What to Expect When the Unexpected Becomes Expected: Harmonic Surprise and Preference Over Time in Popular Music

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

Norberto Grzywacz¹  David S. Rosen⁴  Shaun Barry⁵  Scott A. Miles⁵  David Grunberg⁵ 

[1] Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States;Department of Psychology, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States;Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, United States;Music and Entertainment Technology Laboratory, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, United States;Secret Chord Laboratories, Norfolk, VA, United States;

关键词: music;    surprise;    harmony;    preference;    predictive coding;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fnhum.2021.578644

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Previous work demonstrates that music with more surprising chords tends to be perceived as more enjoyable than music with more conventional harmonic structures. In that work, harmonic surprise was computed based upon a static distribution of chords. This would assume that harmonic surprise is constant over time, and the effect of harmonic surprise on music preference is similarly static. In this study we assess that assumption and establish that the relationship between harmonic surprise (as measured according to a specific time period) and music preference is not constant as time goes on. Analyses of harmonic surprise and preference from 1958 to 1991 showed increased harmonic surprise over time, and that this increase was significantly more pronounced in preferred songs. Separate analyses showed similar increases over the years from 2000 to 2019. As such, these findings provide evidence that the human perception of tonality is influenced by exposure. Baseline harmonic expectations that were developed through listening to the music of “yesterday” are violated in the music of “today,” leading to preference. Then, once the music of “today” provides the baseline expectations for the music of “tomorrow,” more pronounced violations—and with them, higher harmonic surprise values—become associated with preference formation. We call this phenomenon the “Inflationary-Surprise Hypothesis.” Support for this hypothesis could impact the understanding of how the perception of tonality, and other statistical regularities, are developed in the human brain.

【 授权许可】

Unknown