Seeing or hearing the pianists? A synopsis of an early audiovisual perception experiment and a replication

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 324-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus-Ernst Behne ◽  
Clemens Wöllner
Keyword(s):  
Visual Information ◽  
Music Perception ◽  
Music Performance ◽  
Gender Effects ◽  
Performance Evaluations ◽  
Body Movements ◽  
The Past ◽  
Audiovisual Perception ◽  
Series Of Experiments ◽  
Visual Impact

The visual impact of musicians’ body movements has increasingly attracted research interest over the past twenty years. This article gives an overview of the main findings of this research and introduces and replicates one of the first experiments on visual information in music performance evaluations. In Behne’s study (originally published in German in 1990), a pianist was video-recorded performing compositions by Brahms and Chopin. Using an audiovisual manipulation paradigm, further pianists acted as doubles and pretended to perform the music to the soundtrack of the first pianist. Different groups of ninety-three musicians and non-musicians rated audiovisual presentations of the videos. Only one participant in the whole series of experiments supposed that the musical soundtrack was similar across different performers. Even musically trained participants strongly believed that they perceived differences between performances. Further findings suggest gender effects, such that male interpretations were perceived to be more precise and female interpretations to be more dramatic. The replication generally confirmed the results for a present-day audience. Potential consequences for music evaluations and theories of audiovisual music perception are discussed.

scholarly journals Considerations in Audio-Visual Interaction Models: An ERP Study of Music Perception by Musicians and Non-musicians

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marzieh Sorati ◽  
Dawn M. Behne
Keyword(s):  
Visual Information ◽  
Auditory Perception ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Music Perception ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Interaction Models ◽  
Speech Stimuli ◽  
Audiovisual Perception ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
And Control

Previous research with speech and non-speech stimuli suggested that in audiovisual perception, visual information starting prior to the onset of corresponding sound can provide visual cues, and form a prediction about the upcoming auditory sound. This prediction leads to audiovisual (AV) interaction. Auditory and visual perception interact and induce suppression and speeding up of the early auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) such as N1 and P2. To investigate AV interaction, previous research examined N1 and P2 amplitudes and latencies in response to audio only (AO), video only (VO), audiovisual, and control (CO) stimuli, and compared AV with auditory perception based on four AV interaction models (AV vs. AO+VO, AV-VO vs. AO, AV-VO vs. AO-CO, AV vs. AO). The current study addresses how different models of AV interaction express N1 and P2 suppression in music perception. Furthermore, the current study took one step further and examined whether previous musical experience, which can potentially lead to higher N1 and P2 amplitudes in auditory perception, influenced AV interaction in different models. Musicians and non-musicians were presented the recordings (AO, AV, VO) of a keyboard /C4/ key being played, as well as CO stimuli. Results showed that AV interaction models differ in their expression of N1 and P2 amplitude and latency suppression. The calculation of model (AV-VO vs. AO) and (AV-VO vs. AO-CO) has consequences for the resulting N1 and P2 difference waves. Furthermore, while musicians, compared to non-musicians, showed higher N1 amplitude in auditory perception, suppression of amplitudes and latencies for N1 and P2 was similar for the two groups across the AV models. Collectively, these results suggest that when visual cues from finger and hand movements predict the upcoming sound in AV music perception, suppression of early ERPs is similar for musicians and non-musicians. Notably, the calculation differences across models do not lead to the same pattern of results for N1 and P2, demonstrating that the four models are not interchangeable and are not directly comparable.

scholarly journals Does Movement Amplitude of a Co-performer Affect Individual Performance in Musical Synchronization?

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 205920432110317
Author(s):  
Ian D. Colley ◽  
Manuel Varlet ◽  
Jennifer MacRitchie ◽  
Peter E. Keller
Keyword(s):  
Visual Stimulus ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Music Performance ◽  
Individual Performance ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Interpersonal Coordination ◽  
Movement Amplitude ◽  
Body Movements ◽  
Competing Hypotheses

Interpersonal coordination in musical ensembles often involves multisensory cues, with visual information about body movements supplementing co-performers’ sounds. Previous research on the influence of movement amplitude of a visual stimulus on basic sensorimotor synchronization has shown mixed results. Uninstructed visuomotor synchronization seems to be influenced by amplitude of a visual stimulus, but instructed visuomotor synchronization is not. While music performance presents a special case of visually mediated coordination, involving both uninstructed (spontaneously coordinating ancillary body movements with co-performers) and instructed (producing sound on a beat) forms of synchronization, the underlying mechanisms might also support rhythmic interpersonal coordination in the general population. We asked whether visual cue amplitude would affect nonmusicians’ synchronization of sound and head movements in a musical drumming task designed to be accessible regardless of musical experience. Given the mixed prior results, we considered two competing hypotheses. H1: higher amplitude visual cues will improve synchronization. H2: different amplitude visual cues will have no effect on synchronization. Participants observed a human-derived motion capture avatar with three levels of movement amplitude, or a still image of the avatar, while drumming along to the beat of tempo-changing music. The moving avatars were always timed to match the music. We measured temporal asynchrony (drumming relative to the music), predictive timing, ancillary movement fluctuation, and cross-spectral coherence of ancillary movements between the participant and avatar. The competing hypotheses were tested using conditional equivalence testing. This method involves using a statistical equivalence test in the event that standard hypothesis tests show no differences. Our results showed no statistical differences across visual cues types. Therefore, we conclude that there is not a strong effect of visual stimulus amplitude on instructed synchronization.

