Western classical music in the minor mode is slower (except in the Romantic period)
Olaf Post and David Huron
Why does music therapy help in Autism?
Neha Khetrapal
A simpler explanation for vestibular influence on beat perception: No specialized unit needed
Mark Riggle
Two studies are reported that examine the relationship between musical mode and tempo in Western classical music. In the first study, modes were determined for 331 works bearing the tempo markings largo, adagio, allegro, or presto. Slower tempo markings are significantly more likely to be associated with the minor mode in the case of music from the Baroque and Classical periods, whereas the reverse trend is observed in music from the Romantic period. In the second study, an analysis of 21 audio recordings of theme-and-variation keyboard movements (from all three style periods) shows that variations written in the minor mode are performed more slowly than neighboring variations in the major mode. These tempo-related observations are largely consistent with research in speech prosody, which has shown that sad speakers speak relatively slowly.
Music therapy is shown to be an effective intervention for emotional recognition deficits in autism. However, researchers to date have yet to propose a model that accounts for the neurobiological and cognitive components that are responsible for such improvements. The current paper outlines a model whereby the encoding of tonal pitch is proposed as the underlying mechanism. Accurate tonal pitch perception is important for recognizing emotions like happiness and sadness in the auditory domain. Once acquired, the ability to perceive tonal pitch functions as a domain-specific module that proves beneficial for music cognition. There is biological preparedness for the development of such a module and it is hypothesized to be preserved in autism. The current paper reinforces the need to build intervention programs based on this preserved module in autism, and proposes that this module may form the basis for a range of benefits related to music therapy. Possible brain areas associated with this module are suggested.
Some researchers have hypothesized the existence of a specialized brain unit for beat perception in music which is directly influenced by vestibular stimulation arising from motion. They also suggest that the unit is involved in the entrainment of movement to music. However, the data used to support this hypothesis may be explained by a simpler phenomenon: the audiogravic and audiogyral effect. This effect is not related to beat perception at all but deals with perceived sound changes under accelerations. If the perception of a sound changes as a consequence of acceleration of the vestibular system, and those accelerations are timed to coincide with particular beats in a stream of unaccented beats, then those beats will actually sound different. The detection of a given meter in that unaccented stream will therefore arise from this change in sound processing, with no need for a specialized brain mechanism for beat perception. There is no direct evidence supporting the existence of an innate brain unit.
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ISSN: 1559-5749 |
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