scholarly journals Music-to-Color Associations of Single-Line Piano Melodies in Non-synesthetes

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 157-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen E. Palmer ◽  
Thomas A. Langlois ◽  
Karen B. Schloss
Keyword(s):  
Strong Evidence ◽  
Orchestral Music ◽  
Single Line ◽  
Pitch Height ◽  
Sensory Inputs ◽  
Minor Mode ◽  
Major Mode ◽  
Emotional Dimensions ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Highly Correlated

Prior research has shown that non-synesthetes’ color associations to classical orchestral music are strongly mediated by emotion. The present study examines similar cross-modal music-to-color associations for much better controlled musical stimuli: 64 single-line piano melodies that were generated from four basic melodies by Mozart, whose global musical parameters were manipulated in tempo (slow/fast), note-density (sparse/dense), mode (major/minor) and pitch-height (low/high). Participants first chose the three colors (from 37) that they judged to be most consistent with (and, later, the three that were most inconsistent with) the music they were hearing. They later rated each melody and each color for the strength of its association along four emotional dimensions:happy/sad,agitated/calm,angry/not-angryandstrong/weak. The cross-modal choices showed that faster music in the major mode was associated with lighter, more saturated, yellower (warmer) colors than slower music in the minor mode. These results replicate and extend those of Palmeret al.(2013,Proc. Natl Acad. Sci.110, 8836–8841) with more precisely controlled musical stimuli. Further results replicated strong evidence for emotional mediation of these cross-modal associations, in that the emotional ratings of the melodies were very highly correlated with the emotional associations of the colors chosen as going best/worst with the melodies ( forhappy/sad,strong/weak,angry/not-angryandagitated/calm, respectively). The results are discussed in terms of common emotional associations forming a cross-modal bridge between highly disparate sensory inputs.

Seasonality in the Cross Section of Stock Returns: The International Evidence

2010 ◽  
Vol 45 (5) ◽  
pp. 1133-1160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven L. Heston ◽  
Ronnie Sadka
Keyword(s):  
Stock Returns ◽  
Cross Section ◽  
Domestic Market ◽  
Trading Strategies ◽  
Global Risk ◽  
Seasonal Predictability ◽  
International Evidence ◽  
Local Risk ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Highly Correlated

AbstractThis paper studies seasonal predictability in the cross section of international stock returns. Stocks that outperform the domestic market in a particular month continue to outperform the domestic market in that same calendar month for up to 5 years. The pattern appears in Canada, Japan, and 12 European countries. Global trading strategies based on seasonal predictability outperform similar nonseasonal strategies by over 1% per month. Abnormal seasonal returns remain after controlling for size, beta, and value, using global or local risk factors. In addition, the strategies are not highly correlated across countries. This suggests they do not reflect return premiums for systematic global risk.

Emotion-Related Responses to Audio News with Rising versus Falling Background Tone Sequences

2003 ◽  
Vol 7 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 85-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kari Kallinen ◽  
Niklas Ravaja
Keyword(s):  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Cardiac Activity ◽  
Tone Sequence ◽  
Music Listening ◽  
Minor Mode ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Major Mode ◽  
Valence And Arousal ◽  
Listening Task ◽  
Addition Level

We examined the emotional effects of (a) a rising versus a falling chromatic tone sequence in the background of audio news and (b) foreground versus background diatonic and chromatic tone sequences. In experiment one, 26 participants rated audio news messages with rising and falling chromatic background tone sequences on the valence and arousal dimensions. Cardiac activity, electrodermal activity (EDA), and facial muscle activity were also recorded continuously. In experiment two, 24 participants rated six plain tone sequences ( i.e., rising and falling chromatic, major, and minor) and six news messages with the aforementioned tone sequences mixed in the background on the valence and arousal dimensions. In experiment 1, both self-reported arousal and physiological arousal as measured by EDA were higher during the news with a rising-tone sequence compared to those with a falling-tone sequence. In experiment 2, rising-tone sequences prompted both higher arousal and pleasantness ratings. However, the responses were moderated by the type of listening task: foreground listening prompted responses related to musical connotations ( i.e., major tone sequences were rated as most pleasant and minor as most unpleasant), whereas background listening prompted responses dependent on the emotional congruence between the news messages and tone sequences ( i.e., the minor mode versions were rated as most pleasant and the major mode versions as most unpleasant). In addition, level of education-, music listening frequency-, and age-related differences in the responses were found and are discussed.

