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Perception of luminance variation sequences: a musical phenomenon| title | Perception of luminance variation sequences: a musical phenomenon |
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| start_date | 2023/12/01 |
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| schedule | 10h |
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| online | no |
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| location_info | DYCOG library |
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| details | PAM team lab meeting |
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| summary | Contour, defined as the pattern of up and down in pitch regardless of the exact size of the defined intervals, is an important element for the encoding of melodies and their mental representation. Contour can also be elicited with other-than-pitch auditory variations, such as loudness or brightness variations. Interestingly, some visual stimuli can also elicit a contour percept, notably vertical positions of lines and luminance variations.
In the present study, we have investigated whether the perception and recognition of visual contour could be primed by the presence of a contour-matching melody, and whether the general ability to recognize visual contour can be related to music and pitch perception skills in non-musicians. Forty participants saw two luminance variation sequences in a row and had to decide whether they were the same or different. Half of these sequences were preceded by a melodic, contour-matching prime. We hypothesized that (1) participants would benefit from the presence of the melodic prime to better encode and recognize the luminance contour, and (2) individual differences in music and pitch perception abilities would positively correlate with the recognition accuracy of the luminance sequences.
Results showed that the presence of the melodic prime helped achieving higher accuracy, especially for the more complex sequences (defined as having more contour changes), while the effect size remained small. Individual differences in music and pitch perception were correlated with the performance in the contour task, but were not predictive of a possible benefit of the melodic prime.
In conclusion, contour processing seems to be inherently linked with music even if it can be elicited by non-musical stimuli, such as luminance. As a next step, we will investigate whether the pattern of results can be replicated in the auditory modality, by having non-pitch auditory contour resulting from loudness variations. |
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| responsibles | NC |
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Workflow history| from state (1) | to state | comment | date |
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| submitted | published | | 2023/11/24 15:06 UTC |
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