DOCTORAL THESIS Repeated music listening mapping the development of melodic expectations Trower, Hayley Award date: 2019 General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 06. Oct. 2021 Repeated Music Listening: Mapping the Development of Melodic Expectations by Hayley L Trower BSc, MSc A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PhD Department of Education University of Roehampton 2019 1 2 Abstract It has long been asserted that the mind’s predisposition to predict the future based on the past and present underpins the understanding and enjoyment of music. An oft-considered paradox in music psychology is that if a listener’s thwarted expectations cause an emotional response, how does this occur even when a piece is familiar? This motivates two objectives that concern melodic expectations in response to repeated music listening: the first is to empirically investigate the changing interplay between varying sources of expectation in adult listeners, and the second examines how melodic expectations evolve as a result of ‘typical’ and ‘atypical’ development. Investigation is achieved by empirically examining the interaction between different forms of expectation proposed by zygonic theory: schematic, within-group and veridical. Adults, typically developing children, and children with high-functioning autism took part in two experimental sessions separated by one week. In each session, individuals rated their perceived pitch-by-pitch expectedness using a Continuous Response Measurement Apparatus in response to a 4 x repeated 26- note melody. Results show that the relationship between the three forms of expectation functions differently in each participant group. Adult listeners’ schematic and within-group expectations remain consistent, despite a cumulative increase in veridical expectations. ‘Typical’ children base their expectations on absolute properties and pairs of notes at 6-8 years, on longer sequences of notes and connected groups at 9-12 years, and more complex relational structures at 13-17 years. This aligns with age-related changes in memory capacity and efficiency. Children on the autism spectrum demonstrate a local processing bias and an ability to process global melodic structure, but not in a cumulative way that is sensitive to repetition. This implies an atypical interaction between long-term and working memory. In sum, the present thesis demonstrates how the interplay between three sources of expectation is underpinned by differences in memory function in the context of melodic repetition. 3 4 List of Figures ................................................................................................ 11 List of Tables ................................................................................................. 14 1 Literature review .................................................................................... 22 1.1 Research aim and objectives ...................................................................................... 24 1.1.1 Research objective 1: melodic expectations for familiar music .......................... 24 1.1.2 Research objective 2: development of melodic expectations .............................. 30 1.1.3 Thesis and chapter outline ................................................................................... 32 1.2 Expectation in music – theory: Leonard Meyer’s Emotion and Meaning in Music ... 33 1.2.1 Conflict theory of emotions ................................................................................. 34 1.2.2 Statistical learning and information theory .......................................................... 34 1.2.3 Gestalt psychology ............................................................................................... 35 1.3 Expectation in music – theory: aesthetic responses to music ..................................... 36 1.4 Modelling expectations .............................................................................................. 41 1.4.1 The implication-realization model ....................................................................... 41 1.4.2 The zygonic model of expectation ....................................................................... 46 1.4.3 The Information Dynamics Of Music (IDyOM) ................................................. 49 1.4.4 Modelling expectations: summary ....................................................................... 51 1.5 Melodic expectations in typically developing children .............................................. 52 1.5.1 Music development: expectations ........................................................................ 52 1.5.2 Music development: perception and cognition .................................................... 57 1.5.3 General development: memory ............................................................................ 60 5 1.5.4 Typically developing children: summary ............................................................ 62 1.6 Melodic expectations in children with autism ............................................................ 62 1.6.1 General perception ............................................................................................... 64 1.6.2 Music perception.................................................................................................. 66 1.6.3 Memory and learning ........................................................................................... 68 1.6.4 High-functioning autistic children: summary ...................................................... 72 1.7 Research questions and hypotheses ............................................................................ 72 1.7.1 Research questions ............................................................................................... 72 1.7.2 General hypotheses .............................................................................................. 73 2 Methods ................................................................................................... 78 2.1 Design ......................................................................................................................... 78 2.3.1 Measuring expectations ....................................................................................... 78 2.3.2 Repeated measures design ................................................................................... 82 2.4 Participants ................................................................................................................. 83 2.4.1 Rationale for typically developing sample – adults ............................................. 83 2.4.2 Rationale for typically developing sample – children ......................................... 84 2.4.3 Rationale for typically developing sample – gender and musical ability ............ 85 2.4.4 Rationale for children with ASC ......................................................................... 86 2.4.5 Rationale for ASC sample – gender and musical ability ..................................... 88 2.4.2 Recruitment .......................................................................................................... 89 2.5 Materials ..................................................................................................................... 90 2.5.1 Audio materials .................................................................................................... 90 6 2.5.2. Questionnaire materials ...................................................................................... 98 2.6 Apparatus .................................................................................................................... 99 2.7 Procedure .................................................................................................................. 100 2.8 Data analysis ............................................................................................................. 104 2.9 Ethical considerations ............................................................................................... 107 2.10 Chapter summary ................................................................................................... 108 3 Results: typically developing adults .................................................... 110 3.1 Participants ............................................................................................................... 111 3.2 Session and trial level analysis (quantitative) .......................................................... 114 3.2.1 Whole melody .................................................................................................... 114 3.1.2 Phrase A ............................................................................................................