A Scientific Search for Altruism

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Daniel Batson
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Fundamental Question ◽  
Empathic Concern ◽  
Altruistic Motivation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Past Half Century ◽  
Series Of Experiments ◽  
Past Half

This book provides an example of how the scientific method can be used to address a fundamental question about human nature. For centuries—indeed for millennia—the egoism–altruism debate has echoed through Western thought. Egoism says that the motivation for everything we do, including all of our seemingly selfless acts of care for others, is to gain one or another self-benefit. Altruism, while not denying the force of self-benefit, says that under certain circumstances we can care for others for their sakes, not our own. Over the past half-century, social psychologists have turned to laboratory experiments to provide a scientific resolution of this human nature debate. The experiments focused on the possibility that empathic concern—other-oriented emotion elicited by and congruent with the perceived welfare of someone in need—produces altruistic motivation to remove that need. With carefully constructed experimental designs, these psychologists have tested the nature of the motivation produced by empathic concern, determining whether it is egoistic or altruistic. This series of experiments has provided an answer to a fundamental question about what makes us tick. Framed as a detective story, the book traces this scientific search for altruism through the numerous twists and turns that led to the conclusion that empathy-induced altruism is indeed part of our nature. It then examines the implications of this conclusion—negative implications as well as positive—both for our understanding of who we are as humans and for how we might create a more humane society.

THE ORIGINS OF MUSIC: INNATENESS, UNIQUENESS, AND EVOLUTION

2005 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOSH McDERMOTT ◽  
MARC HAUSER
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
Music Perception ◽  
Comparative Psychology ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Adaptive Significance ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Relative Pitch ◽  
The Past ◽  
Evolution Of Music ◽  
Basic Features

THE ORIGINS and adaptive significance of music, long an elusive target, are now active topics of empirical study, with many interesting developments over the past few years. This article reviews research in anthropology, ethnomusicology, developmental and comparative psychology, neuropsychology, and neurophysiology that bears on questions concerning the origins and evolution of music. We focus on the hypothesis that music perception is constrained by innate, possibly human- and musicspecific principles of organization, as these are candidates for evolutionary explanations. We begin by discussing the distinct roles of different fields of inquiry in constraining claims about innateness and adaptation, and then proceed to review the available evidence. Although research on many of these topics is still in its infancy, at present there is converging evidence that a few basic features of music (relative pitch, the importance of the octave, intervals with simple ratios, tonality, and perhaps elementary musical preferences) are determined in part by innate constraints. At present, it is unclear how many of these constraints are uniquely human and specific to music. Many, however, are unlikely to be adaptations for music, but rather are probably side effects of more general-purpose mechanisms. We conclude by reiterating the significance of identifying processes that are innate, unique to humans, and specific to music, and highlight several possible directions for future research.

Contradicting findings of gender bias in teaching evaluations: Evidence from two experiments in Denmark

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Skorkjær Binderkrantz ◽  
Mette Bisgaard ◽  
Berit Lassesen
Keyword(s):  
Gender Bias ◽  
Observational Studies ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Gender Effects ◽  
Performance Evaluations ◽  
Student Evaluations Of Teaching ◽  
Teaching Evaluations ◽  
Public Sector Employees ◽  
Evaluation Of Teaching

The role of gender in the interaction between citizens and public sector employees attracts increasing attention. Notably, gender effects have been described in performance evaluations across different contexts. With respect to student evaluations of teaching, a series of observational studies as well as experimental studies have found that women are evaluated lower than men. In this paper, we conduct two experiments in Denmark to test whether a similar gender bias is present in a national context that is generally considered among the most gender equal. Study 1 investigates differences in the evaluation of two similar presentations by teachers reported to be either male or female. Study 2 focuses on the evaluation of teaching material prepared by men and women respectively. The two studies arrive at similar conclusions: There is no gender bias in favor of men in the evaluations made by students. The paper discusses the implications of these findings.

scholarly journals Crashworthiness of Safe Fuels

1972 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. Rockow ◽  
L. M. Shaw
Keyword(s):  
Performance Evaluation ◽  
Fire Hazard ◽  
Full Scale ◽  
Safety Performance ◽  
Screening Tests ◽  
Aircraft Accidents ◽  
The Past ◽  
Relative Safety ◽  
Series Of Experiments ◽  
Aircraft Crash

