Journal article
What to Expect When the Unexpected Becomes Expected: Harmonic Surprise and Preference Over Time in Popular Music
FRONTIERS IN HUMAN NEUROSCIENCE, v 15, 578644
30 Apr 2021
PMID: 33994972
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Previous work demonstrates that music with more surprising chords tends to be perceived as more enjoyable than music with more conventional harmonic structures. In that work, harmonic surprise was computed based upon a static distribution of chords. This would assume that harmonic surprise is constant over time, and the effect of harmonic surprise on music preference is similarly static. In this study we assess that assumption and establish that the relationship between harmonic surprise (as measured according to a specific time period) and music preference is not constant as time goes on. Analyses of harmonic surprise and preference from 1958 to 1991 showed increased harmonic surprise over time, and that this increase was significantly more pronounced in preferred songs. Separate analyses showed similar increases over the years from 2000 to 2019. As such, these findings provide evidence that the human perception of tonality is influenced by exposure. Baseline harmonic expectations that were developed through listening to the music of yesterday are violated in the music of today, leading to preference. Then, once the music of today provides the baseline expectations for the music of tomorrow, more pronounced violations-and with them, higher harmonic surprise values-become associated with preference formation. We call this phenomenon the Inflationary-Surprise Hypothesis. Support for this hypothesis could impact the understanding of how the perception of tonality, and other statistical regularities, are developed in the human brain.
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Details
- Title
- What to Expect When the Unexpected Becomes Expected: Harmonic Surprise and Preference Over Time in Popular Music
- Publication Details
- FRONTIERS IN HUMAN NEUROSCIENCE, v 15, 578644
- Publisher
- FRONTIERS MEDIA SA; LAUSANNE
- Grant note
- The research was also supported by funds provided by the President and Board of Trustees of Loyola University Chicago, and by Research Funds from Georgetown University.
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Drexel University
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000649926500001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85105909426
- Other Identifier
- 991021860752704721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Neurosciences
- Psychology