Moving Music

2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dafna Kohn ◽  
Zohar Eitan

We examined how children (5- and 8-year-olds) associate changes in musical parameters with bodily motion, using movement and verbal tasks. In Task 1, participants moved to short musical stimuli involving bidirectional changes in pitch, loudness, or tempo. In Task 2, participants selected motion features appropriate to the same stimuli (forced-choice verbal task). In Task 1 the distribution of movement features significantly varied for different musical parameters: pitch change associated most strongly with vertical motion, loudness change with muscular energy and vertical motion, and tempo change with speed and muscular energy. In both tasks and for both ages, directions of change in motion and musical parameters correlated, e.g., increase in loudness was associated with increasing speed, increasing muscular energy, and spatial rise. The effect of pitch direction was mediated by temporal order, suggesting that overall pitch contour, rather than local direction only, affects bodily motion. Age affected responses to pitch direction, rather than loudness or tempo change. Results suggest that children consistently correlate musical and movement features through both verbal and motion responses, presenting an intricate web of auditory-motor-cognitive mappings.

2011 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 219-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roni Y. Granot ◽  
Zohar Eitan

Though the Perception of Musical Tension has recently received considerable attention, the effect of interactions among auditory parameters on perceived tension has hardly been examined systematically. In this study, 132 participants (60 with music training) listened to short melodic sequences that combined manipulations of pitch direction, pitch register, loudness change, and tempo change, and rated in each sequence the overall tension level, as well as the direction of tension change (increasing or decreasing). For overall tension ratings, repeated measures ANOVAs showed main effects of loudness change, pitch direction, and pitch register (lower more tense), but not of tempo change. Importantly, several highly significant interactions among musical parameters (e.g., tempo and loudness, contour and loudness, tempo, contour, and register) were revealed. Tension change ratings were significantly affected by changes in loudness and tempo; register and contour elicited no main effect on tension change ratings, but interacted significantly. Results indicated that the mutual effect of auditory parameters on perceived tension is often strongly interactive, rather than additive. Increased loudness and low pitch register emerged as powerful determinants of perceived tension, often modulating the effects of pitch contour and tempo. We discuss results in light of an ecological model, in which perceived musical tension is affected by auditory cues for impending threat.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linshu Zhou ◽  
Fang Liu ◽  
Tang Hai ◽  
Jun Jiang ◽  
Dongrui Man ◽  
...  

Absolute pitch (AP), a superior ability of pitch letter naming in the absence of a reference note, has long been viewed as an indicator of human musical talent and thus as evidence for the adaptationist hypothesis of music evolution. Little is known, however, whether AP possessors are superior to non-AP possessors in music processing. The present study investigated whether the AP ability facilitates musical tension processing in perceptual and experienced tasks. Twenty-one AP possessors and 21 matched non-AP possessors were tested using novel melodies in C and non-C contexts. Results indicated that the two groups provided comparable ratings of perceived and felt tension for melodies in both contexts. While AP possessors demonstrated lower accuracy with longer reaction time than non-AP possessors in naming movable solfège syllables for pitch in the pretest, their tension rating profiles showed a similar tonal hierarchy as non-AP possessors in regard to the stability of the ending tones of the melodies in both major and minor keys. Correlation analyses suggested that musical tension ratings were not significantly related to performance in pitch letter, movable solfège syllable naming, pitch change detection threshold, or pitch direction discrimination threshold for either group. These findings suggest that pitch naming abilities (either pitch letter or movable solfège syllable naming) do not benefit processing of perceived or felt musical tension, providing evidence to support the hypothesis that AP ability is not associated with advantage in music processing.


1998 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 576-587 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Snow

Perceptual evidence suggests that young children do not imitate adult-modeled intonation patterns with a rising pitch contour (rising tones) as well as those with a falling pitch contour (falling tones). To investigate the acoustic basis of this uneven imitation pattern, 10 4-year-old children were asked to imitate short sentences with falling and rising tones in 4 sentence contexts called "intonation groups." The results indicated that the children used more falling tones than adults in most intonation groups. When the children matched the adult-modeled contour direction (falling or rising), the children's speed of pitch change was comparable to that of adults in the falling tones of final intonation groups and in the rising tones of nonfinal groups, but was slower than that of adults in the complementary environments. In a manner consistent with previously reported perceptual data, the instrumental findings indicate that rising tones may be more difficult for 4-year-old children to produce than falling tones. The results additionally suggest that children's intonation is sensitive not only to the direction of tonal contours but also to their position in sentence-final versus nonfinal intonation groups.


