The bertsolari brain
The essence of bertsolarismo is to sing the word, to play with the word. But only a few have enough skills to do so. That is why the brains of bertsolaris have aroused a special curiosity among scholars. How are these brains different? This is being studied at the Basque Research Centre for Cognition, Brain and Speech.
The singer only has a few seconds from the moment he listens to the song until he begins to sing. To develop an idea, to look for the feet, to think about the end... the bertsolari’s brain has to work a lot and quickly. At this research centre in San Sebastián, the work of the brain is being studied.
When filmmaker Asier Altuna was preparing the documentary Bertsolari, he came to BCBL together with Andoni Egaña. They wanted to see what goes on in the brain when the verses are released. The special technique that Egaña has developed to store words in memory aroused the curiosity of the researchers.
MIGUEL AROCENA; BCBL Manager: In an interview with Andoni Egaña, he told us how he collects the words in that image of the margarita, where in each petal he collects different categories of words of the same rhyme. He's got a margarita for every rhyme. In the middle of the margarita, there are words that can be used in any situation; and in each petal, the words are arranged semantically: the petal of love, the petal of friends, the petal of work... Carreiras saw an opportunity there and said ‘concho, this has something
special’. KEPA PAZ-ALONSO; BCBL researcher: Throwing verses is more than just taking advantage of information retrieval techniques. But retrieving information is very important because one of the classic questions of cognitive neuroscience in language is how information is accumulated and how it is retrieved.
MANUEL CARREIRAS; Director of BCBL: We want to see the activations that occur in different areas of the brain according to the demands. They have to create octaves and coplas, and we want to see to what extent these processes are similar to those that occur in normal language production.
One of the objectives of the BCBL is to investigate the neurological mechanisms involved in language production. But seeing what happens in the brain is not an easy task. In order to obtain useful information, research must be carried out in a systematized manner. With the support of the
Bertsozale Association, 18 bertsolaris have been selected, among them Andoni Egaña himself, Maialen Lujanbio and Aitor Sarriegi. The choice has been difficult because everyone has to meet certain requirements, such as Basque being the mother tongue, or writing with the right hand. But all those who received the proposal said yes.
AITOR TOO OFTEN. From the bertsolari: We were asked if we would be willing to participate as guinea pigs in such a study. Not only did I not think twice, but I also took it with curiosity. I'm not saying I wanted to do this, but I didn't hesitate. In addition to the bertsolaris, two other groups are participating in this study: students from bertso schools and elderly Basques with no experience in bertsos.
KEPA PAZ-ALONSO; BCBL researcher: We have selected the groups according to the characteristics of the bertsolaris. It is very important to be paired between them in order to link the differences that we find to their skill in verse. Age, education, intelligence, the relationship with Basque in everyday life... must be the same.
In total, they must pass three tests. One of them studies cognitive functions: reasoning, speed of information processing, memory... It consists of sitting in front of the computer and doing some exercises. In the other tests, functional magnetic resonance is used. The goal is to observe the activations that occur in the brain during a certain exercise.
AITOR TOO OFTEN. From the bertsolari: The exercises were different: throwing lists of words with certain rhymes, throwing words that start with certain letters, throwing words from certain categories...
KEPA PAZ-ALONSO; researcher at BCBL: We believe that bertsolaris will be able to find more words under different conditions. We believe that bertsolaris use the same information search technique not only to find words with rhymes, but also to find words in the same semantic category. if they represent a daisy with words ending in ‘-ela’, there may be animals in it. They are practically using strategies to find words. Today, it is a hypothesis.
The final test will be conducted only by bertsolaris and students of bertsolaris. In fact, they have to lie down inside the scanner and shoot verses. they are offered 30 songs to sing in the coplata and the little octave.
A researcher in You're a sportsman. As a result of years of work, you have reached the highest level and become popular. Today, for the first time, a boy came to ask you for an autograph.
Aitor Sarriegi (inside the scanner):
I haven't had much luck in
my first life, because
I've always been in the
remnant of
others, and I'm happy to
confirm it as
a star, and that it's not the last.
KEPA PAZ-ALONSO; BCBL researcher: We study the activity of the brain while listening to the subject, preparing the verse, and pouring out the verse.
AITOR TOO OFTEN. From the bertsolari: Put the subject on. “Don’t think about it now.” Don’t think is too much to ask, once you know the subject! think about it and start singing.” In the end, it's the rhythms of the machine. It's an investigation, and you get it, but it gets weird because we're usually used to making these decisions.
MANUEL CARREIRAS; Director of BCBL: The production of the language must be done under special conditions. They form rhymes. As I've been told, they start at the end. The verse must make sense. They put the system in a special situation that makes them so interesting: the fact that a singular event of this type helps to clarify a universal phenomenon to the measure of discourse planning.
Although the participants are still testing, the researchers have already begun to process the information received so far. First, they will analyze the individual results and focus on the issues of interest. The teams will then be compared to each other. They will be working on it for almost a year. Researchers know from the beginning that, in addition to reaching interesting conclusions, this research will bring new questions.
AITOR TOO OFTEN. From the bertsolari: Some signs of scientific support... To have a little more knowledge of one’s brain is very attractive to me. I often don’t understand myself, and maybe it will help me!
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