Reaction time and musical expectancy: Priming of chords with no partials in common

Abstract

Subjects were presented with two musical chords in succession, called the prime and target, respectively. The prime and target were either related (e.g., C and D major, respectively, sharing a parent key) or unrelated (e.g., C and F♯ major, respectively, sharing no parent key). Subjects judged, as quickly as possible, whether the target was in tune or out of tune. Response times for in‐tune targets were faster when prime and target were related than when they were unrelated, suggesting that the prime generated expectancies for related targets. Priming occurred even when prime and target shared no partials. These results suggest that chordal expectancies generated by a musical context are not due solely to priming at the level of individual frequencies, but also involve priming at a more abstract level of chord function, implicating a cognitive representation of chord relationships. A network model of chord relationships is proposed whereby chord nodes activate related chord nodes via links to their parent key nodes.