Search

Research on the multisensory control of locomotion has demonstrated that adults exhibit auditory-motor entrainment across an array of contexts. In such work adults will consciously modulate the cadence of their walking when instructed to match their footfalls to an auditory metronome equal to, slower than, or faster than, their natural walking cadence. The current study extends such investigations to young toddlers between 14 and 24 months (n = 59, drawn from Toronto, Ontario), as well as adults (n = 20, drawn from Toronto, Ontario), demonstrating that even new walkers will modify their gait when presented with auditory input at or faster than their natural walking cadence. Additionally, the current study demonstrates that such modulations will occur in the absence of explicit instructions to modify gait for both toddlers and adults, suggesting an automatic level of auditory-motor entraining across ages.

From 2012 to 2023, the American Psychological Association served as publisher of Psychomusicology: Music, Mind, and Brain. Annabel Cohen and Mark Schmuckler were the successive editors-in-chiefs during this time. As the journal is ceasing publication, the two editors reflect on the development and progress of the journal in the context of the history of psychology and publication trends. They present their review in 10 short movements each with a unique musical emotional expressivity: overture, amabile, vivace, elegy doloroso, sforzando, capriccio, con brio, pendolo, agilmente, and finale risonante, ending on a very upbeat note! Early on, Psychomusicology offered a much-needed research forum for the psychology of music. More recently, the recognized importance of music psychology to almost all areas of psychology has led to increasing numbers of outlets for publication. During the 12 recent years under APA's stewardship, the journalmore than doubled the number of articles published since the journal's inception in 1981. The entire corpus of almost 600 articles represents foundational and well-cited contributions to such current research areas as musical expectancy, performance excellence, musical development, neuroscience, emotion, preference, and film music, among others. Cohen and Schmuckler express deep gratitude to the authors, past editorial board members, and reviewers for their contributions to this corpus, and to the American Psychological Association Publications office and staff both for support and, importantly, for holding and making accessible in perpetuity the outstanding scholarship within the archives of Psychomusicology: MusicMind & Brain and Psychomusicology: A Journal of Music Cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two experiments investigated 9-month-old infants' abilities to recognize the correspondence between an actual three-dimensional (3D) object and its two-dimensional (2D) representation, looking specifically at representations that did not literally depict the actual object: schematic line drawings. In Experiment 1, infants habituated to a line drawing of either a doll or a sheep and were then tested with the actual objects themselves. Infants habituated to the sheep drawing recovered to the unfamiliar but not the familiar object, showing a novelty preference. Infants habituated to the doll drawing, however, recovered to both familiar and unfamiliar objects, failing to show any preference between the two. In Experiment 2, infants habituated to the 3D objects and were then tested with the 2D line drawings. In this case, both groups of infants showed a preference only for the novel displays. Together these findings demonstrate that 9-month-old infants recognize the correspondence between 3D objects and their 2D representations, even when these representations are not literal copies of the objects themselves. (Contains 1 footnote, 1 table, and 3 figures.)

The authors examined how the structural attributes of tonality and meter influence musical pitch-time relations. Listeners heard a musical context followed by probe events that varied in pitch class and temporal position. Tonal and metric hierarchies contributed additively to the goodness-of-fit of probes, with pitch class exerting a stronger influence than temporal position (Experiment 1), even when listeners attempted to ignore pitch (Experiment 2). Speeded classification tasks confirmed this asymmetry. Temporal classification was biased by tonal stability (Experiment 3), but pitch classification was unaffected by temporal position (Experiment 4). Experiments 5 and 6 ruled out explanations based on the presence of pitch classes and temporal positions in the context, unequal stimulus quantity, and discriminability. The authors discuss how typical Western music biases attention toward pitch and distinguish between dimensional discriminability and salience. (Contains 8 figures, 3 tables, and 4 footnotes.)

