Memorisation and implicit perceptual learning are enhanced for preferred musical intervals and chords

Abstract

Is it true that we learn better what we like? Current neuroaesthetic and neurocomputational models of aesthetic appreciation postulate the existence of a correlation between aesthetic appreciation and learning. However, even though aesthetic appreciation has been associated with attentional enhancements, systematic evidence demonstrating its influence on learning processes is still lacking. Here, in two experiments, we investigated the relationship between aesthetic preferences for consonance versus dissonance and the memorisation of musical intervals and chords. In Experiment 1, 60 participants were first asked to memorise and evaluate arpeggiated triad chords (memorisation phase), then, following a distraction task, chords’ memorisation accuracy was measured (recognition phase). Memorisation resulted to be significantly enhanced for subjectively preferred as compared with non-preferred chords. To explore the possible neural mechanisms underlying these results, we performed an EEG study, directed to investigate implicit perceptual learning dynamics (Experiment 2). Through an auditory mismatch detection paradigm, electrophysiological responses to standard/deviant intervals were recorded, while participants were asked to evaluate the beauty of the intervals. We found a significant trial-by-trial correlation between subjective aesthetic judgements and single trial amplitude fluctuations of the ERP attention-related N1 component. Moreover, implicit perceptual learning, expressed by larger mismatch detection responses, was enhanced for more appreciated intervals. Altogether, our results showed the existence of a relationship between aesthetic appreciation and implicit learning dynamics as well as higher-order learning processes, such as memorisation. This finding might suggest possible future applications in different research domains such as teaching and rehabilitation of memory and attentional deficits.

Nice and easy: Mismatch negativity responses reveal a significant correlation between aesthetic appreciation and perceptual learning.

“…As it has previously suggested (for a detailed discussion see Sarasso et al, 2021) contextual and cultural factors, as well as subjective experience (e.g., musical expertise) might modulate the estimated precision of consonant and dissonant sounds. It might be that different participants interpreted different sounds (fifths vs. tritones) as more and less precise.…”

“…We propose that aesthetic appreciation might be considered as a feedback signal facilitating the discrimination of informationally profitable stimuli (inducing larger prediction updates) from “unlearnable” noisy signals (Sarasso, Neppi-Modona, et al, 2020; Sarasso et al, 2021). According to this interpretation, aesthetic pleasure might motivate us to select and engage in “informationally profitable” perceptual activities, independently from material or social reward (Chatterjee & Vartanian, 2016; Pearce et al, 2016).…”

“…Roving paradigms with frequency deviant \standard tones are typically used to study MMN responses and represent a validated methodology to investigate learning-related mechanisms (Näätänen et al, 2007;Sams et al, 1985). Moreover, previous studies demonstrated that consonance level can effectively modulate subjective aesthetic appreciation of auditory stimuli while maintaining their physical features comparable (Bowling et al, 2018;Cousineau et al, 2012;Sarasso, Ninghetto, et al, 2019;Sarasso et al, 2021).…”

A Virtual Navigation Training Promotes the Remapping of Space in Allocentric Coordinates: Evidence From Behavioral and Neuroimaging Data

“…Each block started with the Memorization Phase (duration: 2 min), where subjects were asked to pay attention to the spatial configuration of the objects with the aim of learning and remembering it. Following the Memorization Phase, subjects were asked to perform a distraction task (a pitch discrimination task similar to Sarasso et al, 2019 ; Sarasso et al, 2021 , see also Sarasso et al, 2020 ) for 5 min, to avoid a rehearsal effect on subsequent memory performance. In the final Recall Phase, subjects were asked to place 10 (out of 16) objects in the exact position displayed in the Memorization Phase.…”

Beauty and Uncertainty as Transformative Factors: A Free Energy Principle Account of Aesthetic Diagnosis and Intervention in Gestalt Psychotherapy

“…In a series of experiments ( Sarasso et al, 2021a , b ) we found that widely acknowledged electrophysiological indexes of implicit perceptual learning of sensory regularities, such as the mismatch negativity (MMN), were enhanced for subjectively more appreciated musical chords. The MMN negativity is a differential wave obtained by subtracting EEG responses to standard events to those elicited by deviant events.…”