Involuntary Musical Imagery, as conditioned by everyday music listening Ioanna Filippidi Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Department of Music The University of Sheffield. September 2018 Abstract Music in one’s head is a very prevalent phenomenon in everyday life, but the aetiology behind it is still unclear. This thesis aimed to investigate the phenomenon of involuntary musical imagery (INMI), and particularly, under the hypothesis that it is a conditioned response from everyday music listening. Music listening can be a highly rewarding experience, and people use it more than ever to accompany their everyday lives: such systematic habits can create a process similar to classical conditioning, where, when two stimuli systematically pair, one will evoke the response that is usually elicited by the other. This premise has been investigated in three studies, designed specifically for this hypothesis: two laboratory-based behavioural experiments and an Experience Sampling (ES) study. The first experiment explored whether the conditioning process could be recreated in a laboratory context, by repeatedly pairing music with an activity. The second experiment explored the already established conditioning by investigating whether INMI would occur in the place of music: a stress induction experiment was designed to assess if individuals who use music to regulate their stress would experience INMI, in the place of music, as a coping mechanism. The third study explored INMI’s relationship to music listening in the everyday lives of individuals in order to assess this premise in a real-life setting. Overall, the findings of this research were encouraging to the hypothesis, suggesting that there is a relationship between uses of music and INMI in the aspects of activities, mood regulation, genre, and valence, and some evidence that INMI can indeed be a conditioned response. While there were no strong findings that INMI can act in the place of music, the findings indicated that INMI had similar functions. i Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr Renee Timmers, who has taught me how to be a conscientious researcher and an academic. Her professionalism, open mind and creativeness have been pillars to my PhD, but most of all her encouragement, support, compassion, and kindness have kept me going during the dark hours of this PhD. Special thanks to all my participants, who very kindly let me spy into their everyday lives, and their minds, along with their playlists: I paid the high price of endless earworms from all your great playlists. The irony is not lost on me, for as I write these lines, I have a tune playing in my head. They say it takes a village, and the community of this university surely lives up to the expectation: I would like to give thanks to Professor Nikki Dibben, Dr Vicky Williamson, and the Music Department of the University of Sheffield, for their invaluable advice and support throughout the years. I am also grateful to Dr Freya Bailes, for offering advice on the ESM study, and Dr Georgina Floridou, for her friendship and the long conversations about INMI. I would also like to thank Dr Robin Wilkins, for taking me as an intern for an incredible month at the Network Neuroimaging Laboratory for Complex Systems, at Greensboro University, USA. Along the way, several mentors have left their mark on my education and in my shaping as a person: I am ever indebted to Dr Christina Anagnostopoulou, Dr Anja Volk, and Dr Frans Wiering, for introducing me to the field of Psychology of music, and to my music teacher Petro Tsitsopoulo, for bearing with me and teaching me how music works. I am also thankful for my dear godparent Anastasio Bella, for opening my mind to critical thinking, and I would not be the person I am today without the guidance and influence of Kyriako Kottea in my life, whose humour and way of thinking really shaped me: you are sorely missed, and I wish you were here. My fellow students and friends from the University of Sheffield who really transformed my PhD: Julian, Yuko, Andrea, Shen, Nicola, Caroline, Tim, and the rest of the Music, Mind, and Machine and Sheffield group, I am very happy to have been on this journey with you. The feeling of belonging to such an interesting, open-minded, and friendly hub has truly transformed this experience. I also owe thanks to Franziska Gold who has very kindly helped with data gathering on the Mood experiment. I am very thankful for having my dear friend Jamie to share experiences on how to be a PhD student with, to offer the occasional shoulder to cry on, and to drink, celebrate, and for the countless spanakopitas shared between us. I cannot thank enough my big Greek family: my cousins and aunts and uncles and nephews and grandmothers, thank you, but most of all, I am forever grateful to my parents, Ελένη και Χαράλαµπο, my sister Μαγδαληνή, and my new family (in-law) Βασιλική, Γιώργο και Δηµήτρη. Σας αγαπώ πολύ και σας ευχαριστώ µέσα από την καρδιά µου. Χάρη σε εσάς βρίσκοµαι εδώ. Last, I would like to express my eternal gratitude to my beloved husband Panagiotis, who has been a constant supplier of snacks, love, and support, and occasionally my thesaurus, when I asked in mixed Greek and English for a word alternative amid my writing sprees. I am truly grateful, and humbled by your love and support, I love you to the moon and back. ii Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................. i Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................. ii Contents ............................................................................................................................... iii List of Tables ...................................................................................................................... vii List of Figures ...................................................................................................................... x 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Definition of INMI .................................................................................................. 3 1.2 Hypothesis ............................................................................................................... 8 1.2.1 Research Questions and predictions .................................................................... 8 1.3 Definition of INMI for this thesis .......................................................................... 9 1.4 Methods ................................................................................................................. 10 1.5 Overview of studies and predictions ................................................................... 11 1.6 Why study INMI and why this hypothesis? ....................................................... 12 1.7 Structure of Thesis ............................................................................................... 12 2 Involuntary Musical Imagery, Earworms, Music listening and Conditioning Theories: A literature review ................................................................................ 15 2.1 Involuntary Musical Imagery .............................................................................. 16 2.1.1 Anecdotal mentions ........................................................................................... 16 2.1.2 Names and definitions ........................................................................................ 18 2.1.3 Prevalence .......................................................................................................... 20 2.1.4 Factors for INMI ................................................................................................ 20 2.1.4.1 Musicality .................................................................................................................. 20 2.1.4.2 Familiarity ................................................................................................................. 21 2.1.5 Categories of INMI occurrence .......................................................................... 22 2.1.6 Trait and state personality factors and INMI ..................................................... 22 2.1.7 Characteristics .................................................................................................... 23 2.1.8 Looping INMI .................................................................................................... 23 2.1.9 Valence of INMI ................................................................................................ 24 2.1.10 Catchiness and INMI ........................................................................................ 24 2.1.11 Genre of INMI .................................................................................................. 25 2.1.12 Music listening and INMI ................................................................................. 26 2.1.13 Inducing INMI .................................................................................................. 26 2.1.14 Ability of musical imagery ............................................................................... 27 2.1.15 Musical training ...............................................................................................