Psychology of Music

Involuntary Musical Imagery (INMI) or “earworms” describes the experience whereby a tune comes into the mind and repeats without conscious control. The present article uses an inductive, generative, grounded theory-based qualitative analysis to classify reports of everyday INMI circumstances, and creates graphical models that determine their relative frequency within two population samples; listeners to the BBC radio station 6 Music and an online survey. Within the two models, four abstract categories were defined that described the characteristics of the circumstances surrounding the onset of INMI episodes; Music exposure, Memory triggers, Affective states, and Low attention states respectively. We also note the variety of musical media by which exposure to a tune results in an INMI episode and discuss the impact of musical engagement on INMI experiences. The findings of the present study are considered within a framework of involuntary retrieval theory from both the autobiographical and semantic memory literatures. In addition, the results highlight the potential facilitative effects of varying affective and attentional states on INMI episodes.

The current study examined the association of different uses of music, music consumption, and individual differences in personality, trait emotional intelligence, and demographics. A total of 535 British participants completed a battery of scales including the Uses of Music Inventory, the International Personality Item Pool, and the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (Short-Form), a novel scale designed to assess music consumption, and provided their demographic details. Results showed significant positive effects of all music uses factors, as well as negative effects of age, onto music consumption. In addition, effects of Neuroticism on emotional music use and Openness on cognitive music use were replicated, though the hypotheses of a positive effect of Extraversion onto background music use or trait EI onto emotional use of music were not supported. Results are discussed in terms of their applied implications for consumer research, as well as their theoretical implications with regard to the psychology of musical preferences.

This study explores the sound world of the performer, building on increasing evidence that timbre is the most salient variable performance parameter and can also be the primary source of inspiration and structure in composition. Psychological, psychoacoustic, musicological and aesthetic literature is reviewed, to establish the connection between existing (listener focused) research and potential performer motivation and affect. An interview study with one elite performer/composer (classical guitar) was undertaken to investigate timbre in live performance, specifically as part of the communication process. Results show that timbre salience varies according to style: in Baroque music it mainly enhances other performance parameters and in ‘contemporary’ music it is integral to composition and interpretation. Emotional affect in the performer appears to be related to inner drive towards optimal representation of musical understanding, which then generates the evolution of extended instrumental techniques, allowing ever more imaginative use of timbre. Parallels with aesthetic and philosophical theory are offered as explanation for some of the more intangible elements of performance, particularly in relation to the main priorities and motivations of the performer. Further research might synthesize psychological and philosophical reasoning in this respect and establish whether these findings are common to other instruments, performers and cultures.

In the context of advanced instrumental learning, this study had two purposes: to investigate the relationships of epistemic beliefs to first-year music students’ self-reported learning strategies in practising a musical instrument, and to examine the adaption of a measure of academic personal epistemology to the musical domain. One hundred and thirty music students (71 women and 59 men) from six music academies/conservatoires filled out questionnaires detailing their epistemic beliefs and strategy use. To some degree, the factor analysis showed cross-subject generalizability in the dimensions of epistemic beliefs in the music version of the original measure. The four dimensions found were: certainty of knowledge (α = .64); control of knowledge acquisition (α = .66); ambiguity of knowledge (α = .56); and simplicity of knowledge (α = .50). Beliefs about the control of knowledge acquisition and the simplicity of knowledge were significantly related to strategies, but the correlations were low. Gender and degree programme were also significantly related to epistemic beliefs.

In the present study 24 university students read four different texts in four conditions: (1) while listening to music they preferred to listen to while studying; (2) while listening to music they did not prefer to listen to while studying; (3) while listening to a recording of noise from a café; and finally (4) in silence. After each text they took a reading-comprehension test. Eye movement data were recorded for all participants in all conditions.

A main effect for the reading-comprehension scores revealed that the participants scored significantly lower after they had been listening to the non-preferred music while reading, compared with reading in silence. No significant effects were found between the other conditions. No significant differences between conditions were found for the traditional eye movement measures in reading (fixation duration, saccadic amplitude, regressions, and first-pass and second-pass reading time). It is suggested that this result is a consequence of participants not being aware that their reading processes are disrupted by a non-preferred musical background. They do not make the necessary changes to the processes involved in reading required to compensate for increased cognitive load. The results are discussed in relation to study/reading habits, extraversion, arousal and working memory capacity.

Two studies investigate the influence of handedness on a musical performance. In Experiment 1 we compared designated non-right-handed (dNRH) and designated right-handed (dRH) string and piano players performing in the (non-inverted) standard playing position with respect to (1) performance-related variables (e.g., musical expression) and (2) health-related variables (e.g., discomfort). The 47 professional instrumentalists (pianists: n = 23, string players: n = 24) were classified for handedness (performance handedness) and participated in a survey study on sensorimotor skills and their sense of well-being at the instrument. In Experiment 2, we tested for differences in sensorimotor performance of both hands in right- and left-handed pianists: 19 professional pianists (music students) were classified for handedness (preference handedness). Participants performed scale playing. In Experiment 1 no evidence was found for a performance-related or well-being-related disadvantage in dNRH instrumentalists playing in the standard position. In Experiment 2 temporal sensorimotor precision in the right hand was superior to that of the left hand in both right- and left-handed pianists. We conclude that professional musicians adapt to the standard playing position regardless of their objective handedness. However, it cannot be ruled out that a subgroup of dNRH instrumentalists subjectively feel constricted when playing in the standard position.

Thomas Schäfer and Peter Sedlmeier (2009). From the functions of music to music preference. Psychology of Music, 37: 279–300. (Original DOI: 10.1177/0305735608097247)