The role of knowledge-based expectations in music perception: evidence from musical restoration

The perceptual restoration of musical sounds was investigated in 5 experiments with Samuel's (1981a) discrimination methodology. Restoration in familiar melodies was compared to phonemic restoration in Experiment 1. In the remaining experiments, we examined the effect of expectations (generated by familiarity, predictability, and musical schemata) on musical restoration. We investigated restoration in melodies by comparing familiar and unfamiliar melodies (Experiment 2), as well as unfamiliar melodies varying in tonal and rhythmic predictability (Experiment 3). Expectations based on both familiarity and predictability were found to reduce restoration at the melodic level. Restoration at the submelodic level was investigated with scales and chords in Experiments 4 and 5. At this level, key-based expectations were found to increase restoration. Implications for music perception, as well as similarities between restoration in music and speech, are discussed.     

Towards a neural basis of music perception

Music perception involves complex brain functions underlying acoustic analysis, auditory memory, auditory scene analysis, and processing of musical syntax and semantics. Moreover, music perception potentially affects emotion, influences the autonomic nervous system, the hormonal and immune systems, and activates (pre)motor representations. During the past few years, research activities on different aspects of music processing and their neural correlates have rapidly progressed. This article provides an overview of recent developments and a framework for the perceptual side of music processing. This framework lays out a model of the cognitive modules involved in music perception, and incorporates information about the time course of activity of some of these modules, as well as research findings about where in the brain these modules might be located.     

Dynamic processes in music perception

A schema-based theory of music perception that describes the dynamic interaction between the musical event and the listener’s knowledge of the underlying regularities in tonal music is proposed. Three properties of musical schema are evaluated in a recognition memory experiment: (1) The schema engages a subset of the abstract knowledge system that is determined by the predominant key of the musical sequence, (2) the schema evaluates both interval relations and the functions of the sounded elements within the established tonal framework, and (3) the schema interacts continuously with the musical event in time to process pitch information in its temporal context. Listeners are required to identify the serial position of a chord that is changed between two successive chord sequences that are otherwise identical. The experiment measures the magnitude and the temporal extent of the disruptive effect of including in the sequence an element outside the tonal framework. The results show temporally specific effects on memory for pitch relations consistent with the operation of a musical schema. Comparisons are made with schema-based theories applied in other perceptual and cognitive domains.     

The perception of tempo in music

Tempo is one factor that is frequently associated with the expressive nature of a piece of music. Composers often indicate the tempo of a piece of music through the use of numerical markings (beats min(-1)) and subjective terms (adagio, allegro). Three studies were conducted to assess whether listeners were able to make consistent judgments about tempo that varied from piece to piece. Listeners heard short extracts of Scottish music played at a range of tempi and were asked to make a two-alternative forced choice of "too fast" or "too slow" for each extract. The responses for each study were plotted as proportion of too fast responses as a function of tempo for each piece, and cumulative normal curves were fitted to each data set. The point where these curves cross 0.5 is the tempo at which the music sounds right to the listeners, referred to as the optimal tempo. The results from each study show that listeners are capable of making consistent tempo judgments and that the optimal tempo varies across extracts. The results also revealed that rhythm plays a role, but not the only role in making temporal judgments.     

Agreement in interpersonal perception as a predictor of group performance

The present work deals with quantifying group characteristics. Specifically, dyadic measures of interpersonal perceptions were used to forecast group performance. Forty-six groups of students, 24 of four and 22 of five people, were studied in a real educational assignment context and marks were gathered as an indicator of group performance. Our results show that dyadic measures of interpersonal perceptions account for final marks. By means of linear regression analysis, 85% and 85.6% of group performance, respectively, was explained for group sizes equal to four and five. Results found in the scientific literature based on the individualistic approach are no larger than 18%. The results of the present study support the utility of dyadic approaches for predicting group performance in social contexts.     

Social curiosity and interpersonal perception: a judge x trait interaction

The present study examined the impact of social curiosity on the utilization of social information and the accuracy of personality judgments. In total, 182 individuals who never met each other before were asked to interact for 10 minutes and afterwards to evaluate the personality (Big Five) of their interaction partner. High socially curious judges were more accurate in evaluating the degree of Extraversion and Openness of their interaction partners. Interestingly, high and low curious judges differed significantly in the utilization of verbal and nonverbal cues displayed by their interaction partner. Specifically, high socially curious judges more often used valid cues for inferring Extraversion and Openness. No differences in interpersonal accuracy and cue utilization were found for Neuroticism, Conscientiousness, and Agreeableness. The results suggest that high socially curious individuals are more accurate in judging visible traits and that this higher accuracy is grounded in a more comprehensive utilization of valid cues.     

Social anxiety and interpersonal perception: a social relations model analysis

Cognitive models of social phobia posit that an individual's negative beliefs about the way he or she is perceived by others (metaperceptions) are a core feature of the disorder. The social relations model () was used to analyze interpersonal perception data collected following unstructured social interactions in 62 socially anxious (SA) and 62 not socially anxious (NSA) individuals. Using this model, the interpersonal perceptions were analyzed to evaluate whether pathological levels of social anxiety are associated with self-perceptions, metaperceptions, and perceptions from others. SA participants saw themselves negatively and believed others saw them negatively. Although seen as more nervous by others, SA participants were not seen as less likeable. A mediational model demonstrated that the negative metaperceptions of SA individuals were more a function of their own self-perceptions than the negative perceptions of others. These findings were not attributable to depressive symptoms. Implications for theory and treatment of social phobia are discussed.     

