Music Perception Research Articles

Musical Perception and Social Context in emotional memory consolidation

Musical Perception and Social Context in emotional memory consolidation

Construction of a Chinese traditional instrumental music dataset: A validated set of naturalistic affective music excerpts

Music is omnipresent among human cultures and moves us both physically and emotionally. The perception of emotions in music is influenced by both psychophysical and cultural factors. Chinese traditional instrumental music differs significantly from Western music in cultural origin and music elements. However, previous studies on music emotion perception are based almost exclusively on Western music. Therefore, the construction of a dataset of Chinese traditional instrumental music is important for exploring the perception of music emotions in the context of Chinese culture. The present dataset included 273 10-second naturalistic music excerpts. We provided rating data for each excerpt on ten variables: familiarity, dimensional emotions (valence and arousal), and discrete emotions (anger, gentleness, happiness, peacefulness, sadness, solemnness, and transcendence). The excerpts were rated by a total of 168 participants on a seven-point Likert scale for the ten variables. Three labels for the excerpts were obtained: familiarity, discrete emotion, and cluster. Our dataset demonstrates good reliability, and we believe it could contribute to cross-cultural studies on emotional responses to music.

Speech Puzzles (Spuzzles): Engaging the Reduced, Causal, and Semantic Listening Modes for Puzzle Design in Audio Games

This paper proposes a novel approach to audio game design by introducing the concept of speech puzzles (spuzzles) to describe the utilisation of recorded voice for the creation of audio puzzles in ways that challenge players’ different listening modes. In the fields of audio games and audio-interactive applications, speech serves instructive, descriptive, narrative, and in some cases—in the form of hints or quizzes—gameplay purposes by addressing users through language. The suggested approach of spuzzles extends this potential by including, besides encoded meaning, the acoustic properties of sound, thus engaging the user’s causal and reduced listening modes in parallel with the semantic listening mode. An audio game consisting of four inherently different spuzzles was designed as proof of concept and tested by seven third-year students of Audiovisual Arts, who elaborated on their experience through a focus group semi-structured discussion. Despite their difficulty, the spuzzles were well accepted by most of the participants (5/7), whereas all participants agreed on their acoustic richness, need for concentration, and independence from pre-existing musical knowledge. Therefore, the authors suggest that the proposed design approach could serve as a paradigm for future research in the design of complex audio-based game mechanics.

Do early musical impairments predict later reading difficulties? A longitudinal study of pre-readers with and without familial risk for dyslexia.

The present longitudinal study investigated the hypothesis that early musical skills (as measured by melodic and rhythmic perception and memory) predict later literacy development via a mediating effect of phonology. We examined 130 French-speaking children, 31 of whom with a familial risk for developmental dyslexia (DD). Their abilities in the three domains were assessed longitudinally with a comprehensive battery of behavioral tests in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade. Using a structural equation modeling approach, we examined potential longitudinal effects from music to literacy via phonology. We then investigated how familial risk for DD may influence these relationships by testing whether atypical music processing is a risk factor for DD. Results showed that children with a familial risk for DD consistently underperformed children without familial risk in music, phonology, and literacy. A small effect of musical ability on literacy via phonology was observed, but may have been induced by differences in stability across domains over time. Furthermore, early musical skills did not add significant predictive power to later literacy difficulties beyond phonological skills and family risk status. These findings are consistent with the idea that certain key auditory skills are shared between music and speech processing, and between DD and congenital amusia. However, they do not support the notion that music perception and memory skills can serve as a reliable early marker of DD, nor as a valuable target for reading remediation. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Music, phonology, and literacy skills of 130 children, 31 of whom with a familial risk for dyslexia, were examined longitudinally. Children with a familial risk for dyslexia consistently underperformed children without familial risk in musical, phonological, and literacy skills. Structural equation models showed a small effect of musical ability in kindergarten on literacy in second grade, via phonology in first grade. However, early musical skills did not add significant predictive power to later literacy difficulties beyond phonological skills and family risk status.

