Rated preference for musical compositions as it relates to complexity and exposure frequency

Subjects heard four piano compositions that were constructed to represent differing degrees of complexity, as defined by their chordal and rhythmic properties and corroborated by subjects’ complexity ratings. In line with the predictions of an optimal complexity model of musical preference, judged liking for the compositions was a unimodal function of their complexity. After each composition was rated for liking, one of the four compositions was presented and rated an additional 16 times. Also congruent with an optimal complexity model was the finding that the affective consequences of repeated exposure varied depending upon whether the repeatedly exposed composition was more or less complex than the subject’s preferred complexity level. The latter finding suggests that repeated exposure effects are a function of both situational and individual factors.