Universality vs experience: a cross-cultural pilot study on the consonance effect in music at different altitudes

PeerJ

article

Giulia Prete¹  Danilo Bondi²  Vittore Verratti¹  Anna Maria Aloisi³  Prabin Rai⁴  Luca Tommasi¹ 

[1] Department of Psychological, Health and Territorial Sciences, “G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara;Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, “G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara;Department of Medicine, Surgery and Neuroscience, University of Siena;Unique College of Medical Science and Hospital;Mechi Technical Training Academy

关键词: Consonance;    Dissonance;    Music pleasantness;    Hypoxia;    Culture;    Altitude;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.9344

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

Background Previous studies have shown that music preferences are influenced by cultural “rules”, and some others have suggested a universal preference for some features over others. Methods We investigated cultural differences on the “consonance effect”, consisting in higher pleasantness judgments for consonant compared to dissonant chords—according to the Western definition of music: Italian and Himalayan participants were asked to express pleasantness judgments for consonant and dissonant chords. An Italian and a Nepalese sample were tested both at 1,450 m and at 4,750 m of altitude, with the further aim to evaluate the effect of hypoxia on this task. A third sample consisted of two subgroups of Sherpas: lowlanders (1,450 m of altitude), often exposed to Western music, and highlanders (3,427 m of altitude), less exposed to Western music. All Sherpas were tested where they lived. Results Independently from the altitude, results confirmed the consonance effect in the Italian sample, and the absence of such effect in the Nepalese sample. Lowlander Sherpas revealed the consonance effect, but highlander Sherpas did not show this effect. Conclusions Results of this pilot study show that neither hypoxia (altitude), nor demographic features (age, schooling, or playing music), nor ethnicity per se influence the consonance effect. We conclude that music preferences are attributable to music exposure.

【 授权许可】

CC BY