Music education and environmental education: a bibliographical research

The article is a research that aimed to collect and analyze scientific productions that focus on Musical Education and Environmental Education as related themes. It started with the following questions: What are the relationships between Musical Education and Environmental Education, expressed in scientific productions? To achieve the objectives, a qualitative approach was used as a methodology and bibliographical research as a method. Data were collected through Internet research and analyzed using content analysis. As a result, it was observed that the data collected from the articles refer to music as a “tool” for other objectives, and not as the main focus. The same happened when it came to Musical Education. The need for Musical Education to be understood in its intrinsic importance is understood, as musical knowledge is a right for all people.

Spanish translation and validation of the Music-Related Quality of Life Questionnaire (MuRQoL) in postlingually deaf cochlear implant users

PurposeThe aim of this study was to translate and validate the “Music-Related Quality of Life Questionnaire” into Spanish (sMuRQoL) and assess its convergent validity and discriminative capacity by comparing its scores with the outcomes of the musical perception test Meludia.MethodsThe sMuRQoL was completed by 129 patients: 55 cochlear implant (CI) users and 74 normal hearing (NH) individuals. Conducted in this study were an exploratory factor analysis, an evaluation of internal consistency, an assessment of score stability through test–retest reliability, a comparison of sMuRQoL scores between CI users and NH individuals and an examination of potential evidence of convergent validity and discriminative capacity of sMuRQoL in relation to other tools. This involved the comparison of the questionnaire scores with the Meludia outcomes.ResultsThe sMuRQoL demonstrated a two-dimensional structure. All the dimensions displayed high internal consistency (α = 0.879–0.945) and score stability (ICC = 0.890–0.942). There were significant differences in the Frequency test between NH and CI users (d = 1.19–1.45). There’s evidence of convergent validity between the scores of the Frequency test and the results of Meludia (r = 0.242–0.645). Additionally, the Frequency test demonstrate a good discriminative capacity to identify patients with poorer musical perception.ConclusionsThe sMuRQoL is a reliable questionnaire, with adequate evidence of validity based on internal structure. This study provides an accessible, cost-effective, and quick-to-administer instrument in Spanish, optimizing available healthcare resources and bringing us closer to the patient needs.

Policy in Chinese Music Education for Teenagers Compositional Knowledge: What is Musical Knowledge?

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Internal Listening and Musical Creativity: A Study of Brain Function

The relevance of the chosen research topic lies in the fact that inner listening plays a fundamental role in musical creativity and performance. In the context of contemporary music education and performance practice, there is a growing interest in understanding the processes that occur in the musician's brain during musical perception and recreation. This study aims to expand knowledge of the relationship between inner hearing, brain function and musical creativity. The aim of this paper is to study the influence of inner hearing on the process of musical creativity and to identify the neuroscientific mechanisms underlying this interaction. The object of the study is the inner hearing of musicians, and the subject is the relationship of inner hearing with musical creativity and brain functions. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the integrated approach to the study of inner hearing from the point of view of neuroscience and musical creativity, which allows us to update the ideas about the influence of inner hearing on musical activity. The structure of the thesis includes an introduction, two main chapters touching upon the key aspects of inner hearing and its connection with brain functions, as well as a conclusion summarizing the results of the research.

Reconciling the PSBG and CBM Models of Musical Processing: A Response to Schubert and Pearce

Schubert and Pearce (2016) contrast two modes of musical memory (more broadly, musical perception and cognition): the schematic and the veridical, which they formalise in terms of the Problem-Solving by Generalisation (PSBG) and Case-Based Memory (CBM) models, respectively. The former hypothesises the ab- straction of schematic categories as solutions to the processing of unfamiliar music, the latter the invocation of (sequentially concatenated segments of) a vast memory store of previously heard pieces as locally stored “keys” engaging with the relevant incoming “locks”. This article explores how these two models might be implemented neuronally, in terms of Calvin’s Hexagonal Cloning Theory (HCT), arguing that they can be explained as two related, indeed complementary, functions of the same un- derpinning mechanism. It also explores the cultural-evolutionary implications of the two models through the lens of memetics.

The Impact of Music Perception on Quantitative Sensory Testing (QST).

