Psychology of Music

The study of speech perception and colour vision in infants has provided information on the ontogeny of mind and a general investigative framework that would be useful in the developmental study of music perception. Infants differentiate speech contrasts and primary colours similarly to adults, suggesting that predispositions for systematic representation of the percep- tual world may be influential from birth. Comparatively little is known about infants' musical processing, but what has been discovered is already serving to broaden the general understanding of perception. A review of findings in speech and vision is presented as a model for possible future work in music perception that could result in greater understanding of perceptual development.

Pairs of folk lullabies and comparison songs from different cultures were presented to adult listeners, who were required to choose the simpler song in each pair. Adults judged the lullaby excerpts as simpler whether presented with original field recordings, low-pass filtered versions that made the words unintelligible or excerpts synthesised with a uniform (piano) timbre. Structural analyses of the songs failed to reveal musical features that differentiated lullabies from other songs. Nevertheless, such analyses revealed melodic features that predicted adults' identification of lullabies.

In this article research examining the effects of formal training on children's perception of music is reviewed. Consideration is given both to perception of rhythmic and tonal properties of melodies. It is concluded that training in children serves to enhance perception of more detailed aspects of melodies, to facilitate the speed at which this information is encoded, and to result in better memory for this material. Moreover, it seems to affect not only perception of rhythmic details but also organisational strategies, and to accelerate the emergence of sensitivity to diatonic scale structure and the ease of application of this knowledge to music perception tasks. Future research might be aimed at determining if these auditory processing effects are specific to musical sequences or generalise to the perception of other patterned stimuli such as speech. Empirical efforts aimed at increasing our understanding of the mechanisms mediating the effects of training are also sorely needed.

This study was an investigation of timing accuracy and tempo of performance in entry-level piano performance of children. Female and male subjects, 7, 9 and 11 years of age, using the right or left hand, performed three tasks. They performed the durational rhythm of a folksong by playing (1) with one finger on one key; (2) with one finger on five keys; and (3) with five fingers on five keys. Significant main effects for motor task, age, and gender were found for timing accuracy and tempo. Some significant interaction effects also resulted, especially for tempo. In general, performance was more inaccurate and slower for more complex tasks, for younger subjects, and for male subjects. Left-handed performance of the most complex task was more inaccurate and slower. Implications for piano pedagogy and theory of motor learning were considered.

This study examined eight through 12-year-olds' (grades three through six) ability to perform the conservation-type tasks in music developed by Webster and Zimmerman (1983). The learning styles of the students, specifically their perceptual mode preferences, were determined by the Dunn, Dunn and Price Learning Style Inventory (1986). Students with visual, tactile, and kinesthetic preferences were chosen for the study. Specific reinforcement (graphic notation; clapping rhythm and shaping melodies) was given to the experimental groups during the musical testing. The dependent variables of rhythmic conservation and melodic conservation were analysed separately using a 4x3x2 ANOVA design. Conservation scores were evaluated with preference group (control tactile-kinesthetic, control visual, experimental tactile-kinesthetic, and experimental visual), grade (3-4, 5 and 6) and gender as independent variables. Significant effects were found for group but not for grade level or gender when melodic conservation scores were analysed. The rhythmic conservation analysis revealed significant main effects for group and grade level, as well as a significant three-way interaction.

This study is a cross-sectional investigation of the development of children's information-processing and problem-solving strategies as they relate to musical cognition within an analogical setting. 111 children ranging in age from preschool through to 11 years were administered a series of musical analogy tests (MANTs), a series of spatial analogy tests (SANTs), and Gordon's Primary Measures of Music Audiation. The results reinforced the results of an earlier study which revealed that the cognitive strategies used in spatial analogical tests appear very similar to those employed in musical analogical tests. These results should encourage researchers of musical aptitude to maintain the use of discrimination testing and also to broaden the scope of their investigations to include measurements of other aspects of intelligence so as to gain a more complete understanding of musical aptitude.

This study was designed to ascertain whether vibrotactile stimulation ancillary to auditory stimuli would increase attentiveness or auditory com- prehension of preschoolers. Ninety-six children aged 3 to 5 years were divided into four auditory stimuli groups (N = 24 each): a musical or non- musical story experienced on a SomatroniM (a vibroacoustic mattress) or via a tape recorder. Dependent variables were cumulative seconds on-task, comprehension of the story content, and preference for the story/Somatron.

A one-way analysis of variance showed that on-task time ranged from78% to 88% and was not significantly different among groups. Storycomprehension was significantly reduced for both Somatron groups (p< 04,df=3, F-2.78). Neither the vibroacoustic stimulation, nor the musiccondition significantly affected the preschoolers' preference for the story.Those hearing the non-musical story with vibration preferred the Somatronsignificantly more than did the other groups.