音乐节奏和共餐人数对就餐时间的影响

本实验采用现场实验研究的方法,对不同音乐节奏和共餐人数条件下大学生就餐时间的差异进行了分析。结果表明:(1)总的来说,音乐节奏对就餐时间的主效应是显著的,快节奏音乐下的就餐时间少于慢节奏下的就餐时间;(2)单人组被试就餐时间显著快于多人组被试共餐时间;(3)音乐节奏和共餐人数对就餐时间存在交互作用;(4)在单人就餐时音乐节奏对就餐时间的效应是显著的,而多人共餐则没有这种效应或效应不显著。     

Emotional Responses to Music: Interactive Effects of Mode,Texture, and Tempo

Although much research has explored emotional responses to music using single musical elements, none has explored the interactive effects of mode, texture, and tempo in a single experiment. To this end, a 2 (mode: major vs. minor) × 2 (texture: nonharmonized vs. harmonized) × 3 (tempo: 72, 108, 144 beats per min) within-participants experimental design was employed, in which 177 college students rated four, brief musical phrases on continuous happy-sad scales. Major keys, nonharmonized melodies, and faster tempos were associated with happier responses, whereas their respective opposites were associated with sadder responses. These effects were also interactive, such that the typically positive association between tempo and happiness was inverted among minor, nonharmonized phrases. Some of these effects were moderated by the gender and amount of musical experience of participants. A principal components analysis of responses to the stimuli revealed one negatively and one positively valenced factor of emotional musical stimuli.     

Sequence Memory in Music Performance

Abstract— How do people remember and produce complex sequences like music or speech? Music provides an example of excellent sequence memory under fast performance conditions; novices as well as skilled musicians can perform memorized music rapidly, without making mistakes. In addition, musical pitches repeat often within a melodic sequence in different orders, yet people do not confuse the sequential ordering; temporal properties of musical pitches aid sequence memory. I describe a contextual model of sequence memory that is sensitive to the rate at which musical sequences are produced and to individual differences among performers. Age and musical experience differentiate adults' and children's memory for musical sequences during performance. Performers' memory for the sequential structure of one melody transfers or generalizes to other melodies in terms of the sequence of pitch events, their temporal properties, and their movements. Motion-analysis techniques provide further views of the time course of the cognitive processes that make sequence memory for music so accurate.     

郭店竹简《性自命出》之音乐美学论

《性自命出》为郭店楚简中一篇颇为重要的先秦儒家佚籍,篇中有论及音乐之源起、音乐之功能、音乐之宗旨等方面的内容,语焉不详,却与《乐记》等经典著作表现出既有相同,也有相异之处的音乐美学观念,对审视儒家音乐美学思想,具有一定的意义。     

背景音乐对中学生阅读理解的影响

以初一、初二、高一、高二72名中学生为研究对象,考察不同类型音乐对有无背景音乐偏好被试阅读理解成绩的影响。实验结果表明:(1)不同类型背景音乐对不同年级被试产生了不同的影响。古典乐对4个年级被试的阅读理解均有显著的促进作用;而流行乐对初中生的阅读理解产生了干扰作用,对高中生则没有产生干扰作用。(2)不同类型背景音乐对不同背景音乐偏好被试产生了不同的影响。对有背景音乐偏好被试来讲,古典乐对他们的阅读理解有显著的促进作用,流行乐对他们的阅读理解无显著的干扰作用;对无背景音乐偏好被试来讲,古典乐对他们的阅读理解既无显著的促进作用,也无显著的干扰作用,而流行乐对他们的阅读理解有显著的干扰作用。     

The cognitive functioning of older adult instrumental musicians and non-musicians

This study examined similarities and differences in the cognitive profiles of older adult instrumental musicians and non-musicians. We compared neuropsychological test scores among older adult non-musicians, low-activity musicians (<10 years of lessons), and high-activity musicians (≥10 years of lessons), controlling for self-reported physical and social activity, years of education, and overall health. Significant differences among groups were found on tasks of visual spatial ability, naming, and executive functioning. No significant differences were found on tests of attention/processing speed, or episodic memory. The current study supports late life cognitive benefits of early musical training, but only in select cognitive domains, including language, executive functioning, and visual spatial ability. The results are discussed in the context of cognitive reserve and aging.     

音乐的神经美学：从审美反应到神经基础

近年来, 随着音乐的神经科学与神经美学的发展, 逐渐形成一个新的研究领域, 即音乐的神经美学。这一研究领域关注音乐审美的心理过程和神经机制, 将注意力集中于音乐审美活动中的感知、认知和情感解释。音乐审美加工引起了相应的审美反应, 其中有三种音乐审美反应得到研究者更多的关注, 即音乐审美情绪、判断与偏好。研究者围绕这三种反应, 对音乐审美反应的知觉、认知、情绪加工和影响因素以及其神经机制展开研究。这些研究为我们理解音乐和美学的行为与神经机制提供了经验性证据。     

Background music stints creativity: Evidence from compound remote associate tasks

Background music has been claimed to enhance people's creativity. In three experiments, we investigated the impact of background music on performance of Compound Remote Associate Tasks (CRATs), which are widely thought to tap creativity. Background music with foreign (unfamiliar) lyrics (Experiment 1), instrumental music without lyrics (Experiment 2), and music with familiar lyrics (Experiment 3) all significantly impaired CRAT performance in comparison with quiet background conditions. Furthermore, Experiment 3 demonstrated that background music impaired CRAT performance regardless of whether the music induced a positive mood or whether participants typically studied in the presence of music. The findings challenge the view that background music enhances creativity and are discussed in terms of an auditory distraction account (interference‐by‐process) and the processing disfluency account.