Recognition memory for details of musical phrases (discrimination between targets and similar lures) improves for up to 15 s following the presentation of a target, during continuous listening to the ongoing piece. This is attributable to binding of stimulus features during that time interval. The ongoing-listening paradigm is an ecologically valid approach for investigating short-term memory, but previous studies made use of relatively mechanical MIDI-produced stimuli. The present study assessed whether expressive performances would modulate the previously reported finding. Given that expressive performances introduced slight differences between initially presented targets and their target-test items, expressive performance could make the task more difficult overall than did the previously used mechanical renderings. However, results revealed an even stronger improvement for the expressive pieces than for the mechanical pieces. The pattern of results was observed for participants varying in their level of musical experience, though the difference between expressive and mechanical conditions was more pronounced for the less-experienced participants. Overall, our study showed that the memory improvement phenomenon extends to more realistic musical material, which includes expressive timing characteristics of live performance.
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April 2013
Research Article|
April 01 2013
Influence of Expressive Versus Mechanical Musical Performance on Short-term Memory for Musical Excerpts
Barbara Tillmann,
Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, Lyon, France
Barbara Tillmann, CNRS UMR5292, INSERM U1028, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon, Equipe Cognition Auditive et Psychoacoustique, 50 Avenue Tony Garnier, F-69366 Lyon cedex 01. E-mail: [email protected]
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W. Jay Dowling,
W. Jay Dowling
University of Texas at Dallas
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Philippe Lalitte,
Philippe Lalitte
Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France
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Paul Molin,
Paul Molin
Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France
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Katrin Schulze,
Katrin Schulze
Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, Lyon, France & UCL Institute of Child Health, London, UK
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Bénédicte Poulin-Charronnat,
Bénédicte Poulin-Charronnat
Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France
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Daniele Schoen,
Daniele Schoen
Institut de Neurosciences des Systèmes, Marseille, France
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Emmanuel Bigand
Emmanuel Bigand
Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France & Institut Universitaire de France, France
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Barbara Tillmann, CNRS UMR5292, INSERM U1028, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon, Equipe Cognition Auditive et Psychoacoustique, 50 Avenue Tony Garnier, F-69366 Lyon cedex 01. E-mail: [email protected]
Music Perception (2013) 30 (4): 419–425.
Article history
Received:
June 01 2012
Accepted:
August 06 2012
Citation
Barbara Tillmann, W. Jay Dowling, Philippe Lalitte, Paul Molin, Katrin Schulze, Bénédicte Poulin-Charronnat, Daniele Schoen, Emmanuel Bigand; Influence of Expressive Versus Mechanical Musical Performance on Short-term Memory for Musical Excerpts. Music Perception 1 April 2013; 30 (4): 419–425. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2013.30.4.419
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