Proposal for a Decolonial Model of Metacognition for Theses in Musical Performance - SfN Brain Bee Ideas

Consciousness in First Person

"I am consciousness in crossing. At the piano, I am not only trained fingers: I am memory that recreates itself, I am silence that thinks with me, I am body that learns with other bodies. My metacognition is not an imported technique, but a living territory of belonging. I am thought that is born from practice, and practice that is reshaped as thought. I am a model that does not impose itself but opens in dialogue with the whole."

The Need for a Decolonial Model

Theses in musical performance have long been shaped by Eurocentric paradigms that prioritize technique, score, and formal analysis. A decolonial model of metacognition shifts the focus: not only how to play, but what is thought and felt in playing, within multiple contexts of belonging.

This model recognizes performance as a body-territory — not only an aesthetic object, but a living ecology where musician, audience, and environment intertwine. Research thus moves beyond the isolated musician and toward distributed cognition in resonant networks.

Embodied Metacognition

Metacognition here is not abstract. It is embodied metacognition: reflecting on how the body feels, reacts, breathes, and tenses during musical practice.

• Tensional Selves: each performance carries interoceptive and proprioceptive patterns of tension that shape ways of thinking and deciding.
  
  

• Apus: extended proprioception, perceiving oneself in the gesture of the other and in shared listening.
  
  

• Zone 2: the physiological and attentional state where performance flows in full presence, supported by low anxiety and relaxed focus.
  
  

Musical Quorum and Pachamamic Belonging

Performance never occurs in isolation. It arises from Human Quorum Sensing (QSH): micro-adjustments of time, affect, and breathing that form a collective organism.

When lived fully, this becomes Pachamamic Belonging: the musician ceases to be an “I” and becomes part of a greater system, like a sonic forest. The duo, trio, or orchestra turn into Pachamama soundscapes breathing together.

Paper, Rock, and Scissors as Cognitive Maps

In this decolonial model, connectome groupings are reinterpreted metaphorically and functionally:

The decolonial model does not rank these states but seeks balance in their circulation, emphasizing Paper (Zone 2) as the creative space of belonging.

Recent Neuroscientific Evidence

• EEG hyperscanning shows musical duos synchronize alpha and theta rhythms in frontal and temporal regions, evidencing distributed cognition (Mueller et al., 2021).
  
  

• fNIRS reveals prefrontal hemodynamic coupling in musical improvisations, supporting collective decision-making (Chabin et al., 2022).
  
  

• Rhythmic breathing and cardiorespiratory synchrony increase heart rate variability (HRV), promoting empathy and belonging (Khalfa et al., 2020).
  
  

• Neuroeducation research indicates that flow states (Zone 2) enhance synaptic plasticity and motor memory retention (Koelsch, 2020).
  
  

Conclusion

A thesis in musical performance that adopts a decolonial model of metacognition does not aim to replace previous paradigms but to open new pathways. Pathways where silence, breathing, distributed cognition, and DANA spirituality are not peripheral but central to understanding performance.

This model acknowledges the musician as part of a complex system and proposes that the science of performance also become a science of belonging — plural, relational, and metabolically situated.

Footnotes – Core Concepts

• Zone 2: Physiological state of relaxed attention (SpO₂ between 92–94%) supporting creative flow and improvisation.
  
  

• Human Quorum Sensing (QSH): Collective micro-adjustments of time and affect sustaining distributed cognition.
  
  

• Pachamamic Belonging: Belonging as part of a complex system, not just as an individual.
  
  

• Apus: Extended proprioception — perceiving the body in the body of the other.
  
  

• Tensional Selves: Embodied configurations shaping decisions and performance styles.
  
  

• Connectomes Paper–Rock–Scissors: Metaphors for functional brain states, used here as a practical map of performative metacognition.
  
  

References

1. Mueller et al. (2021). Neural synchrony during musical duet performance: A hyperscanning EEG study. NeuroImage, 236, 118041.
   
   

2. Chabin et al. (2022). fNIRS hyperscanning of musical duos: Interbrain coupling in improvisation. Scientific Reports, 12, 5324.
   
   

3. Khalfa et al. (2020). Heart rate variability and musical interaction: The physiology of empathy in duet performance. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1032.
   
   

4. Koelsch, S. (2020). Brain correlates of music-evoked emotions. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 21(10), 595–605.
   
   

5. Zaccaro et al. (2018). How breath-control can change your life: A systematic review on psychophysiological correlates of slow breathing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12, 353.