Music Cognition

Cognition and Segmentation in Collective Free Improvisation

by Clement Canonne

Co-authored with Nicolas B. Garnier.
Proceedings International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition 2012.

Focal Points in Collective Free Improvisation

by Clement Canonne

To be published in Perspectives of New Music
Draft only

A Model for Collective Free Improvisation

by Clement Canonne

Co-authored with Nicolas B. Garnier
Published in the Proceedings of Mathematics,Computation and Music Conference (2011).

An Auditory Twist on Visual Search Using Head Movement Controlled Ambisonics

by Spencer Topel

Co-authored with Kat Agres, Michael Spivey, and Stephen Moseson

In this paper, we propose an auditory search task using a virtual ambisonic environment presented through static... more In this paper, we propose an auditory search task using a virtual ambisonic environment presented through static Head-Related Transfer Functions (HRTF’s). Head-tracking using a magnetometer captures the listener’s orientation and presents an interactive auditory scene. Reaction times from 15 participants are compared for Simple and Complex auditory search tasks. The results lend support to the hypothesis that similar attentional mechanisms may constrain processing during visual and auditory search tasks.

Music study and intervention quality assessment scale (Musiquas) 1st Edition

by Artur C. Jaschke

co-authored with Dr. Laura H.P. Eggermont
Department of Clinical Neuropsychology, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Quality assessment of studies is essential for the understanding and application in systematic reviews and meta... more Quality assessment of studies is essential for the understanding and application in systematic reviews and meta analyses. Publications in scientific journals have extensively used assessment scales to address poor methodological quality, forming inclusion criteria or determine sensitivity controls. Even though these assessments are commonplace in science publications, there is no scale, which assesses the quality of studies in the vast amount of music related sciences.

The Music study and intervention quality assessment scale (Musiquas) addresses this issue, providing a 10-point rating, whereas studies are judged on four broad perspectives: Selection, Control criteria, Exposure and Outcome.
Musiquas is based on the widely used Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) for assessing the quality of nonrandomized studies in meta-analyses (Wells et al, 2011) and was attuned by the authors to fit the demand of quality assessment in music studies and interventions.

Musiquas was piloted in a systematic review on the relationship of music and the transfer effect (Jaschke, Eggermont & Scherder, expected 2012) and its evaluation and validation is currently in progress.


Contact details: Drs A.C. Jaschke, Department of Clinical Neuropsychology, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands, van der Boechorststraat 1, Room: 1D-26, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands

e-mail: a.c.jaschke@vu.nl

The scale is available for download through the below [Download (.pdf)] button

Copyright 2012 VU University Amsterdam. All rights reserved

Mental representations of music in cognitive science (draft)

by Edoardo Acotto

Incomplete draft

That of “mental representation” is a controversial and fundamental (foundational) concept for the philosophy of mind... more That of “mental representation” is a controversial and fundamental (foundational) concept for the philosophy of mind and the cognitive science but classical cognitive science encountered a lot of problems in treating it and connexionism did a great effort for getting rid of it. In philosophy of mind MR means mental entities with a content; in cognitive science MR means information structure coded in the mind with some role in cognitive tasks. In cognitive musicology the use of the concept is quite widespread but ambiguous and vague. We discuss its use and we compare the concept of mental representation of music with that of intentional sound object.

Musica e suono come apertura al mondo

by Edoardo Acotto

Published in “Gli asini” 3, november-december 2010

Che valore può avere la musica contemporanea per la formazione di uno spirito libero? Spesso i compositori... more Che valore può avere la musica contemporanea per la formazione di uno spirito libero? Spesso i compositori novecenteschi hanno radicalmente ignorato il pubblico, abbondantemente ricambiati. Ma gli atteggiamenti filosofici ed estetici sono forse sopravanzati dall’oggettivo interesse della cosa stessa: i suoni musicali nel mondo, non cose del mondo.

