels of neuroticization of subgroups which passed music course of different types
Subgroup /Index М.1 Sd.1 М.2 Sd.2 n p.FC
1 32.50 47.05 23.65 46.43 20 0.16
2 23.95 40.91 18.10 42.29 20 0.37
3 46.91 48.84 51.50 38.26 22 1.00
p.KWC 0.27 0.03*
Abbreviations: М.1 - mean value of the index of neuroticization for each subgroup prior to passing the music course, М.2 - mean value of the index of neuroticization for each subgroup after passing the music course, Sd.1 - standard deviation of corresponding data before the course, Sd2 - standard deviation of corresponding data after the course, n - sample size, p.FC - probability confidence level by Friedman criterion, p.KWC - probability confidence level by Kruskal-Wallis criterion. Statistically significant result (at the level of 0.05) is marked by red colour and by an asterisk (*).
Having formulated this thesis, one has to admit that the absolute value of all indices of neuroticization cited in Table 2 belong to the interval which is defined by the authors of the questionnaire as quite near to normal18. This fact corresponds to the general design of our experiment: listening to quite music for two hours a day did not impose any real loading upon our
Ss, who belonged to a generation which tends to live its everyday life without taking the earphones with rock or, pop music from their ears. What we intended to register was just micro-shifts imposed by a definite kind of musical trecks, and we have in fact succeeded in finding them. As a result of such micro-shifts, taken in opposite directions, the level of neuroticization, which had been practically the same for members of all subgroups in the beginning of the experiment, shifted so that a statistically significant difference appeared, and was registered.
A similar kind of minor shifts bringing nevertheless to differences which are statistically significant has been registered by us in the cases of other psychological processes as well. As an example, two strategies of stress coping would be cited below, namely avoidance and confrontation. Both strategies seem to be quite primitive, especially compared to such complex strategies as acquisition of social support or, intellectual reassessment. Both are normally acquired at an early stage of ontogenesis, and both have distinct structural parallels in the philogenetic development ('hit or flee' strategy).
Regarding the data of Table 3, we see that the level of activation of the avoidance strategy tends to fall in the case of the traditional subgroup (2), and to rise in the case of the control subgroup (1). This means that the subgroup which passed a course of traditional music became relaxed enough to allow a most primitive and basic strategy to calm down, which normally testifies to stress reduction or, the absence of stress. The opposite was true for control group, while the non-traditional one proved to be intermediate between the two others.
206
18 For details, see: Iovlev B.V., Karpova E.B., Vuks A.Y. Scale for Psychological Express Diagnostics of Neuroticization Level (NL). St.Petersburg, V.M.Bekhterev Psychoneurological Institute, 1999, p.19-34 (in Russian).
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БИОГРАФИЯ КАК ФЕНОМЕН КУЛЬТУРЫ / THE PHENOMENON OF BIOGRAPHY IN CULTURE
Ирина Михайловна СПИВАК / Irina SPIVAK | Арина Сергеевна УРАЗОВА / Arina URAZOVA | Андрей Генрихович ЗАХАРЧУК / Andrey ZAKHARCHUK | Дмитрий Леонидович СПИВАК / Dimitry SPIVAK | Восприятие традиционной \ нетрадиционной музыки и его воздействие на ожидаемую продолжительность жизни: предварительное сообщение. Статья 1. Длина теломер / Perception of Traditional \ Non-traditional Music and its Influence upon Life Expectancy: Preliminary Report. Article 1: Telomere Length |
Table 3. Mean levels of activation of the avoidance coping strategy as a result of passing a music course of different types
Table 4. Mean levels of activation of the confrontation coping strategy as a result of passing a music course of different types
Subgroup / Index M.1 Sd.1 M.2 Sd.2 n p.FC
1 55.45 8.21 56.35 9.22 20 0.64
2 50.40 12.09 48.15 11.60 20 0.47
3 51.23 6.80 49.18 9.19 22 0.25
p. KWC 0.29 0.03*
Subgroup / Index M.1 Sd.1 M.2 Sd.2 n p. FC
1 52.75 7.33 53.95 8.41 20 0.13
2 49.40 10.65 48.20 11.75 20 0.32
3 49.05 11.55 47.73 10.39 22 0.83
p. KWC 0.54 0.06*
Abbreviations: M.1 - mean value of the index of activation of the avoidance coping strategy, prior to passing the music course, M.2 - mean value of the index of activation of the avoidance coping strategy, for each subgroup after passing the music course, Sd. 1 -standard deviation of corresponding data before the course, Sd2 - standard deviation of corresponding data after the course, n - sample size, p.FC - probability confidence level by Friedman criterion, p.KWC -probability confidence level by Kruskal-Wallis criterion. Statistically significant result (at the level of 0.05) is marked by red colour and by an asterisk (*).
