The effect of visual recognition on listener choices when searching for music in playlists.

Abstract

With so many options available, how do listeners search for and choose music effectively? Here we examine the role of a simple cognitive heuristic: choosing based on recognition. In two experiments, participants were presented with multiple musical choices and asked to choose their favorite songs. We manipulated visual recognition by presenting songs either with recognizable titles (names previously learned in a familiarization task) or completely novel ones. In line with the Recognition Heuristic, Experiment 1 tested whether listeners rely on visual recognition in a compensatory fashion. Participants had to choose one of a pair of songs presented with familiar/novel titles and social information about the quality of the song (positive, neutral, and negative). Results revealed that visual recognition was a significant driver of choice, but its influence largely depended on additional social information. This suggests the use of a cue integration strategy in which listeners weigh all available cues and combine them according to their utility to choose the optimal option. In Experiment 2, we replicated the main effect of visual recognition in a more complex decision-making situation, where participants had to choose their favorite songs from a playlist with 10 choice options. In the two experiments, allowing participants to listen to the music significantly reduced the effect of visual recognition, but it did not suppress it completely. We discuss these findings in terms of the implications of recognition effects on listening behavior and aesthetic preferences, audio streaming services, and the music industry.

‘Alexa, play metal’: exploring music selection and personal information management via voice assistants

“…However, the lack of commands to play new music even from known artists (e.g.,'play the new single from artist X'; only one usage) suggests users are unaware of, unaccustomed to, or uninterested in such uses. If users ask voice assistants to play only the music they have already heard and remember or that suits their current activities, personal collections (even as playlists) will not be kept or grown (Steffens & Anglada-Tort, 2023); possible consequencesbeyond a lack of exploration -are currently unclear but might include fatigue, stagnation or even polarisation of musical taste.…”

“…This may be of particular benefit to groups like 'super searchers' and older users, who rely more on linguistic ability (which increases throughout life; Hartshorne & Germane, 2015) than on spatial ability (Benn et al, 2015) and thus use file search much more than navigation to retrieve desktop files (Bergman et al, 2019;Pak, 2001). However, recognition has been shown to be important driver of music selection behaviour in nonvoice assistant contexts (Steffens & Anglada-Tort, 2023), and interface features and design could further support it. Doing so may make the interfaces more useful to all users and more accessible to particular users.…”