Lecture 22 Flashcards
What is syncopation?
when notes are played ‘off
the beat’, creating what can be described as a
‘jumpiness’
* This produces a violation of expectations of
sorts, and can lead to increased neural activation
(data on right from Vuust et al., 2009: blue solid
line plots response to syncopated melody)
Describe the Iverson study
- Iverson et al. (2009) recorded MEG activity when presenting the same stimuli
but with instructions to either imagine accents on the first or second note - Our ability to change meter with our mind is reflected directly by activity in
the brain - The blue line plots MEG response when imagining an accent on the first
note, red reflects the same for the second note
Describe interval size
- The most common interval size between notes within a melody is 1-2
semitones (see next slide), consistent with the expectation outlined above
Describe grouping in hearing melodies
- Certain trajectories of notes are also common, such as the arch trajectory
(involving rising and falling tones) - In general, large ‘jumps’ in the distance
between notes: - Are more likely to increase (rather than
decrease) in pitch - Often involve a melody ‘turning around’
to fill in the gap (referred to as gap fill,
i.e. the ‘missing’ notes between
whatever notes were just played)
Describe tonality
- Tonality refers to organizing pitches
around the note associated with the
composition’s key (referred to as
the tonic) - Beginning/ending compositions
with the tonic note is a common
practice - e.g. a song in the key of C might
start and end on a C note
Describe Krumhansl and Kessler (1982) study
Krumhansl and Kessler (1982) had
participants rate how well a probe tone
matched with a scale they just heard
- Found the tonic was rated as more
compatible than other notes (‘tonal
hierarchy’, which indicates how well
each notes fits into a scale) - This may be based on prior experience
Describe the cognitivist approach to music
- The Cognitivist Approach: listeners
can perceive the emotional meaning of a
piece of music, but that they don’t
actually feel the emotions
Describe the emotivist approach to music
listeners
emotional response to music involves
actually feeling the emotions
(Thompson, 2015)
Describe thrills and chills
- Music is sometimes described as producing
‘thrills’ (Oxford dictionary definition: a nervous
emotion or tremor caused by intense emotional
excitement… producing a slight shudder of
tightening through the body), or ‘chills’
Describe Eerola et al. (2013) study
- Eerola et al. (2013) found that key and
tempo had considerable effects on
valence (data at right) - Various other effects have been noted:
- Greater Loudness: + arousal, + scary,
- peaceful
- Higher Registers (pitch): - scary,
+ happy - Greater Dissonance: + tension
Describe syntax
syntax (or ‘rules’) that govern how
we expect the pieces are supposed to come together
What indexes violations of language syntax?
the P600 ERP component is
thought to index awareness of syntax violations
Describe ERAN
Electrical Responses: Unexpected notes can generate a responses that is referred to as the early right anterior
negativity (ERAN), which occurs in the right hemisphere just
a bit earlier than the P600 just discussed
- Brain Scanning: Three areas that can become particularly
active while listening to music are the amygdala (associated
with processing emotion), the nucleus accumbens
(associated with reward), and the hippocampus (associated
with memories)
Describe Salimpoor study
- Salimpoor et al. (2011) asked participants to rate
the intensity of ‘chills’ and pleasure while
listening to music and found that both were
positively associated with activity in the NAcc - This was interpreted as relating to
dopaminergic activity (e.g. release) - Mallik et al. (2017) found that naltrexone, an
opiate antagonist, reduced the emotional
response to music - This may implicate endorphins in the
emotional experience of music
What does amygdala damage do?
- Amygdala damage has been found to:
- Reduce/prevent the pleasurable musical ‘chill’ response (Griffiths et al., 2004),
- Disrupt the ability to perceive the emotional tone of a piece of music (Gosselin
et al., 2005)