Safety fuels such as emulsified and gelled fuels have been studied over the past several years as one means for reducing the post-crash fire hazard associated with aircraft accidents. However, through the work described herein, only recently has a quantitative evaluation been made to characterize the safety performance of these fuels. The safety performance evaluation program described in this paper includes an initial series of screening tests designed to obtain the characteristics of safe fuels in the aircraft crash environment. The authenticity of the screening tests relative to the full-scale crash environment was evaluated through a second series of experiments designed to simulate a full-scale aircraft crash environment. A crashworthiness evaluation criterion was established in terms of an “ignition susceptibility parameter” to quantitize the relative safety performance of different fuels. The conclusions of this research clearly show that significant savings in lives and equipment can be realized if safe fuels which perform within the non-hazardous envelope of the ignition susceptibility parameter are operationally incorporated in present-day aircraft.

scholarly journals The Interpretive Shaping of Embodied Musical Structure in Piano Performance

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryony Buck ◽  
Jennifer MacRitchie ◽  
Nicholas J. Bailey
Keyword(s):  
Music Performance ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
Upper Body ◽  
Musical Structure ◽  
Piano Performance ◽  
Body Movements ◽  
Motion Patterns ◽  
Structural Interpretation ◽  
Highly Skilled ◽  
A Performance

Research has indicated that the magnitude of physical expressive movements during a performance helps to communicate a musician's affective intent. However, the underlying function of these performance gestures remains unclear. Nine highly skilled solo pianists are examined here to investigate the effect of structural interpretation on performance motion patterns. Following previous findings that these performers generate repeated patterns of motion through overall upper-body movements corresponding to phrasing structure, this study now investigates the particular shapes traced by these movements. Through this we identify universal and idiosyncratic features within the shapes of motion patterns generated by these performers. Gestural shapes are examined for performances of Chopin’s explicitly structured A major Prelude (Op. 28, No. 7) and are related to individual interpretations of the more complex phrasing structure of Chopin’s B minor Prelude (Op. 28, No. 6). Findings reveal a universal general embodiment of phrasing structure and other higher-level structural features of the music. The physical makeup of this embodiment, however, is particular to both the performer and the piece being performed. Examining the link between performers' movements and interpreted structure strengthens understanding of the connection between body and instrument, furthering awareness of the relations between cognitive interpretation and physical expression of structure within music performance.

An Enquiry into the Process of Categorization of Pictures and Words

2003 ◽  
Vol 96 (1) ◽  
pp. 267-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madhubalan Viswanathan ◽  
Terry L. Childers
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Semantic Relatedness ◽  
Experimental Paradigm ◽  
The Past ◽  
Word Categorization ◽  
Multiple Routes ◽  
Methodological Problems ◽  
Series Of Experiments ◽  
Pictures And Words ◽  
Salient Features

This paper reports a series of experiments conducted to study the categorization of pictures and words. Whereas some studies reported in the past have found a picture advantage in categorization, other studies have yielded no differences between pictures and words This paper used an experimental paradigm designed to overcome some methodological problems to examine picture-word categorization. The results of one experiment were consistent with an advantage for pictures in categorization. To identify the source of the picture advantage in categorization, two more experiments were conducted. Findings suggest that semantic relatedness may play an important role in the categorization of both pictures and words. We explain these findings by suggesting that pictures simultaneously access both their concept and visually salient features whereas words may initially access their concept and may subsequently activate features. Therefore, pictures have an advantage in categorization by offering multiple routes to semantic processing.

A Generic Framework for Feature Representations in Image Categorization Tasks

2009 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 36-60
Author(s):  
Adam Csapo ◽  
Barna Resko ◽  
Morten Lind ◽  
Peter Baranyi
Keyword(s):  
Visual Information ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Obstacle Detection ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Visual Features ◽  
Text Documents ◽  
Feature Representations ◽  
The Past ◽  
Biological Perspective

The computerized modeling of cognitive visual information has been a research field of great interest in the past several decades. The research field is interesting not only from a biological perspective, but also from an engineering point of view when systems are developed that aim to achieve similar goals as biological cognitive systems. This article introduces a general framework for the extraction and systematic storage of low-level visual features. The applicability of the framework is investigated in both unstructured and highly structured environments. In a first experiment, a linear categorization algorithm originally developed for the classification of text documents is used to classify natural images taken from the Caltech 101 database. In a second experiment, the framework is used to provide an automatically guided vehicle with obstacle detection and auto-positioning functionalities in highly structured environments. Results demonstrate that the model is highly applicable in structured environments, and also shows promising results in certain cases when used in unstructured environments.

STUDIES ON REPELLENTS FOR BITING FLIES

1939 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 38-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. G. MacNay
Keyword(s):  
The Past ◽  
Series Of Experiments ◽  
The Many

In view of the known lack of effectiveness and doubtful value of many of the materials cited in literature as being of value as repellents for biting flies, a series of experiments was carried out at the direction of the Dominion Entomologist, during the past three seasons, with the object of determining which of the many materials recommended as repellents might be the most effective and which the most lasting in effect.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document