Effects of Background Music on Anxiety, Satisfaction with Communication, and Productivity

1993 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 171-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah J. Blood ◽  
Stephen J. Ferriss
Keyword(s):  
Background Music ◽  
Structural Elements ◽  
Subjective Measures ◽  
Minor Mode ◽  
Major Mode ◽  
Sad Music

Previous research on music's influence has often been nonconclusive, partly because subjective measures have been used for testing opposite conditions such as sedative versus stimulative music or happy versus sad music. Here, background music's influence upon 104 conversants was explored by manipulating the presence of music, and when present, by the more objectively assessed structural elements of mode and speed. Conversations taking place in the presence of background music were rated as more satisfying. Major mode music elicited higher ratings of satisfaction with communication than minor mode. Modality and speed interacted, illustrating the importance of not confounding music's structural elements when testing opposite conditions in studies of the effects of music. While background music did not affect productivity relative to no music, those hearing background music achieved greater productivity when music was in the major mode.

New Results on Double Charmonium Production in e+e- Annihilation at $\sqrt{s} \approx 10.6~{\rm GeV}$ with the Belle Detector

2005 ◽  
Vol 20 (16) ◽  
pp. 3617-3620
Author(s):  
◽  
T. Ziegler
Keyword(s):  
Cross Section ◽  
Strong Evidence ◽  
Previous Analysis ◽  
Charmonium State ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Charmonium Production ◽  
Belle Detector ◽  
Theoretical Predictions ◽  
Order Of Magnitude ◽  
The Cross

Extending a previous analysis1 the double charmonium production [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] has been investigated with a data set of 155 fb-1 with the Belle detector. Theoretical predictions for the cross section are one order of magnitude lower than the measured value and this discrepancy is still not understood. In a very recent update with a dataset of 285 fb-1 strong evidence for a new charmonium state at a mass of 3.940 GeV was found.

Minor mode cuing: Do composers signal minor mode sooner than major mode?

2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-122
Author(s):  
Olivia Ladinig ◽  
David Huron
Keyword(s):  
Minor Mode ◽  
Major Mode

Breed and environmental effects on lamb production in Nigeria

1981 ◽  
Vol 96 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Buvanendran ◽  
I. F. Adu ◽  
B. A. Oyejola
Keyword(s):  
Body Weight ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Least Squares ◽  
Correlation Coefficient ◽  
Environmental Effects ◽  
Correlation Coefficients ◽  
Correction Factors ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
Least Squares Estimates

SUMMARYTwo indigenous breeds of sheep in Nigeria, the Yankasa and Uda and crosses of these with exotic breeds, were evaluated for lamb weights at birth, 3 months and 6 months of age and for adult ewe weight. The cross-bred lambs were significantly (P < 0·05) heavier than the indigenous breeds at all ages. Differences among the indigenous breeds were not significant. Mature ewe weight was 40·8 kg in the cross-bred and 36·0 and 31·1 kg in the Uda and Yankasa respectively, differences between all breeds being significant (P <0·05). Lamb productivity (lamb weight per kg of ewe metabolic body weight) estimates demonstrated that the differences between breeds were small.Least-squares estimates of effects of environmental factors on lamb performance showed that type of birth and age of dam were important for lamb weights at the three ages. Season and sex also had significant effects on birth and 6-month weights respectively. Correction factors for lamb weights were derived from least-squares estimates.The correlation coefficient between birth and 3-month weight was significant in all breeds and ranged from 0·39 to 0·55. Three-month and 6-month weights were highly correlated with estimates of correlation coefficients ranging from 0·71 to 0·74. Repeatability estimates of birth, 3·month, 6·month and ewe weights, all as traits of the ewe in the Yankasa, were 0·25, 0·21, 0·09 and 0·48, respectively.

scholarly journals Harmonic organisation conveys both universal and culture-specific cues for emotional expression in music

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. e0244964
Author(s):  
George Athanasopoulos ◽  
Tuomas Eerola ◽  
Imre Lahdelma ◽  
Maximos Kaliakatsos-Papakostas
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Expression ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Pitch Height ◽  
Emotional Cues ◽  
Minor Mode ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Cross Cultural Study ◽  
Expression Of Emotion ◽  
Time Harmonic ◽  
Cultural Connotations

