Recently, Bowling, Purves, and Gill (2018a) , found that individuals perceive chords with spectra resembling a harmonic series as more consonant. This is consistent with their vocal similarity hypothesis (VSH), the notion that the experience of consonance is based on an evolved preference for sounds that resemble human vocalizations. To rule out confounding between harmonicity and familiarity, we extended Bowling et al.’s (2018a) procedure to chords from the unconventional Bohlen-Pierce chromatic just (BPCJ) scale. We also assessed whether the association between harmonicity and consonance was moderated by timbre by presenting chords generated from either piano or clarinet samples. Results failed to straightforwardly replicate this association; however, evidence of a positive correlation between harmonicity and consonance did emerge across timbres following post hoc exclusion of chords containing intervals that were particularly similar to conventional equal-tempered dyads. Supplementary regression analyses using a more comprehensive measure of harmonicity confirmed its positive association with consonance ratings of BPCJ chords, yet also showed that spectral interference independently contributed to these ratings. In sum, our results are consistent with the VSH; however, they also suggest that a composite model, incorporating both harmonicity as well as spectral interference as predictors, would best account for variance in consonance judgments.

Integrating methods from experimental social psychology and music perception, we tested the hypothesis that when listeners personally like a musician, they will be more inclined to experience his or her music as both provoking movement and as subjectively pleasurable, the two core features of perceived groove. In Experiment 1, participants were exposed to a set of moderately-syncopated, high-groove drum-breaks which they were led to believe were either produced by a relatively likable or unlikable musician. In line with predictions, participants led to find the musician more versus less likable rated the same drum-breaks as more evocative of both the urge to move and of feelings of pleasure. When participants in a follow-up study (Experiment 2) were administered the exact same manipulation of likability, but exposed to highly-syncopated, low-groove drum-breaks, these effects were eradicated, suggesting that the results of Experiment 1 were not merely due to demand characteristics or response biases. Together, these findings support the notion that listeners are more responsive to “participating in the music” when they are relatively motivated to affiliate with the musician(s). Methodological limitations and directions for future research on the social psychological underpinnings of groove are discussed.

Integrating methods from experimental social psychology and music perception, we tested the hypothesis that when listeners personally like a musician, they will be more inclined to experience his or her music as both provoking movement and as subjectively pleasurable, the two core features of perceived groove. In Experiment 1, participants were exposed to a set of moderately-syncopated, high-groove drum-breaks which they were led to believe were either produced by a relatively likable or unlikable musician. In line with predictions, participants led to find the musician more versus less likable rated the same drum-breaks as more evocative of both the urge to move and of feelings of pleasure. When participants in a follow-up study (Experiment 2) were administered the exact same manipulation of likability, but exposed to highly-syncopated, low-groove drum-breaks, these effects were eradicated, suggesting that the results of Experiment 1 were not merely due to demand characteristics or response biases. Together, these findings support the notion that listeners are more responsive to “participating in the music” when they are relatively motivated to affiliate with the musician(s). Methodological limitations and directions for future research on the social psychological underpinnings of groove are discussed.

I n a recent article , B onin , T rainor , B elyk , and Andrews (2016) proposed a novel way in which basic processes of auditory perception may influence affective responses to music. According to their source dilemma hypothesis (SDH), the relative fluency of a particular aspect of musical processing—the parsing of the music into distinct audio streams—is hedonically marked: Efficient stream segregation elicits pleasant affective experience whereas inefficient segregation results in unpleasant affective experience, thereby contributing to (dis)preference for a musical stimulus. Bonin et al. (2016) conducted two experiments, the results of which were ostensibly consistent with the SDH. However, their research designs introduced major confounds that undermined the ability of these initial studies to offer unequivocal evidence for their hypothesis. To address this, we conducted a large-scale ( N = 311) constructive replication of Bonin et al. (2016 ; Experiment 2), significantly modifying the design to rectify these methodological shortfalls and thereby better assess the validity of the SDH. Results successfully replicated those of Bonin et al. (2016) , although they indicated that source dilemma effects on music preference may be more modest than their original findings would suggest. Unresolved issues and directions for future investigation of the SDH are discussed.

A ccording to J uslin (2001), final ritardandi constitute part of the acoustic code employed by musicians to communicate two distinct emotional states: sadness and tenderness. To test this proposition, in two experiments, participants were exposed to a set of hymns that were modified in mode and/or tempo to primarily express either happiness, sadness, or tenderness. In addition, the inclusion of final ritardandi was experimentally manipulated such that these timing variations were either present or absent in the hymn stimuli. Participants were then asked to rate the emotions expressed by each variant of the hymns. In line with Juslin (2001) , results revealed that when final ritardandi were included, expressively sad music was perceived as conveying more sadness, whereas expressively tender music was perceived as conveying more tenderness. Inclusion of ritardandi did not heighten the expression of happiness in music that was in a major key nor promote the expression of tenderness in music that was in a minor key. This suggests that final ritardandi do not generally heighten emotional expressivity and only amplify the emotional message already established by other cues, particularly those based on mode and overall tempo.

Prior research has amply documented that happy music tends to be faster, louder, higher in average pitch, more variable in pitch, and more staccato in articulation, whereas sad music tends to be slower, lower, less variable, and more legato in articulation. However, the bulk of existing studies are either correlational or allow these expressive cues to covary freely, thereby making it difficult to confirm the causal influence of a given cue. To help address this gap, we experimentally assessed whether the average height (F0) of a pitch gamut independently impacts the perceived emotional expression of melodies derived from the gamut. Study participants rated the perceived happiness/sadness of a set of isochronous and semi-random tone sequences derived from the Bohlen-Pierce scale, an unconventional scale based on pitch intervals that do not appear in common practice music. Results were consistent with the notion that higher average pitch height communicates happiness and/or that lower pitch height communicates sadness. Moreover, they suggested that the effect is: (1) sufficiently robust to be detected using rudimentary melodies based on an unconventional musical scale; and, (2) independent of interval size.