Prototype Effects in Music Listening: An Empirical Approach to the Notion of Imprint

Starting from the idea of cue abstraction , the notion of imprint formation has been hypothesized as being operational in listening to music. This notion is close to the concept of prototype put forth in the late 1960s in categorization research, that is, a set of prominent properties showing in itself an average of the main dimensions of a broader set of items. The present study aims to further develop results of a preliminary experiment in order to investigate the effect of new experimental factors: training , familiarization , and item configurations . The procedures were inspired by the methods developed in prototype research. In an acquisition phase, 600 adult subjects (musicians and nonmusicians) listened to the first part of a piece. They were then presented with a set of items of one or two bars, divided into three parts: Heard items (selected from the first part of the piece: already heard), Unheard items (selected from the second part), and Modified items (including slight pitch changes or changes in pitch and rhythm). The underlying imprint hypothesis was that unheard items would be erroneously felt to have already been perceived before . The material was presented in three different familiarization conditions: listening to the first part of the piece either 10, 6, or 2 times during the acquisition phase. In the recognition phase, subjects had to indicate whether the item had previously been heard and to give a degree of confidence in their response. Musicians performed better than nonmusicians performed, and this effect of training was reinforced by the number of previous listenings to the piece. In addition, more correct responses were recorded for items of two bars than for items of one bar. Finally pitch and rhythm modifications were perceived much better than were pitch changes alone. A clear imprint effect was observed in the different stages of the approach. Au deepart de l'ideee d' Extraction d'indices , on pose l'hypotheese de la Formation d'empreintes dans l'eecoute de la musique. Cette notion, proche du concept de Prototypie avancee aa la fin des anneees 60 dans les recherches en matieere de cateegorisation, suggeere la formation d'un pattern qui reesume en une sorte de "moyenne" statistique, les dimensions d'un plus large ensemble. La preesente eetude deeveloppe les reesultats d'une eetude preeliminaire et se propose d'investiguer l'effet de nouveaux facteurs: formation , familiarisation et agencement des items . Les proceedures ont eetee inspireees par les meethodologies deeveloppeees dans la recherche en matieere de prototypie. Au cours d'une phase dite d'acquisition, on propose aa 600 sujets (musiciens et non-musiciens) l'eecoute de la premieere partie d'une pieece. La phase de reconnaissance preesente ensuite un ensemble d'items de une ou deux mesures. Chaque ensemble est constituee de trois parties: items Entendus (seelectionnees dans la premieere partie de la pieece, deejaa auditionneee); Non Entendus (seelectionnees dans la seconde partie) et Modifiees (c'est-aa-dire des items comportant des petits changements soit de hauteurs, soit de hauteur et rythme): l'hypotheese sous-jacente eetant que les items non entendus seront erronneement consideerees comme ayant deejaa eetee perccus . Trois conditions de familiarisation eetaient preevues pour la preesentation du mateeriel: 10, 6 et 2 eecoutes de la premieere partie de la pieece au cours de la phase d'acquisition. Lors de la phase de reconnaissance, les sujets devaient indiquer, pour chaque item, s'ils l'avaient entendu ou non auparavant; ils devaient, en outre, assortir leurs reeponses d'un degree de certitude. Les musiciens ont obtenu de meilleurs reesultats que les non-musiciens et cet effet de la formation est, de plus, renforcee par le nombre d'auditions de familiarisation. En outre, l'agencement des items influence les performances: les items de deux mesures reecoltent de meilleures reeponses que les items d'une mesure. Enfin, on observe que les modifications portant sur la hauteur et le rythme sont plus pertinentes que les seuls changements de hauteur. Un effet d'empreinte eevident a eetee observee aux diffeerentes eetapes de cette approche.