Decomposing Complexity Preferences for Music

Abstract

Recently, we demonstrated complexity as a major factor for explaining individual differences in visual preferences for abstract digital art. We have shown that participants could best be separated into two groups based on their liking ratings for abstract digital art comprising geometric patterns: one group with a preference for complex visual patterns and another group with a preference for simple visual patterns. In the present study, building up on these results, we extended our investigations for complexity preferences from highly controlled visual stimuli to ecologically valid stimuli in the auditory modality. Similar to visual preferences, we showed that music preferences are highly influenced by stimulus complexity. We demonstrated this by clustering a large number of participants based on their liking ratings for song excerpts from various musical genres. Our results show that, based on their liking ratings, participants can best be separated into two groups: one group with a preference for more complex songs and another group with a preference for simpler songs. Finally, we considered various demographic and personal characteristics to explore differences between the groups, and reported that at least for the current data set age and gender to be significant factors separating the two groups.

Musical Aesthetic Sensitivity

“…These findings are in line with those ofGüçlütürk et al (2016),Güçlütürk and van Lier (2019), andMarin and Leder (2018), highlighting the importance of understanding individual differences that coexist with general trends. The estimated individual aesthetic sensitivities for musical balance (-0.482, -0.126), symmetry (0.160, 0.233), and rhythmic contour (-0.365, -0.059) varied within one pole, pointing to a consistent tendency across participants.…”

“…Specifically, we wished to characterize musical aesthetic sensitivity to four attributes that figure prominently in the literature on visual aesthetics: balance, contour, symmetry, and complexity. There is some evidence for common effects of complexity on the appreciation of visual and musical materials (e.g., Marin, Lampatz, Wandl, & Leder, 2016;Marin & Leder, 2013) and there is also some evidence for individual differences in aesthetic sensitivity to complexity (Güçlütürk, Jacobs, and van Lier, 2016;Güçlütürk & van Lier, 2019;Marin & Leder, 2018).…”

Algorithmic Composition by Autonomous Systems with Multiple Time-Scales

“…Preference for musical complexity has been thought to follow an inverted U-curve; very simple or extremely complex pieces are less liked than pieces of moderate complexity. Recent research indicates that it is more revealing to consider two groups of subjects: those who prefer simplicity and those who prefer complex stimuli (Güçlütürk and van Lier, 2019). These two groups were found to be separated by age, gender and the personality trait of being susceptible to systemising and analysing.…”

A unified account of culture should accommodate animal cultures

“…Things happen to be even more intricate than just suggested, for if, on the one hand, plenty of studies have shown a preference of humans for medium entropy, on the other hand, an increasing number of studies demonstrate that the preferred level of entropy is highly variable across individuals (e.g., Güçlütürk et al 2016;Güçlütürk & van Lier 2019). This line of research suggests that the relationship between liking and entropy may be largely shaped by cultural factors, and as a consequence, that any normative claim for example, "humans seek to minimize entropy"is pointless.…”