Revisiting the innate preference for consonance.

Abstract

The origin of the Western preference for consonance remains unresolved, with some suggesting that the preference is innate. In Experiments 1 and 2 of the present study, 6-month-old infants heard six different consonant/dissonant pairs of stimuli, including those tested in previous research. In contrast to the findings of others, infants in the present study failed to listen longer to consonant stimuli. After 3 minutes of exposure to consonant or dissonant stimuli in Experiment 3, 6-month-old infants listened longer to the familiar stimulus, whether consonant or dissonant. Our findings are inconsistent with innate preferences for consonant stimuli. Instead, the effect of short-term exposure is consistent with the view that familiarity underlies the origin of the Western preference for consonant intervals.

A biological rationale for musical consonance

“…For example, experience and familiarity also play important roles. The evidence for consonance preferences in infants is equivocal (45)(46)(47)(48)(49)(50)(51). It is clear, however, that musical training sharpens the perception of harmonicity and consonance (29).…”

Cultural background influences implicit but not explicit sense of agency for the production of musical tones

“…According to the Pythagorean view, the relative simplicity of the frequency ratio of two tones played simultaneously determines the pleasantness of the outcome sound (Helmholtz, 1877;Tenney, 1988). Consonance, in this regard, refers to the pleasantness produced by the co-occurrence of two tones whereas dissonance is described as unpleasant due to the beating and roughness (Dell'Acqua, Sessa, Jolicoeur, & Robitaille, 2006;Dellacherie, Roy, Hugueville, Peretz, & Samson, 2011;Plantinga & Trehub, 2013;Shapira Lots & Stone, 2008). The major view regarding the perception of these tonal structures suggests that the stability and pleasant-sounding attributes make consonance preferred over instable and rough-sounding dissonance (Bidelman & Krishnan, 2009;McDermott & Hauser, 2004).…”

Consonance Processing in the Absence of Relevant Experience: Evidence from Nonhuman Animals

“…A study with 6-month-old infants showed that after a short preexposure to consonant or dissonant stimuli, infants do not show a preference for consonance over dissonance. Infants paid more attention to the stimuli to which they were preexposed (the familiar stimulus), independent of whether it was consonant or dissonant (Plantinga & Trehub, 2014). A study with members of a native Amazonian society provided additional empirical support to the idea that experience plays a pivotal role in preferences for consonance (McDermott, Schultz, Undurraga, & Godoy, 2016).…”

“…As several experiments have demonstrated, preferences for consonance over dissonance are greatly influenced by preexposure to consonant stimuli (e.g., Plantinga & Trehub, 2014). Evidence from both neuroimaging and electrophysiological studies has shown that neural correlates for consonance and dissonance can change as a function of musical expertise.…”