Previous research conducted on the cross-cultural perception of music and its emotional content has established that emotions can be communicated across cultures at least on a rudimentary level. Here, we report a cross-cultural study with participants originating from two tribes in northwest Pakistan (Khow and Kalash) and the United Kingdom, with both groups being naïve to the music of the other respective culture. We explored how participants assessed emotional connotations of various Western and non-Western harmonisation styles, and whether cultural familiarity with a harmonic idiom such as major and minor mode would consistently relate to emotion communication. The results indicate that Western concepts of harmony are not relevant for participants unexposed to Western music when other emotional cues (tempo, pitch height, articulation, timbre) are kept relatively constant. At the same time, harmonic style alone has the ability to colour the emotional expression in music if it taps the appropriate cultural connotations. The preference for one harmonisation style over another, including the major-happy/minor-sad distinction, is influenced by culture. Finally, our findings suggest that although differences emerge across different harmonisation styles, acoustic roughness influences the expression of emotion in similar ways across cultures; preference for consonance however seems to be dependent on cultural familiarity.

scholarly journals Are Stopped Strings Preferred in Sad Music?

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 261 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Huron ◽  
Caitlyn Trevor
Keyword(s):  
String Quartet ◽  
Preliminary Analysis ◽  
Open String ◽  
String Instruments ◽  
Minor Mode ◽  
Open Strings ◽  
Major Mode ◽  
Sad Music

String instruments may be played either with open strings (where the string vibrates between the bridge and a hard wooden nut) or with stopped strings (where the string vibrates between the bridge and a performer's finger pressed against the fingerboard). Compared with open strings, stopped strings permit the use of vibrato and exhibit a darker timbre. Inspired by research on the timbre of sad speech, we test whether there is a tendency to use stopped strings in nominally sad music. Specifically, we compare the proportion of potentially open-to-stopped strings in a sample of slow, minor-mode movements with matched major-mode movements. By way of illustration, a preliminary analysis of Samuel Barber's famous Adagio from his Opus 11 string quartet shows that the selected key (B-flat minor) provides the optimum key for minimizing open string tones. However, examination of a broader controlled sample of quartet movements by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven failed to exhibit the conjectured relationship. Instead, major-mode movements were found to avoid possible open strings more than slow minor-mode movements.

Wordless Sounds

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Winner
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
Conventional Wisdom ◽  
Prosodic Features ◽  
Minor Mode ◽  
Major Mode ◽  
Emotions In Music

Philosophers have worried that music cannot be sad or happy. Only sentient creatures can have emotions. However, empirical studies show that people do perceive emotions in music, including music from unfamiliar traditions. The question then becomes how music conveys emotion. Research shows that structural features in music mirror how emotions are conveyed by prosodic features of speech. When we are sad we speak slowly, softly, and in a low register; and when music is slow and soft and low, we perceive it as sad. Other emotional properties (like the link between the minor mode and sadness, the major mode and happiness) may be learned, but this matter remains in dispute. The research provides no support for the claim that music does not express emotions. The conventional wisdom that music is the language of the emotions holds up very well.

Emotional Connotations of Diatonic Modes

2012 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 237-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Temperley ◽  
Daphne Tan
Keyword(s):  
Popular Music ◽  
Pitch Height ◽  
Common Mode ◽  
Major Mode

In this experiment, participants (nonmusicians) heard pairs of melodies and had to judge which of the two melodies was happier. Each pair consisted of a single melody presented in two different diatonic modes (Lydian, Ionian, Mixolydian, Dorian, Aeolian, or Phrygian) with a constant tonic of C; all pairs of modes were used. The results suggest that modes imply increasing happiness as scale-degrees are raised, with the exception of Lydian, which is less happy than Ionian. Overall, the results are best explained by familiarity: Ionian (major mode), the most common mode in both classical and popular music, is the happiest, and happiness declines with increasing distance from Ionian. However, familiarity does not entirely explain our results. Familiarity predicts that Mixolydian would be happier than Lydian (since they are equally similar to Ionian, and Mixolydian is much more common in popular music); but for almost half of our participants, the reverse was true. This suggests that the “sharpness” of a mode also affects its perceived happiness, either due to pitch height or to the position of the scale relative to the tonic on the “line of fifths”; we favor the latter explanation.

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