• Episode

    Scale Degree Qualia in Context with Prof. Claire Arthur and Dr. David Baker

    In western classical music, theorists have long argued (and mostly agreed) that individual notes of the major and minor scale have sensations associated, feelings often described in terms of tension, motion, sadness, and stability. Dr Baker recommends Prof. Clair Arthur’s paper “A perceptual study of scale-degree qualia in context” from Music Perception (2018) which describes testing these associations through the subjective reports of musicians and non-musicians when presented scale degrees in different harmonic contexts. Together we discuss the challenges of the probe tone paradigm, interactions of musicianship training and perception of tonality, and ambiguity in note qualia perception.

    Time Stamps

    • [0:00:10] Introductions
    • [0:02:40] Summary of Paper
    • [0:09:50] Origins and Experiment 1 – free association
    • [0:16:57] Experiment 2 – probe tone ratings
    • [0:23:25] Results and surprises
    • [0:28:59] Inconsistency in qualia reports
    • [0:34:20] Stimulus examples and experiment limitations
    • [0:41:21] Implications of findings
    • [0:50:43] Using Musically trained participants
    • [0:53:51] Closing summary

    Show notes

    Credits

    The So Strangely Podcast is produced by Finn Upham, 2020. The closing music includes a sample of Diana Deutsch’s Speech-Song Illusion sound demo 1.

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  • Episode

    Episode 4: Development and Teleomusicality with Mariusz Kozak and guest Andrea Schiavio

    Music Theorist Mariusz Kozak recommends “When the Sound Becomes the Goal. 4E Cognition and Teleomusicality in Early Infancy” by Andrea Schiavio, Dylan van der Schyff, Silke Kruse-Weber and Renee Timmers, published in Frontiers in Psychology. Marius and Finn interview Andrea about this framing of early musical development and implications of an embodied, embedded, extended and enactive approach to cognitive science.

    Time Stamps

    • [0:00:10] Intro with Mariusz
    • [0:11:16] Interview: Origins and the 4 Es
    • [0:21:40] Interview: Attention, Intention, and Mirror Neurons
    • [0:32:59] Interview: Sound Goals and Musical Actions
    • [0:40:28] Interview: Reception of Theory
    • [0:53:03] Closing with Mariusz

    Show notes

    • Recommended article:
    • Interviewee: Dr. Andrea Schiavio, Postdoctoral Researcher at University of Graz
    • Co-host: Prof. Mariusz Kozak, Assistant Professor of Music at Columbia University
    • Works cited in the discussion:
      • Chemero, A. (2011). Radical embodied cognitive science. MIT press.
      • Craighero, L., Leo, I., Umilta, C., and Simion, F. (2011). Newborns’ preference for goal-directed actions. Cognition, 20, 26–32. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2011 02.011
      • D’Ausilio, A. (2007). The role of the mirror system in mapping complex sounds into actions. The Journal of Neuroscience, 27, 5847–5848. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0979-07.2007
      • D’Ausilio, A. (2009). Mirror-like mechanisms and music. The Scientific World Journal, 9, 1415–1422. doi:10.1100/tsw.2009.160
      • Gerson, S. A., Bekkering, H., and Hunnius, S. (2015a). Short-term motor training, but not observational training, alters neurocognitive mechanisms of action processing in infancy. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 27, 1207–1214. doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_00774
      • Haslinger, B., Erhard, P., Altenmüller, E., Schroeder, U., Boecker, H., & Ceballos-Baumann, A. O. (2005). Transmodal sensorimotor networks during action observation in professional pianists. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 17, 282–293. doi:10.1162/0898929053124893
      • Haueisen, J., & Knösche, T. R. (2001). Involuntary motor activity in pianists evoked by music perception. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 13, 786–792. doi:10.1162/08989290152541449
      • Hickok-Gallese debate at NYU (2103) Do Mirror Neurons Explain Anything?
      • Kohler, E., Keysers, C., Umiltà, M. A., Fogassi, L., Gallese, V., and Rizzolatti, G. (2002). Hearing sounds, understanding actions: action representation in mirror neurons. Science, 297, 846–848. doi: 10.1126/science.1070311
      • Menary, R. (2010). Introduction to the special issue on 4E cognition. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 9, 459–463.
      • Mukamel R., Ekstrom A.D., Kaplan J., Iacoboni M., Fried I., Single-Neuron Responses in Humans during Execution and Observation of Actions. Current Biology, vol. 20, nº 8.
      • Novembre, G., Ticini, L. F., Schütz-Bosbach, S., & Keller, P. E. (2014). Motor simulation and the coordination of joint actions in real time. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 9, 1062–1068. doi: 10.1093/scan/nst086
      • Overy, K., and Molnar-Szakacs, I. (2009). Being together in time: musical experience and the mirror neuron system. Music Perception, 26, 489–504. doi: 10.1525/mp.2009.26.5.489
      • Perone, S., Madole, K. L., Ross-Sheehy, S., Carey, M., and Oakes, L. M. (2009). The relation between infants’ activity with objects and attention to object appearance. Developmental Psycholology, 44, 1242–1248. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.44.5.1242
      • Proffitt, D. R., Stefanucci, J., Banton, T., & Epstein, W. (2003). The role of effort in perceiving distance. Psychological Science, 14(2), 106-112.
      • Schiavio, A. & Timmers, R. (2016). Motor and audiovisual learning consolidate auditory memory of tonally ambiguous melodies. Music Perception, 34(1), 21-32
      • Schiavio, A. & van der Schyff, D. (2016). Beyond musical qualia. Reflecting on the concept of experience. Psychomusicology: Music, Mind, & Brain, 26(4), 366-378
      • Thompson, E. (2007). Mind in life: Biology, phenomenology, and the sciences of mind. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
      • Varela, F., Thompson, E., & Rosch, E. (1991). The Embodied Mind. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
      • Wilson, A. D., & Golonka, S. (2013). Embodied cognition is not what you think it is. Frontiers in psychology, 4, 58.

    Credits

    The So Strangely Podcast is produced by Finn Upham, 2018. 

    The closing music includes a sample of Deutsch’s Speech-Song Illusion Sound Demo 1.

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  • Episode

    Episode 3: Interactions of Metrical and Tonal Hierarchies with Bryn Hughes and guest Chris White

    Music Theorist Bryn Hughes recommends Chris White’s “Relationships Between Tonal Stability and Metrical Accent in Monophonic Contexts“, published in the Empirical Musicology Review (2017). Bryn and Finn interview Prof. White about his sequence of perceptual studies on how tonal stability may inform metrical hierarchy and vis versa, and together they discuss implications for music theory and some common issues in music cognition studies.

    Show notes

    Time Stamps

    • [0:00:10] Intro with Prof. Bryn Hughes
    • [0:11:48] Interview: Corpus studies inspiration and Study format
    • [0:23:31] Interview: Effect Size and Gender as a factor
    • [0:36:00] Interview: Experiment 4 and more design questions
    • [0:43:34] Interview: Follow up and future work
    • [0:53:33] Closing summary and surprises with Prof. Bryn Hughes

    Credits

    The So Strangely Podcast is produced by Finn Upham, 2018.

    The closing music includes a sample of Diana Deutsch’s Speech-Song Illusion Sound Demo 1.

    Comments Off on Episode 3: Interactions of Metrical and Tonal Hierarchies with Bryn Hughes and guest Chris White