The Top-down and Bottom-up Systems of Musical Implication: Building on Meyer's Theory of Emotional Syntax

Narmour, Eugene

doi:10.2307/40286156

Cited by 81 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 42 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Building on the work of Meyer (1956Meyer ( , 1973, Narmour (1990Narmour ( , 1991Narmour ( , 1992 has developed a complex theory of melody perception called the Implication-Realization (IR) theory. The theory posits two distinct perceptual systems-the bottom-up and top-down systems of melodic implication.…”

Section: The Implication-realization Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Expectation in Melody: The Influence of Context and Learning

Pearce¹,

Wiggins²

2006

Music Perception

243

227

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. Krumhansl, 1995aKrumhansl, , 1995bSchellenberg, 1996Schellenberg, , 1997. However, there is also evidence that the implemented bottom-up rules constitute too inflexible a model to account for the influence of the musical experience of the listener and the melodic context in which expectations are elicited. A theory is presented, according to which both bottom-up and top-down descriptions of observed patterns of melodic expectation may be accounted for in terms of the induction of statistical regularities in existing musical repertoires. A computational model that embodies this theory is developed and used to reanalyze existing experimental data on melodic expectancy. The results of three experiments with increasingly complex melodic stimuli demonstrate that this model is capable of accounting for listeners' expectations as well as or better than the two-factor model of Schellenberg (1997). University of California Press

show abstract

Section: The Implication-realization Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Expectation in Melody: The Influence of Context and Learning

Pearce¹,

Wiggins²

2006

Music Perception

243

227

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Eugene Narmour (1990Narmour ( , 1991Narmour ( , 1992 has modified and extended Meyer's implication-realization view in a way that accounts for the enjoyment of repetitions. He postulates, with some evidence, that there are a set of innate auditory expectations, along with the acquired syntax of style.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Documenting and explaining the common AAB pattern in music and humor: Establishing and breaking expectations.

Rozin¹,

Rozin²,

Appel³

et al. 2006

Emotion

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The AAB pattern consists of two similar events followed by a third dissimilar event. The prevalence of this pattern in the aesthetic domain may be explained as violation of expectation: A minimum of two iterations is required to establish a repetitive pattern; once established, it is most efficient to promptly violate the expected continuance of the pattern to produce the maximal aesthetic effect. We demonstrate the prevalence of this pattern (in comparison to AB or AAAB) in a representative sample of a variety of musical genres and in a representative sample of repetitive genre of jokes. We also provide experimental evidence that the AAB pattern in jokes is maximally effective in producing a humor response in participants.

show abstract

“…Such pattern induction may (Narmour, 1991): A0 + sA° -> A0 (1) (first (second (second form) form) form) A0 + A0 -> A0 (2) (first (second (third form) form) form) where A0 = closed form; s = subset; and -> = implies.4 In the first formula, a subset (s) from the second form exactly mimics the first A0 and thus triggers the expectation of an exact repeat (the second form). The second equation follows logically from this in that once the second form is realized, the expectation of more exact repetition (third form) arises.…”

Section: Sameness and Style: Exact Repmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Meyer solves the contradiction by invoking context (1973, p. 51). The solution argued in the implication-realization model is that AA implying A is a result of hard-wired, bottomup processing, whereas AA implying B is a factor of top-down processing, that is to say, of stylistic learning (see Narmour, 1991).…”

Section: Sameness and Style: Exact Repmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Others have declared repetition's meaning to reside in parallel construction and symmetry (Berry, 1966, p. 51). The formulation invoked in the present study is based on the implication-realization model (Narmour, 1991), which insists that because exact repetition causes listeners to map learned expectation, its denial is an essential component of musical affect.…”

Section: Sameness and Style: Exact Repmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Music Expectation by Cognitive Rule-Mapping

Narmour¹

2000

Music Perception

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Iterative rules appear everywhere in music cognition, creating strong expectations. Consequently, denial of rule projection becomes an important compositional strategy, generating numerous possibilities for musical affect. Other rules enter the musical aesthetic through reflexive game playing. Still other kinds are completely constructivist in nature and may be uncongenial to cognition, requiring much training to be recognized, if at all. Cognitive rules are frequently found in contexts of varied repetition (AA), but they are not necessarily bounded by stylistic similarity. Indeed, rules may be especially relevant in the processing of unfamiliar contexts (AB), where only abstract coding is available. There are many kinds of deduction in music cognition. Typical examples include melodic sequence, partial melodic sequence, and alternating melodic sequence (which produces streaming). These types may coexist in the musical fabric, involving the invocation of both simultaneous and nested rules. Intervallic expansion and reduction in melody also involve higherorder abstractions. Various mirrored forms in music entail rule-mapping as well, although these may be more difficult to perceive than their analogous visual symmetries. Listeners can likewise deduce additivity and subtractivity at work in harmony, tempo, texture, pace, and dynamics. Rhythmic augmentation and diminution, by contrast, rely on multiplication and division. The examples suggest numerous hypotheses for experimental research. Disciplines Music | Musicology | Music TheoryThis journal article is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/music_papers/3 Cognitive rules are frequently found in contexts of varied repetition (AA), but they are not necessarily bounded by stylistic similarity. Indeed, rules may be especially relevant in the processing of unfamiliar contexts (AB), where only abstract coding is available.There are many kinds of deduction in music cognition. Typical examples include melodic sequence, partial melodic sequence, and alternating melodic sequence (which produces streaming). These types may coexist in the musical fabric, involving the invocation of both simultaneous and nested rules.Intervallic expansion and reduction in melody also involve higherorder abstractions. Various mirrored forms in music entail rule-mapping as well, although these may be more difficult to perceive than their analogous visual symmetries. Listeners can likewise deduce additivity and subtractivity at work in harmony, tempo, texture, pace, and dynamics. Rhythmic augmentation and diminution, by contrast, rely on multiplication and division. The examples suggest numerous hypotheses for experimental research.Received October 13, 1999; accepted for publication January 12, 2000. psychologists believe that humans apply rules in order to process certain kinds of stimuli. Recent work argues that even infants identify variables, devise symbolic representations, and construct generalizations in order to arrive at contextual linguistic meanings (M...

show abstract

The Top-down and Bottom-up Systems of Musical Implication: Building on Meyer's Theory of Emotional Syntax

Cited by 81 publications

References 42 publications

Expectation in Melody: The Influence of Context and Learning

Expectation in Melody: The Influence of Context and Learning

Documenting and explaining the common AAB pattern in music and humor: Establishing and breaking expectations.

Music Expectation by Cognitive Rule-Mapping

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About