Relationship control and interpersonal perception in marriage

The correlation between married couples' interpersonal perception and relationship control in communication was investigated. A normated, standardized and shortened version of Laing et al. 's Interpersonal Perception method (IPM) was used to measure interpersonal perception. The test contain three levels of perception, namely (1) direct perception of the relationship, (2) misunderstandings, and (3) disagreements about the relationship. The couples' relationship control was observed in three different situations. Previous studies have found the amount of one-upmanship in married couples to be associated with problems of interpersonal perception. Although different methods were applied in the present study, this finding was replicated to some extent. Additionally, the results indicate that the more the couples communicated to each other that they both had the right to control the relationship, the less problems they had in interpersonal perception. The results also strongly suggest that couples communicating in egocentric and self-disqualifying ways perceive their marriage as less satisfying, and they also perceive each other's feelings and behaviours less accurately than those who have little or no such deviant communication.     

The perception of expressive timing in music

Summary This paper is concerned with the perception of small-scale timing changes in musical sequences. The control and expressive function of these have been studied quite extensively from a production perspective, but not much is known about listeners' ability to detect them. A pilot study and two experiments are reported which investigate the detectability of different amounts of timing change in different sequential positions, different pitch contexts, and against the background of both metronomic and expressive comparisons. The results show that listeners are able to perceive as little as 20 ms lengthening in the context of notes lasting between 100 and 400 ms, and that this threshold appears not to be a function of base duration in this range. Sequential position and pitch structure influence the detectability of timing changes to a limited extent, for which some possible explanations are offered. A case is made for regarding timing in music as both a medium to convey structure and an object in its own right, suggesting that it may be perceptually organized in two different ways — as the consequence of a structural interpretation and as a directly registered quantity.     

Social anxiety and interpersonal stress generation: the moderating role of interpersonal distress

Background and Objectives: Existing models of social anxiety scarcely account for interpersonal stress generation. These models also seldom include interpersonal factors that compound the effects of social anxiety. Given recent findings that two forms of interpersonal distress, perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness, intensify social anxiety and cause interpersonal stress generation, these two constructs may be especially relevant to examining social anxiety and interpersonal stress generation together.

Design: The current study extended prior research by examining the role of social anxiety in the occurrence of negative and positive interpersonal events and evaluated whether interpersonal distress moderated these associations.

Methods: Undergraduate students (N?=?243; M?=?20.46 years; 83% female) completed self-report measures of social anxiety, perceived burdensomeness, and thwarted belongingness, as well as a self-report measure and clinician-rated interview assessing negative and positive interpersonal events that occurred over the past six weeks.

Results: Higher levels of social anxiety were associated only with a higher occurrence of negative interpersonal dependent events, after controlling for depressive symptoms. This relationship was stronger among individuals who also reported higher levels of perceived burdensomeness, but not thwarted belongingness.

Conclusions: It may be important to more strongly consider interpersonal stress generation in models of social anxiety.     

Body posture and interpersonal perception in a dyadic interaction: A Big Two analysis

Body posture influences feelings about the self, but little is known about its impact on social cognition more generally. We apply the Big Two framework (Agency/Competence, Communion/Warmth) and study how body posture influences interpersonal perception in a dyadic interaction. In three experiments, we studied dyads with different body postures (Exps. 1 and 2: expanded/restricted; Exp. 3: expanded/neutral). Dyad members worked on a joint task, and rated self and other. Findings showed that participants in an expanded posture rated the self higher and the other lower on agency, whereas those in a submissive (or neutral) posture rated the self lower and the other higher on agency. In Experiment 2, participants in a submissive posture also rated their communion lower. Results are important both for the impact of body posture on interpersonal perception and for context effects in the relationship of Agency versus Communion ratings of self and others.     

The integration of stimulus dimensions in the perception of music

A central aim of cognitive psychology is to explain how we integrate stimulus dimensions into a unified percept, but how the dimensions of pitch and time combine in the perception of music remains a largely unresolved issue. The goal of this study was to test the effect of varying the degree of conformity to dimensional structure in pitch and time (specifically, tonality and metre) on goodness ratings and classifications of melodies. The pitches and durations of melodies were either presented in their original order, as a reordered sequence, or replaced with random elements. Musically trained and untrained participants (24 each) rated melodic goodness, attending selectively to the dimensions of pitch, time, or both. Also, 24 trained participants classified whether or not the melodies were tonal, metric, or both. Pitch and temporal manipulations always influenced responses, but participants successfully emphasized either dimension in accordance with instructions. Effects of pitch and time were mostly independent for selective attention conditions, but more interactive when evaluating both dimensions. When interactions occurred, the effect of either dimension increased as the other dimension conformed more to its original structure. Relative main effect sizes (| pitch η² – time η² |) predicted the strength of pitch–time interactions (pitch?×?time η²); interactions were stronger when main effect sizes were more evenly matched. These results have implications for dimensional integration in several domains. Relative main effect size could serve as an indicator of dimensional salience, such that interactions are more likely when dimensions are equally salient.