This experiment investigated the impact of the path of approach of an object, from head on versus from the side, and the type of imminent contact with that object, a hit versus a miss, on young infants' perceptions of object looming. Consistent with earlier studies, we found that 4- to 5-month-old infants do indeed discriminate hits versus misses. We also found a novel result regarding the path of the approaching object. The discrimination of hits from misses was modified by whether or not the approaching objects passed in front of the infants' faces; objects crossing the line of sight evoked more frequent defensive reactions than objects that did not cross the line of sight, regardless of whether or not such objects were on a collision course. These findings are discussed within the context of the development of visually guided locomotion and linear versus nonlinear paths of translation through the world. (Contains 3 figures and 4 footnotes.)

This study examined 6-month-old infants' abilities to use the visual information provided by simulated self-movement through the world, and movement of an object through the world, for spatial orientation. Infants were habituated to a visual display in which they saw a toy hidden, followed by either rotation of the point of observation through the world (simulated self-movement) or movement of the object itself through the world (object movement). Following habituation, infants saw test displays in which the hidden toy reappeared at the correct or incorrect location, relative to the earlier movements. Infants habituated to simulated self-movement looked longer at the recovery of the toy from an incorrect, relative to correct location. In contrast, infants habituated to object movement showed no differential looking to either correct or incorrect test displays. These findings are discussed within a theoretical framework of spatial orientation emphasizing the availability and use of spatial information. (Contains 1 table, 2 figures and 1 footnote.)

Perceiving the tonality of a musical passage is a fundamental aspect of the experience of hearing music. Models for determining tonality have thus occupied a central place in music cognition research. Three experiments investigated 1 well-known model of tonal determination: the Krumhansl-Schmuckler key-finding algorithm. In Experiment 1, listeners' percepts of tonality following short musical fragments derived from preludes by Bach and Chopin were compared with predictions of tonality produced by the algorithm; these predictions were very accurate for the Bach preludes but considerably less so for the Chopin preludes. Experiment 2 explored a subset of the Chopin preludes, finding that the algorithm could predict tonal percepts on a measure-by-measure basis. In Experiment 3, the algorithm predicted listeners' percepts of tonal movement throughout a complete Chopin prelude. These studies support the viability of the Krumhansl-Schmuckler key-finding algorithm as well as a model of listeners' tonal perceptions of musical passages.

The role of 2 psychological processes, differentiation and organization, were examined in the perception of musical tonality. Differentiation distinguishes elements from one another and was varied in terms of the distribution of pitch durations within tone sequences. Organization establishes relations between differentiated elements and was varied in terms of either conformity with or deviation from a hierarchical description of tonality. Multiple experiments demonstrated that the perception of tonality depended on a minimal degree of differentiation in the distribution of the duration--but not frequency of occurrence --of pitches and only when pitch distributions were hierarchically organized. Moreover, the mere differentiation of the tonic from nontonic pitches was not sufficient to induce tonal percepts. These results are discussed in relation to tonal strength, musical expressiveness, and principles of auditory pattern processing.

Three experiments investigated use of visual input and body movement input arising from movement through the world on spatial orientation. Experiments involved infants searching for a toy hidden in one of two containers. Findings indicated that search was best after infant movement in a lit environment prior to searching; all other conditions led to equivalently worse performance. (Author/KB)

The drive to move to music is evident across a variety of contexts, from the simple urge to tap our toe to a song on the radio, to massive crowds dancing in time at a rock concert. Though seemingly effortless, beat synchronization is difficult to master and children are often poor beat synchronizers. Nevertheless, auditory‐motor integration is fundamental for many daily processes, such as speech. A topic that has been relatively understudied concerns how stimulus properties affect young children's movement in responses to auditory stimuli. In the present study, we examined how musical groove (adult‐rated desire to move) affected 3.0‐ to 6.9‐year‐old children's free dancing in the comfort of their home (n = 78). In the high groove conditions, children danced more and with more energy compared to the low groove conditions. Moreover, in the high groove condition, children's movement tempos corresponded better with the tempos of the music. Results point to early childhood sensitivity to the musical features that motivate adults to move to music. High groove music may therefore prove especially effective at facilitating early auditory‐motor integration. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at https://youtu.be/vli0‐6N12Ts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]