The data on the confrontation coping strategy are presented in Table 4. The same kind of process may be registered here: difference between the three subgroups which is insignificant prior to the music course, becomes practically significant in statistical terms after it (we say 'practically', because the value of the corresponding index, marked by an asterisk in Table 4, somewhat exceeds the threshold of 0.05, which is quite acceptable in psychological measurements of this kind). As shown by Table 4, confrontation index falls in the case of the traditional subgroup, which testifies in favor of stress reduction or, absence; the opposite is true for control subgroup.
207
Abbreviations: M.1 - mean value of the index of activation of the confrontation coping strategy, prior to passing the music course, M.2 - mean value of the index of activation of the confrontation coping strategy, 207 for each subgroup after passing the music course, Sd. 1 - standard deviation of corresponding data before the course, Sd.2 - standard deviation of corresponding data after the course, n - sample size, p.FC - probability confidence level by Friedman criterion, p.KWC -probability confidence level by Kruskal-Wallis criterion. Statistically essential result (at the level of 0.05) is marked by red colour and by an asterisk (*).
As stated by the authors of the methodology of assessment of the level of activation of coping strategies, which was applied in our research, absolute values from 40 to 60 points should be interpreted as moderate alteration of the level of activation of the corresponding strategy19. This means that practically all indices registered in Tables 3 and 4 present a general state of stress coping mechanisms which should be regarded as more or less calm (that is, normal). Statistically significant differences were acquired due to mi-
19 For details, cf. Wasserman L.I., Ababkov V.A., Trifono-va E. A. Stress Coping: Theory and Psychodiagnostics. St.Petersburg, Rech Publishers, 2010, p.137 (in Russian).
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БИОГРАФИЯ КАК ФЕНОМЕН КУЛЬТУРЫ / THE PHENOMENON OF BIOGRAPHY IN CULTURE
Ирина Михайловна СПИВАК / Irina SPIVAK | Арина Сергеевна УРАЗОВА / Arina URAZOVA | Андрей Генрихович ЗАХАРЧУК / Andrey ZAKHARCHUK | Дмитрий Леонидович СПИВАК / Dimitry SPIVAK | Восприятие традиционной \ нетрадиционной музыки и его воздействие на ожидаемую продолжительность жизни: предварительное сообщение. Статья 1. Длина теломер / Perception of Traditional \ Non-traditional Music and its Influence upon Life Expectancy: Preliminary Report. Article 1: Telomere Length |
nor shifts which were registered by our questionnaires. However these tendencies corroborate in a most persuasive way the main conclusion of the molecular biological part of our research, namely reduction or, absence of stress as a result of passing a course of traditional music, and its intensification in the case of other subgroups.
Regarding the possible cause of the stress mentioned above, one could suppose that it could be either quite simple or, rather sophisticated. In the former case, the stress could arise as a simple reaction of displeasure triggered by a flow of unusual and/or unpleasant sound stimuli. In the latter one, unusual stimuli could initiate the process of active restructuring of the patterns of sound perception, forming part of creative behavior, which could in its turn provide impetus for restructuring psychological attitudes as a whole. In the former case, stress would be destructive; in the latter one, constructive.
A range of more or less differing interpretations from those exposed above could also be quite possible. There is also no doubt that the effect demonstrated by us is most possibly short-term, that is, limited by several days immediately following the course. Exploring this set of problems forms subject of a separate research program, already initiated by us, which would be presented in a separate publication.
One has to admit that regarding a single predictor of life expectancy, even being as important as telomere length, would not be enough to draw a definitive conclusion. This is why we would pass on to
regarding another predictor, i.e. telomerase activity, in the next report, in order to link these with those concerning the telomere length, in order to get a joint interpretation.
To conclude the present report, our preliminary conclusions will be tentatively formulated:
1. Perception of music of different types, as well as of sounds of nature, seems to affect and possibly to involve some essential structures of the molecular biological level, primarily alteration of telomere length;
2. Perception of music which is traditional for the subjects conditions an increase in telomere length, which is linked to stress reduction and, most possibly, to increase in life expectancy. The opposite is characteristic for the perception of both the non-traditional 208 music, and of sounds of nature.
Ackn owledgem ents
The authors are grateful to V. V. Aristarkhov, who has initiated this study, and to S. V. Medvedev, A. S. Mironov, and E. V. Bakhrevsky, who have supported it.
The authors would also wish to thank psychologist E. A. Pustoshkin who undertook the task of selecting non-traditional musical treks, acting in contact with the American psychologist E. Thompson; and mathematician A. A. Mamonov who conducted statistical processing of the molecular biological data.
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