Objective: The impact of listening to music on pain perception has been evaluated using questionnaires and numeric/visual analogue scales. In this study, the impact of music perception on sensory pain functions was measured by means of quantitative sensory testing. Methods: We enrolled 10 female and 10 male healthy subjects (10 of them were professional musicians). All subjects underwent, in total, four quantitative sensory testing measures (first: baseline; second: after pleasant music [Johannes Brahms, 3rd symphony, 3rd movement]; third: after unpleasant music [Krzysztof Penderecki, Threnos]; fourth: after a longer break). The pleasantness of music was evaluated using the Ertel differential scale. Results: After the participants listened to pleasant music, an increased sensitivity to cold stimuli (both threshold and pain), to mechanical stimuli (only for threshold), and to repeated stimuli (wind-up reaction) was noted. Listening to unpleasant music was not associated with changes in sensitivity. We did not observe any significant differences between male and female subjects or between musicians and non-musicians. There was no significant correlation between the rating of the music as pleasant/unpleasant and the different quantitative sensory testing measures. Conclusions: Our data show that listening to music inducing a pleasant feeling can increase the sensitivity to stimuli applied during a quantitative sensory testing session. This should be considered when performing or interpreting quantitative sensory testing examinations. Interestingly, this finding is in contrast to the observation that listening to music can decrease pain perception during painful procedures.

Predictive coding in musical anhedonia: A study of groove.

Groove, or the pleasurable urge to move to music, offers unique insight into the relationship between emotion and action. The predictive coding of music model posits that groove is linked to predictions of music formed over time, with stimuli of moderate complexity rated as most pleasurable and likely to engender movement. At the same time, listeners vary in the pleasure they derive from music listening: individuals with musical anhedonia report reduced pleasure during music listening despite no impairments in music perception and no general anhedonia. Little is known about musical anhedonics' subjective experience of groove. Here we examined the relationship between groove and music reward sensitivity. Participants (n = 287) heard drum-breaks that varied in perceived complexity, and rated each for pleasure and wanting to move. Musical anhedonics (n = 13) had significantly lower ratings compared to controls (n = 13) matched on music perception abilities and general anhedonia. However, both groups demonstrated the classic inverted-U relationship between ratings of pleasure & move and stimulus complexity, with ratings peaking for intermediately complex stimuli. Across our entire sample, pleasure ratings were most strongly related with music reward sensitivity for highly complex stimuli (i.e., there was an interaction between music reward sensitivity and stimulus complexity). Finally, the sensorimotor subscale of music reward was uniquely associated with move, but not pleasure, ratings above and beyond the five other dimensions of musical reward. Results highlight the multidimensional nature of reward sensitivity and suggest that pleasure and wanting to move are driven by overlapping but separable mechanisms.

IDIOSYNCRATIC ELEMENTS IN MUSIC-RELATED GESTURE-SOUND RELATIONSHIPS: A HINDUSTANI DUET PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS

This study investigates the correlation between body movements and the voice in the context of North Indian Classical (or else Hindustani) vocal music, specifically focusing on its Dhrupad subgenre. In particular, it examines manual interactions with imaginary objects (MIIOs) commonly observed among vocalists, including actions such as stretching, pulling, pushing, and throwing, as well as the physical effort exerted on these occasions. The analysis employs video observations of originally recorded audio-visual material from a Dhrupad vocal improvisation performance. A previous association analysis conducted between MIIO gesture classes, perceived effort levels, and melodic aspects revealed a certain level of consistency among the two vocalists, albeit with individual variations revealing an idiosyncratic aspect in the way these gestures might be expressed. Given that the selected performers (brothers, Umakant and Ramakant Gundecha) share the same musical background and experience and that they are recorded singing in duet in a single performance of the same melodic mode (raga), instead of examining their common gesturing manners, the current paper focuses exclusively on the idiosyncratic deviations in gesturing habits observed between the two brothers and the associations of these gestures to their melodic counterparts. The analysis relies on quantitative statistical methods of pertinent movement and acoustic features, and the results yield valuable insights in ethnomusicology and embodied music cognition. They additionally offer crucial guidance on the use of music technologies and motion capture methods to develop quantitative approaches that complement existing qualitative methodologies.