Towards an "Archaeology" of Hearing: Schemata and Eighteenth-Century Consciousness. Musica Humana 1/2 (2009): 235–306.

by Vasili Byros

This article investigates the problem of historical modes of listening through the lens of recent research in schema... more This article investigates the problem of historical modes of listening through the lens of recent research in schema theory and historically-informed music cognition (Gjerdingen 1988; 2007; Byros 2009). Substantial empirical evidence now exists surrounding two particular late eighteenth-century schemata: the 1–7, 4–3 (Gjerdingen 1988; Meyer 1980) and the le–sol–fi–sol (Byros 2009). The population distributions derived from extensive corpus study for both schemata approximate a Gaussian distribution that bells in 1750–1760 and 1810–1820, with population peaks in the 1770s and 1790s, respectively. The statistics demonstrate that late eighteenth-century schemata are highly perceptually redundant (Meyer 1967/1994) while historically limited, by following a "life cycle." By extension, the evidence implies that schema-driven listening would by nature be "historical through and through"
(Adorno 2004). Occasions of such "historicized" modes of listening are examined with three case studies (Mozart's "Dissonance" Quartet, Beethoven's Eroica Symphony and Piano Sonata in E minor), which indicate that, where eighteenth-century tonality is concerned, historical and modern modes of cognition differ respectively in the cognitive presence and absence of schemata.

The motor origins of human and avian song structure

by Frank Russo

Tierney, A., Russo, F. A., & Patel, A. D. (2011). The motor origins of human and avian song structure. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) of the United States of America, 108, 15510-15515.

Seeing music performance: Visual influences on perception and experience

by Frank Russo

Thompson, W. F., Graham, P., & Russo, F. A. (2005). Seeing music performance: Visual influences on perception and experience. Semiotica, 156, 203-227. P

Facing the music

by Frank Russo

Thompson, W.F. & Russo, F. A. (2007). Facing the music. Psychological Science, 18, 756-757.

The subjective size of melodic intervals over a two-octave range

by Frank Russo

Russo, F. A., & Thompson, W. F. (2005). The subjective size of melodic intervals over a two-octave range. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 12, 1068-1075.

Sensitivity to tonality across the piano range

by Frank Russo

Russo, F. A., Cuddy, L. L., Galembo, A., & Thompson, W. F. (2007). Sensitivity to tonality across the piano range. Perception, 36, 781-790.

An interval size illusion: The influence of timbre on the perceived size of melodic intervals

by Frank Russo

Russo, F. A., & Thompson, W. F. (2005). An interval-size illusion: The influence of timbre on the perceived size of melodic intervals. Perception & Psychophysics, 67, 559-568.

Learning the" special note": Evidence for a critical period for absolute pitch acquisition

by Frank Russo

Russo, F. A., Windell, D. L., & Cuddy, L. L. (2003). Learning the Special Note: Evidence for a critical period for absolute pitch acquisition. Music Perception, 21, 119-127.

Facial expressions and emotional singing: A study of perception and production with motion capture and electromyography

by Frank Russo

Livingstone, S., Thompson, W.F., & Russo, F. A. (2009). Facial expressions and emotional singing: A study of perception and production with motion capture and electromyography. Music Perception, 26, 475-488.

Perceptual significance of inharmonicity and spectral envelope in the piano bass range

by Frank Russo

Galembo, A., Askenfelt, A., Cuddy, L. L., & Russo, F. A. (2004). Perceptual significance of inharmonicity and spectral envelope in the piano bass range. Acta Acustica, 90, 528-536.

Effects of underscoring on the perception of closure and intensity in film excerpts

by Frank Russo

Thompson, W. F., & Russo, F. A., & Sinclair, D. (1994). Effects of underscoring on the perception of closure and intensity in film excerpts. Psychomusicology, 13, 9-27.

Tune in or tune out: Age-related differences in listening to speech in music

by Frank Russo

Russo, F. A., & Pichora-Fuller, M. K. (2008). Tune-in or tune-out: Age-related differences in listening to speech in music. Ear and Hearing, 29, 746-760.

A common origin for vocal accuracy and melodic expectancy: Vocal constraints

by Frank Russo

Russo, F. A., & Cuddy, L. L. (1999, March). A common origin for vocal accuracy and melodic expectancy: Vocal constraints. Paper presented at the Joint Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America and the European Acoustics Association, Berlin, Germany. Abstract published in Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 105, 1217.