2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hila Tamir-Ostrover ◽  
Zohar Eitan

While determining an appropriate tempo is crucial to music performers, composers and listeners, few empirical studies have investigated the musical factors affecting tempo choices. In two experiments we examined how aspects of musical pitch affect tempo choice, by asking participants (musically trained and untrained) to adjust the tempi of melodic sequences varying in pitch register and pitch direction, as well as sequences typically associated with specific registers in common period music. In Experiment 1, faster tempi were assigned to higher registers. Specific melodic direction (rise vs. fall) did not affect tempo preferences; nevertheless, pitch change in both directions elicited faster tempi than a repeating, unchanging pitch. The effect of register on tempo preference was stronger for participants with music training, and also (unexpectedly) for female participants. In Experiment 2, melodic figures typically related to lower and higher parts in common-period music were associated with slower and faster tempi, respectively. Results support a “holistic” notion of musical tempo, viewing the choice of proper tempo as determined by interactions among diverse musical dimensions, including aspects of pitch structure, rather than by rhythmic considerations alone. The experimental design presented here can be further applied to explore the effects of other musical parameters on tempo preferences.


2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Fancourt ◽  
Frederic Dick ◽  
Lauren Stewart

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Adele Cherise Hogan

<p>Visual motion prediction is essential for making key judgements about objects in the environment. These judgements are typically investigated using a time-to-contact (TTC) task, in which an object travels along a straight trajectory and disappears behind an occluder. Participants make a response coinciding with the moment the object would have contacted a visual landmark. The assumption is that the motion continues behind the occluder. This task is used to measure how we perceive and predict the arrival-time of objects. The addition of sound to TTC tasks generally enhances visual judgements. One characteristic which may affect how sound influences visual motion judgements is pitch. A rising pitch is associated with speeded motion and a falling pitch with slowed motion. Pitch change could therefore lead to biases in visual motion judgements; however, this has not yet been investigated. Furthermore, TTC tasks can utilise horizontal or vertical motion. In vertical motion, an additional variable that may be critical for TTC estimations is gravity. It is postulated that humans possess an internal model of gravity that allows us to make accurate predictions for downward motion. This model assumes faster downward than upward motion. However, this model can be wrongfully applied in constant speed tasks, producing faster speed estimations for downward stimuli when there is no acceleration. Therefore, vertical motion could lead to additional biases in visual motion judgements.  This thesis investigated whether pitch and gravity could affect the imagined speed of an object under occlusion. Specifically, a rising pitch was hypothesised to produce speeded predicted motion and falling pitch, slowed predicted motion. I investigated the influence of pitch change in vertical and horizontal planes. I also investigated two different aspects of pitch change, since dynamic pitch is a novel addition to TTC paradigms. Experiment 1A explored gradual pitch change and Experiment 1B used sudden pitch change. The hypothesised pitch effects were observed for a gradual, but not a sudden pitch change. However, a gravity effect was observed across both Experiments 1A and 1B, suggesting the presence of sound does not moderate this effect.  I also examined the cortical substrates of the audio-visual TTC task components by using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in Experiment 2. The superior temporal sulcus (STS) was targeted in this experiment, as it has been implicated in audio-visual integration. TMS causes neuronal inhibition, and as such, can be used to determine whether an area is involved in a task. If the STS is responsible for audio-visual integration in a TTC task, then TMS to the STS should disrupt the pitch effects evidenced in Experiment 1A. That is, a change in pitch should have no effect on TTC judgements compared to a constant tone. This result was evident only for rising tones, suggesting the involvement of the STS in the generating speeded predicted motion. The pitch effects observed in Experiment 1A and Experiment 2 implicate pitch in the production of biases in motion imagery for visual motion judgements, particularly for visual stimuli under occlusion.</p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 100-110
Author(s):  
AHMAD FITRIADHY ◽  
◽  
AMIRA ADAM