A Review Study of the Impact of Music Therapy on Adolescent Mental Health

According to the latest national statistics, one in seven adolescents in primary and secondary schools around the world are suffering from mental disorders such as anxiety, depression and shyness. In recent years, a number of clinical data at home and abroad have reflected the obvious efficacy of music therapy in alleviating adolescent mental disorders. This has led many domestic scholars to pay attention to music therapy as a therapeutic method. From the viewpoint of educational psychology, the adolescent stage is an important period of human physiological and psychological development and 80% of the time in this period is spent in school every day. Therefore, combining social hotspots and inspiration from music psychology, this paper analyses domestic and international research data and literature, and explores the influence of different music styles in receptive music therapy, and the three most commonly used music therapies in China, namely, ethnic instruments and Orff music therapy, on adolescents' psychology from the perspective of the field of music. Instead of discussing them from a traditional medical perspective and music therapy theory, this paper presents readers with data on the impact of music materials, instrumentation, and forms of music therapy in primary and secondary schools on adolescents' psychological problems, and provides strong scientific evidence of their effectiveness. The aim is to find out what kind of music therapy is used in primary and secondary schools and what kind of music is suitable for the treatment of adolescents' psychological problems.

How music-induced emotions affect sexual attraction: evolutionary implications.

More than a century ago, Darwin proposed a putative role for music in sexual attraction (i.e., sex appeal), a hypothesis that has recently gained traction in the field of music psychology. In his writings, Darwin particularly emphasized the charming aspects of music. Across a broad range of cultures, music has a profound impact on humans' feelings, thoughts and behavior. Human mate choice is determined by the interplay of several factors. A number of studies have shown that music and musicality (i.e., the ability to produce and enjoy music) exert a positive influence on the evaluation of potential sexual partners. Here, we critically review the latest empirical literature on how and why music and musicality affect sexual attraction by considering the role of music-induced emotion and arousal in listeners as well as other socio-biological mechanisms. Following a short overview of current theories about the origins of musicality, we present studies that examine the impact of music and musicality on sexual attraction in different social settings. We differentiate between emotion-based influences related to the subjective experience of music as sound and effects associated with perceived musical ability or creativity in a potential partner. By integrating studies using various behavioral methods, we link current research strands that investigate how music influences sexual attraction and suggest promising avenues for future research.

Investigation of the Status of Music Teaching in Middle School under the Background of "Art into the Middle School Entrance Examination" in Dejiang County, China

Aesthetic education is an indispensable part of all-round quality education. Art education belongs to the category of aesthetic education and is an important content and way to implement aesthetic education. Music education is a form of education with music art as the medium and aesthetics as the core. In October, 2020, the general offices of the General Office of the Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council issued the Opinions on Comprehensively Strengthening and Improving Aesthetic Education in Schools in the New Era, which put forward the requirement of bringing art subjects into the pilot reform of senior high school entrance examination. The implementation of the new policy of "art entering the senior high school entrance examination" is a brand-new challenge to junior high school music teaching. In order to better implement the policy of "art entering the senior high school entrance examination", it is necessary to understand the current situation of junior high school music teaching. In this study, 241 junior high school students in four middle schools in Dejiang County, Guizhou Province were investigated from three aspects: their attitude towards music, the basic reasons for liking music and the mastery of basic music skills, and then the data were statistically analyzed by Excel and SPSS software. Based on the analysis results of the previous part, combined with the requirements of "Art Entrance Examination", this paper puts forward that we should pay more attention to music courses, enrich the content of music courses and strengthen the teaching of basic music knowledge.

Modelling of Musical Perception using Spectral Knowledge Representation.

We present a novel approach to representing perceptual and cognitive knowledge, spectral knowledge representation, that is focused on the oscillatory behaviour of the brain. The model is presented in the context of a larger hypothetical cognitive architecture. The model uses literal representations of waves to describe the dynamics of neural assemblies as they process perceived input. We show how the model can be applied to representations of sound, and usefully model music perception, specifically harmonic distance. We demonstrate that the model naturally captures both pitch and chord/key distance as empirically measured by Krumhansl and Kessler, thereby providing an underlying mechanism from which their toroidal model might arise. We evaluate our model with respect to those of Milne and others.

Neuromagnetic representation of musical roundness in chord progressions.

