{"title":"The function of timbre in the perception of affective intentions: Effect of enculturation in different musical traditions","authors":"Lena Heng, Stephen McAdams","doi":"10.1177/10298649241237775","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Timbre has been identified as a potential component in the communication of affect in music. Although its function as a carrier of perceptually useful information about sound source mechanics has been established, less is understood about whether and how it functions as a carrier of information for communicating affect in music. To investigate these issues, listeners trained in Chinese and Western musical traditions were presented with Phrases, Measures, and Notes of recorded excerpts interpreted with a variety of affective intentions by performers on instruments from the two cultures. Results showed greater accuracy and more extreme responses in Chinese musician listeners and lowest accuracy in nonmusicians suggesting that musical training plays a role in listeners’ decoding of affective intention. Responses were more differentiated and more accurate with more musical information. Excerpts were also analyzed to determine acoustic features that are correlated with timbre characteristics. Temporal, spectral, and spectrotemporal attributes were consistently used in judging affective intent in music, suggesting purposeful use of these properties by listeners. Comparison between listeners’ use of acoustic features reveals a greater number of shared features between Western musicians and nonmusicians compared to Chinese musicians for valence, although the three groups shared more features for arousal. How timbre is utilized in musical communication appears to be different across musical traditions, and valence responses seem to be more culture-specific and arousal responses more similar across cultures.","PeriodicalId":2,"journal":{"name":"ACS Applied Bio Materials","volume":"288 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.6000,"publicationDate":"2024-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"ACS Applied Bio Materials","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10298649241237775","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"MATERIALS SCIENCE, BIOMATERIALS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Timbre has been identified as a potential component in the communication of affect in music. Although its function as a carrier of perceptually useful information about sound source mechanics has been established, less is understood about whether and how it functions as a carrier of information for communicating affect in music. To investigate these issues, listeners trained in Chinese and Western musical traditions were presented with Phrases, Measures, and Notes of recorded excerpts interpreted with a variety of affective intentions by performers on instruments from the two cultures. Results showed greater accuracy and more extreme responses in Chinese musician listeners and lowest accuracy in nonmusicians suggesting that musical training plays a role in listeners’ decoding of affective intention. Responses were more differentiated and more accurate with more musical information. Excerpts were also analyzed to determine acoustic features that are correlated with timbre characteristics. Temporal, spectral, and spectrotemporal attributes were consistently used in judging affective intent in music, suggesting purposeful use of these properties by listeners. Comparison between listeners’ use of acoustic features reveals a greater number of shared features between Western musicians and nonmusicians compared to Chinese musicians for valence, although the three groups shared more features for arousal. How timbre is utilized in musical communication appears to be different across musical traditions, and valence responses seem to be more culture-specific and arousal responses more similar across cultures.
期刊介绍:
ACS Applied Bio Materials is an interdisciplinary journal publishing original research covering all aspects of biomaterials and biointerfaces including and beyond the traditional biosensing, biomedical and therapeutic applications.
The journal is devoted to reports of new and original experimental and theoretical research of an applied nature that integrates knowledge in the areas of materials, engineering, physics, bioscience, and chemistry into important bio applications. The journal is specifically interested in work that addresses the relationship between structure and function and assesses the stability and degradation of materials under relevant environmental and biological conditions.