"Expert musical improvisations contain sequencing biases seen in language production": Correction to Beaty et al. (2021).

Abstract

Reports an error in "Expert musical improvisations contain sequencing biases seen in language production" by Roger E. Beaty, Klaus Frieler, Martin Norgaard, Hannah M. Merseal, Maryellen C. MacDonald and Daniel J. Weiss (Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 2022[Apr], Vol 151[4], 912-920). In the article, the supplemental materials link on the first page of the article should not appear, as the supplemental materials are available only via the Open Science Framework link that is noted at the end of the first paragraph of the Method section. The online version of this article has been corrected. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2022-07928-001.) Language production involves action sequencing to produce fluent speech in real time, placing a computational burden on working memory that leads to sequencing biases in production. Here we examine whether these biases extend beyond language to constrain one of the most complex human behaviors: music improvisation. Using a large corpus of improvised solos from eminent jazz musicians, we test for a production bias observed in language termed easy first-a tendency for more accessible sequences to occur at the beginning of a phrase, allowing incremental planning later in the same phrase. Our analysis shows consistent evidence of easy first in improvised music, with the beginning of musical phrases containing both more frequent and less complex sequences. The findings indicate that expert jazz musicians, known for spontaneous creative performance, reliably retrieve easily accessed melodic sequences before creating more complex sequences, suggesting that a domain-general sequencing system may support multiple forms of complex human behavior, from language production to music improvisation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).