Showing papers in "Psychomusicology: Music, Mind and Brain in 2019"

A review of music-evoked visual mental imagery : conceptual issues, relation to emotion, and functional outcome.

Abstract: Visual mental imagery has been characterized as an important aspect of our mental life, which consists of “seeing” in the absence of a sensory stimulus. However, the mechanisms underlying how visual mental images unfold during music listening have remained largely neglected. Here, we review the existing literature on the relation between music-evoked emotions and images, and we draw attention to how visual mental imagery has been previously conceptualized in the music domain. We also propose to adopt a conceptual framework from research on spontaneous cognition, which will promote a more nuanced and comprehensive understanding of the different types of music-evoked visual mental imagery. Finally, we highlight how music’s capability to trigger images can be harnessed in daily life as well as in therapeutic practices to foster the benefits and minimize the costs of visual mental imagery.

The content and functions of vivid and soothing visual imagery during music listening: Findings from a survey study.

Abstract: Studies have suggested that visual imagery forms an important part of the listening experience and might be one of the mechanisms by which music induces emotions in a listener. However, little is known about the content, prevalence, and function of visual imagery during music listening. To that end, an online survey was constructed to explore music-related visual imagery. This included 24 statements about visual imagery based on previous research and an open question regarding the content of their inner images. Several standardized questionnaires (Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire and Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index) were included as well to investigate the link to visual imagery in non-musical contexts and across individuals with various levels of musical training. In total, 669 participants provided responses to an online survey. A factorial structure of music and visual imagery statements provided a three-factor structure consisting of vivid, soothing, and disruptive visual imagery, although the actual factor structure was nonidentical between the musically trained and untrained respondents. Separate analyses of factors for musically trained and untrained participants yielded a more parsimonious structure of visual imagery, which consisted of vivid and soothing visual imagery. These two factors consistently exhibited different weights across the items; for musically trained participants, vivid imagery was more related to modulating arousal than for untrained participants. The ability to conjure up vivid visual imagery was only weakly related to the presence of music-related visual imagery. A content analysis of the open question revealed common themes that related to a mixture of concrete visual imagery (landscapes, images of people, and scenes from past events) and abstract visual imagery (shapes, objects, and colors). Implications of these findings for further studies on music-induced emotions are discussed with a focus on a recent constructionist account of emotional meanings in music.

The busking experiment: A field study measuring behavioral responses to street music performances.

Abstract: A field experiment was conducted with a professional busker in the London Underground over the course of 24 days. Its aim was to investigate the extent to which performative aspects influence behavioural responses to music street performances. Two aspects of the performance were manipulated: familiarity of the music (familiar vs. unfamiliar) and body movements (expressive vs. restricted). The amount of money donated and number of people who donated were recorded. A total of 278 people donated over the experiment. The music stimuli, which was selected in an online study to differ only in familiarity, had been previously recorded by the busker. During the experimental sessions, the busker lip-synced to the pre-recorded recordings. Thus, the audio input in the experiment remained identical across sessions and the only variables that changed across conditions were the familiarity of the music and the expressivity of performed body movements. The results indicated that neither music familiarity nor performer’s body movements had a significant impact on the amount of money donated (Rm2= .033) nor the number of donors (Rm2= .023). These results do not support previous literature on the influence of familiarity and performers’ body movements, typically conducted in lab and artificial environments. The findings are further discussed with regard to potential extraneous variables that are crucial to control for (i.e., location of the performance, physical appearance, the bandwagon effect) and the advantages of field versus laboratory experiments. A novel research framework to study music judgements and behaviour is introduced, namely, the behavioural economics of music.

Is empathy involved in our emotional response to music? The role of the PRL gene, empathy, and arousal in response to happy and sad music

Abstract: Recent studies have shown that empathy is a potentially important factor in understanding the emotional impact of music. The aim of this study was to explore associations between empathy and felt/perceived emotions while listening to music. The assessment of empathy was undertaken using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). As earlier work has suggested that prolactin could be an important hormone in enhancing empathy while listening to sad music, we investigated whether two genetic polymorphisms located on the PRL gene (coding for prolactin) could explain individual differences in reactions to listening to music. N = 160 participants were recruited for this study. All participants provided buccal swabs for genetic analysis. All participants listened to 10 sad and 10 happy musical excerpts, and after each song they reported the emotion they felt or perceived. Several significant associations appeared between empathy and the felt/perceived emotions while listening to music. With respect to the genetic markers, an effect of one prolactin polymorphism (rs1205960) was shown. TT/TC carriers reported significantly lower arousal levels compared to the CC carriers after having heard the happy and sad music. The results from this study showed that i) empathy is involved in the process of perceiving and feeling emotions while listening to music and ii) prolactin might play a role in eliciting different emotional reactions, based on arousal level, while listening to happy or sad music. Finally, we report non-significant findings in relation to three SNPs from the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR), which are presented in the supplementary material.