Musical roundness perception relies on consonance/dissonance within a rule-based harmonic context, but also on individual characteristics of the listener. The present work tackles these aspects in a combined psychoacoustic and neurophysiological study, taking into account participant's musical aptitude. Our paradigm employed cadence-like four-chord progressions, based on Western music theory. Chord progressions comprised naturalistic and artificial sounds; moreover, their single chords varied regarding consonance/dissonance and harmonic function. Thirty participants listened to the chord progressions while their cortical activity was measured with magnetoencephalography; afterwards, they rated the individual chord progressions with respect to their perceived roundness. Roundness ratings differed according to the degree of dissonance in the dominant chord at the progression's third position; this effect was pronounced in listeners with high musical aptitude. Interestingly, a corresponding pattern occurred in the neuromagnetic N1m response to the fourth chord (i.e., at the progression's resolution), again with somewhat stronger differentiation among musical listeners. The N1m magnitude seemed to increase during chord progressions that were considered particularly round, with the maximum difference after the final chord; here, however, the musical aptitude effect just missed significance. The roundness of chord progressions is reflected in participant's psychoacoustic ratings and in their transient cortical activity, with stronger differentiation among listeners with high musical aptitude. The concept of roundness might help to reframe consonance/dissonance to a more holistic, gestalt-like understanding that covers chord relations in Western music.

The effects of a mindfulness meditation program on enhancing musical perception of time: A pilot study

Mindfulness meditation practices have garnered a lot of popularity in recent years. Various psychological benefits of mindfulness meditation have been documented in a myriad of literature. In this pilot study, we evaluated the effectiveness of a short-term mindfulness training program on time-based musical perceptions of pre-service music teachers. Here, time-based perception entails the accurate perception of pattern, meter, and tempo. A one-group pretest–posttest design was implemented as a model. Pre-service music teachers ( n = 8) completed the rhythm, rhythm-to-melody, and tempo subscales of the modular-PROMS before and after undergoing an 8-week-long mindfulness training program. Whereas significant enhancements of rhythm and rhythm-to-melody perceptions were observed, a similar kind of enhancement was not detected with respect to tempo perception.

Impact of Native Language on Musical Working Memory

Music and language share similar sound features and cognitive processes, which may lead to bidirectional transfer effects of training in one domain on the processing in the other domain. We investigated the impact of native language on musical working memory by comparing nontonal language (Finnish) speakers and tonal language (Chinese) speakers. For both language backgrounds, musicians and nonmusicians were recruited. In an experimenter-monitored online paradigm, participants performed a forward-memory task measuring the maintenance of musical sequences, and a backward-memory task measuring the manipulation of musical sequences. We found that maintenance of music sequences was facilitated in Chinese participants compared with Finnish participants, with musicians outperforming nonmusicians. However, performance in the backward-memory task did not differ between Chinese and Finnish participants, independently of music expertise. The presence or absence of tonal structure in the musical sequences did not affect the advantage of Chinese over Finnish participants in either maintenance or manipulation of the musical sequences. Overall, these findings suggest that Mandarin Chinese speakers have facilitated maintenance of musical sounds, compared with Finnish speakers, regardless of musical expertise and the presence of tonal structure. Our study furthers the understanding of language-to-music transfer and provides insights into cross-cultural differences in music cognition.

수업 시연 과정에서 나타난 초등 예비교사의 음악 수업에 대한 인식

Purpose: This study aimed to discover the perceptions of pre-service teachers about music classes and to seek directions for enhancing the music class expertise through difficulties and demands for their music classes.
 Methods: Elementary school pre-service teachers participated in micro-teaching and filled out self-assessment sheets based on recorded class videos. A survey was conducted with 201 pre-service elementary school teachers about their perception of music classes before and after micro-teaching and what they believed their needs were to improve their music class expertise after micro-teaching.
 Results: First, the teachers recognized music classes as classes that felt the beauty of music and sympathized with emotions and values by considering the learners based on music knowledge. Second, they wanted a student participation-oriented music class based on the teacher's musical knowledge and practical skills, but they were experiencing trial and error in the micro-teaching due to their lack of music class experiences. Third, they had many individual differences in their confident music classes. To improve the professionalism of music classes, they believed that they required teacher training institutions to strengthen their connection with the field, support for improving musical competence, expand the number of hours of related subjects, expand class equipment, and provide opportunities to observe and analyze excellent classes. In addition, they recognized the need to develop individual abilities in relation to music practical skills, music knowledge, and music teaching methods in relation to the difficulties they encountered while micro-teaching.
 Conclusion: For the participants in the study to grow into teachers with music instruction expertise, various efforts are required, including not only for the individuals but also teacher training institutions. Following this study, it is expected that future studies will examine specific measures to improve the professionalism of music classes.