A floating jetty often experiences several vertical motions i.e., heave and pitch motion responses due to harsh environmental condition. This inherently makes discomfort to everyone during berthing on a floating; and even it potentially leads to loss of life due to falling down into the sea. A preliminary analysis using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation is necessary to be conducted to ensure user’s safety. The CFD analysis focused on the interaction between wave motions and the floating jetty and its effects on the vertical motions. The vertical motions of floating jetty were quantified by the Response Amplitude Operators (RAO). Several effects due to variation of wavelength (λ/L) have been studied. The CFD results revealed that the lower wavelength (λ/L<2.25) resulted in the increase of the heave and pitch motion amplitudes proportionally. However, the subsequent increase of wavelength (2.25>λ/L) has given results to less heave and pitch motion amplitudes. In general, it is shown that the vertical motion characteristics of the floating jetty predominantly depend on wave properties.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (22) ◽  
pp. 6122
Author(s):  
Yichen Jiang ◽  
Guanqing Hu ◽  
Zhi Zong ◽  
Li Zou ◽  
Guoqing Jin

The hydrodynamic performance of the floating foundation for offshore wind turbines is essential to its stability and energy harvesting. A semi-submersible platform with an integral heave plate is proposed in order to reduce the vertical motion responses. In this study, we compare the heave, pitch, and roll free decay motions of the new platform with a WindFloat-type platform based on Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes simulations. The differences of the linear and quadratic damping properties between these platforms are revealed. Then, a FAST (Fatigue, Aerodynamics, Structures, and Turbulence) model with the consideration of fluid viscosity effects is set up to investigate the performance of the new platform under storm and operational conditions. The time-domain responses, motion spectra, and the mooring-tension statistics of these two platforms are evaluated. It is found that the integral heave plate can increase the viscous hydrodynamic damping, significantly decrease the heave and pitch motion responses, and increase the safety of the mooring cables, especially for the storm condition.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Adele Cherise Hogan

<p>Visual motion prediction is essential for making key judgements about objects in the environment. These judgements are typically investigated using a time-to-contact (TTC) task, in which an object travels along a straight trajectory and disappears behind an occluder. Participants make a response coinciding with the moment the object would have contacted a visual landmark. The assumption is that the motion continues behind the occluder. This task is used to measure how we perceive and predict the arrival-time of objects. The addition of sound to TTC tasks generally enhances visual judgements. One characteristic which may affect how sound influences visual motion judgements is pitch. A rising pitch is associated with speeded motion and a falling pitch with slowed motion. Pitch change could therefore lead to biases in visual motion judgements; however, this has not yet been investigated. Furthermore, TTC tasks can utilise horizontal or vertical motion. In vertical motion, an additional variable that may be critical for TTC estimations is gravity. It is postulated that humans possess an internal model of gravity that allows us to make accurate predictions for downward motion. This model assumes faster downward than upward motion. However, this model can be wrongfully applied in constant speed tasks, producing faster speed estimations for downward stimuli when there is no acceleration. Therefore, vertical motion could lead to additional biases in visual motion judgements.  This thesis investigated whether pitch and gravity could affect the imagined speed of an object under occlusion. Specifically, a rising pitch was hypothesised to produce speeded predicted motion and falling pitch, slowed predicted motion. I investigated the influence of pitch change in vertical and horizontal planes. I also investigated two different aspects of pitch change, since dynamic pitch is a novel addition to TTC paradigms. Experiment 1A explored gradual pitch change and Experiment 1B used sudden pitch change. The hypothesised pitch effects were observed for a gradual, but not a sudden pitch change. However, a gravity effect was observed across both Experiments 1A and 1B, suggesting the presence of sound does not moderate this effect.  I also examined the cortical substrates of the audio-visual TTC task components by using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in Experiment 2. The superior temporal sulcus (STS) was targeted in this experiment, as it has been implicated in audio-visual integration. TMS causes neuronal inhibition, and as such, can be used to determine whether an area is involved in a task. If the STS is responsible for audio-visual integration in a TTC task, then TMS to the STS should disrupt the pitch effects evidenced in Experiment 1A. That is, a change in pitch should have no effect on TTC judgements compared to a constant tone. This result was evident only for rising tones, suggesting the involvement of the STS in the generating speeded predicted motion. The pitch effects observed in Experiment 1A and Experiment 2 implicate pitch in the production of biases in motion imagery for visual motion judgements, particularly for visual stimuli under occlusion.</p>


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