The Pleasingness of Melodic Sequences: Contrasting Effects of Repetition and Rule-familiarity

Smith, Karen C.; Cuddy, Lola L.

doi:10.1177/0305735686141002

Cited by 41 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…The second alternative explanation is the role of familiarity, which is known to decrease the perceived complexity of stimuli (Smith and Cuddy, 1986;North and Hargreaves, 1995). The African group was familiar with some of the western melodies but the western group was not familiar with any African melodies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceived complexity of western and African folk melodies by western and African listeners

Eerola

Himberg

Toiviainen

et al. 2006

Psychology of Music

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A B S T R AC T Stylistic knowledge and enculturation play a significant role in music perception, although the importance of psychophysical cues in perception of emotions in music has been acknowledged. The psychophysical cues, such as melodic complexity, are assumed to be independent of musical experience. A cross-cultural comparison was used to investigate the ratings of melodic complexity of western and African participants for western (Experiment 1) and African folk songs (Experiment 2). A range of melodic complexity measures was developed to discover what factors contribute to complexity. On the whole, the groups gave similar patterns of responses in both experiments. In Experiment 1, western folk songs represented a style that was familiar for both groups and the results portrayed the differences in stylistic knowledge and high predictive rate of melodic variables. In Experiment 2, African folk songs were stylistically familiar only for the African group and the results illustrated a lower predictive rate of variables and differences between the groups in rhythm and structural variables. These results suggest that the melodic complexity ratings are influenced by musical enculturation. cognition, cross-cultural comparison, melodic complexity, music, psychophysical, style knowledge Listening to music brings together numerous automatic, innate processes involved in structuring auditory stimuli as well as structuring and interpreting these percepts in the light of learned, stylistic knowledge (Bregman, 1990). Recently, Balkwill and Thompson proposed a model (1999) in which emotions in music are communicated through a combination of psychophysical and cultural cues. Based on psychophysical cues such as tempo, sempre :

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceived complexity of western and African folk melodies by western and African listeners

Eerola

Himberg

Toiviainen

et al. 2006

Psychology of Music

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“…With this re-analysis in mind, however, the results of three of the four pieces do not support a strictly increasing relationship. Subsequent literature has reported that peak enjoyment may occur after much fewer than 25 exposures (Bartlett, 1973;Getz, 1966;Heyduk, 1975;Krugman, 1943;Smith & Cuddy, 1986) which Notes.…”

Section: Re-analyzed Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Back to the inverted-U for music preference: A review of the literature

Chmiel

Schubert

2017

Psychology of Music

131

102

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This study investigated the inverted-U model of preference for music as a function of collative variables (especially familiarity and complexity) over the last 115 years. The results of 57 studies on music preference were categorized according to their patterns of preference. Fifty of the 57 studies (87.7%) were categorized as compatible with an overarching (segmented) inverted-U model, while the results of five studies (8.8%) were interpreted as mixed, showing both compatible and incompatible results. Two studies (3.5%) were categorized as completely incompatible with the model. In contrast to authors who describe the model as defunct, this review has observed that studies producing results compatible with the inverted-U are still prevalent. We propose that while there may be inconsistencies with Berlyne's psychobiological theory from a scientific, arousal-based standpoint, the inverted-U model is able to explain a considerable amount of data. Rather, it seems that research interests have moved elsewhere, but caution is urged in asserting denial or dismissal of the relationship in music preference research.Why do we like certain pieces or types of music, and does our liking change over time? In the 1960s Daniel Berlyne's psychobiological theory provided a general explanation of aesthetic preference that could directly address these questions. He proposed that preference varies systematically as a function of collative variables, such as familiarity/novelty and complexity. Having links to research conducted by Wundt nearly a century earlier, the theory came to dominate all aspects of psychological research on aesthetic preference, including music preference,

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“…Berlyne emphasized the relevance of information complexity to the appreciation of music, suggesting that for each individual, there is an optimal level of structural complexity that gives rise to a moderate and hence desirable level of physiological arousal (15]. Some empirical support for Berlyne's optimal-complexity model has been provided for musical stimuli by Smith and Cuddy [16].…”

Section: Emotional Responses To Musicmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can Composers Express Emotions through Music?

Thompson

Robitaille

1992

Empirical Studies of the Arts

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This study investigated the possibility that musical c:ompolCl'l c:u reliably conveydistinctand dcrmableemotionalquslitiesthroughpitch, temponl and loudness informationcontainedin a musical score. Five muaic:alw ere providedwith a list of six terms relating to emotionalstates. ThetermI were:joy, sorrow,excitement,dullness,angerand peace. Eacbc:ompoeer wu asked to compose short melodies embodying the emotional qualities described by the six terms. Fourteenlistenerswere played the melocUa. and were asked to providejudgmentsrelatingto their emotional quslity. Melocliel were judged to embody the emotional quslity intended to be conveyed. Unintended emotional quslitics were judged to be present in melodies in varying degrees. The notion that emotional qualities c:u be effectively conveyed throughmusic is discussed.

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The Pleasingness of Melodic Sequences: Contrasting Effects of Repetition and Rule-familiarity

Cited by 41 publications

References 23 publications

Perceived complexity of western and African folk melodies by western and African listeners

Perceived complexity of western and African folk melodies by western and African listeners

Back to the inverted-U for music preference: A review of the literature

Can Composers Express Emotions through Music?

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