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Smit EA, Rathcke TV. The role of native language and beat perception ability in the perception of speech rhythm : Native language, beat perception, and speech rhythm perception. Psychon Bull Rev 2024:10.3758/s13423-024-02513-4. [PMID: 39028394 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-024-02513-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/11/2024] [Indexed: 07/20/2024]
Abstract
The perception of rhythm has been studied across a range of auditory signals, with speech presenting one of the particularly challenging cases to capture and explain. Here, we asked if rhythm perception in speech is guided by perceptual biases arising from native language structures, if it is shaped by the cognitive ability to perceive a regular beat, or a combination of both. Listeners of two prosodically distinct languages - English and French - heard sentences (spoken in their native and the foreign language, respectively) and compared the rhythm of each sentence to its drummed version (presented at inter-syllabic, inter-vocalic, or isochronous intervals). While English listeners tended to map sentence rhythm onto inter-vocalic and inter-syllabic intervals in this task, French listeners showed a perceptual preference for inter-vocalic intervals only. The native language tendency was equally apparent in the listeners' foreign language and was enhanced by individual beat perception ability. These findings suggest that rhythm perception in speech is shaped primarily by listeners' native language experience with a lesser influence of innate cognitive traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eline A Smit
- Department of Linguistics, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Tamara V Rathcke
- Department of Linguistics, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.
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2
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Choi W. Musicianship Influences Language Effect on Musical Pitch Perception. Front Psychol 2021; 12:712753. [PMID: 34690869 PMCID: PMC8527392 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.712753] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2021] [Accepted: 09/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Given its practical implications, the effect of musicianship on language learning has been vastly researched. Interestingly, growing evidence also suggests that language experience can facilitate music perception. However, the precise nature of this facilitation is not fully understood. To address this research gap, I investigated the interactive effect of language and musicianship on musical pitch and rhythmic perception. Cantonese and English listeners, each divided into musician and non-musician groups, completed the Musical Ear Test and the Raven’s 2 Progressive Matrices. Essentially, an interactive effect of language and musicianship was found on musical pitch but not rhythmic perception. Consistent with previous studies, Cantonese language experience appeared to facilitate musical pitch perception. However, this facilitatory effect was only present among the non-musicians. Among the musicians, Cantonese language experience did not offer any perceptual advantage. The above findings reflect that musicianship influences the effect of language on musical pitch perception. Together with the previous findings, the new findings offer two theoretical implications for the OPERA hypothesis—bi-directionality and mechanisms through which language experience and musicianship interact in different domains.
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Affiliation(s)
- William Choi
- Academic Unit of Human Communication, Development, and Information Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR China
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The Musical Ear Test: Norms and correlates from a large sample of Canadian undergraduates. Behav Res Methods 2021; 53:2007-2024. [PMID: 33704673 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-020-01528-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/16/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
We sought to establish norms and correlates for the Musical Ear Test (MET), an objective test of musical ability. A large sample of undergraduates at a Canadian university (N > 500) took the 20-min test, which provided a Total score as well as separate scores for its Melody and Rhythm subtests. On each trial, listeners judged whether standard and comparison auditory sequences were the same or different. Norms were derived as percentiles, Z-scores, and T-scores. The distribution of scores was approximately normal without floor or ceiling effects. There were no gender differences on either subtest or the total score. As expected, scores on both subtests were correlated with performance on a test of immediate recall for nonmusical auditory stimuli (Digit Span Forward). Moreover, as duration of music training increased, so did performance on both subtests, but starting lessons at a younger age was not predictive of better musical abilities. Listeners who spoke a tone language exhibited enhanced performance on the Melody subtest but not on the Rhythm subtest. The MET appears to have adequate psychometric characteristics that make it suitable for researchers who seek to measure musical abilities objectively.
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Haumann NT, Vuust P, Bertelsen F, Garza-Villarreal EA. Influence of Musical Enculturation on Brain Responses to Metric Deviants. Front Neurosci 2018; 12:218. [PMID: 29720932 PMCID: PMC5915898 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2018.00218] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2017] [Accepted: 03/19/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to recognize metric accents is fundamental in both music and language perception. It has been suggested that music listeners prefer rhythms that follow simple binary meters, which are common in Western music. This means that listeners expect odd-numbered beats to be strong and even-numbered beats to be weak. In support of this, studies have shown that listeners exposed to Western music show stronger novelty and incongruity related P3 and irregularity detection related mismatch negativity (MMN) brain responses to attenuated odd- than attenuated even-numbered metric positions. Furthermore, behavioral evidence suggests that music listeners' preferences can be changed by long-term exposure to non-Western rhythms and meters, e.g., by listening to African or Balkan music. In our study, we investigated whether it might be possible to measure effects of music enculturation on neural responses to attenuated tones on specific metric positions. We compared the magnetic mismatch negativity (MMNm) to attenuated beats in a “Western group” of listeners (n = 12) mainly exposed to Western music and a “Bicultural group” of listeners (n = 13) exposed for at least 1 year to both Sub-Saharan African music in addition to Western music. We found that in the “Western group” the MMNm was higher in amplitude to deviant tones on odd compared to even metric positions, but not in the “Bicultural group.” In support of this finding, there was also a trend of the “Western group” to rate omitted beats as more surprising on odd than even metric positions, whereas the “Bicultural group” seemed to discriminate less between metric positions in terms of surprise ratings. Also, we observed that the overall latency of the MMNm was significantly shorter in the Bicultural group compared to the Western group. These effects were not biased by possible differences in rhythm perception ability or music training, measured with the Musical Ear Test (MET). Furthermore, source localization analyses suggest that auditory, inferior temporal, sensory-motor, superior frontal, and parahippocampal regions might be involved in eliciting the MMNm to the metric deviants. These findings suggest that effects of music enculturation can be measured on MMNm responses to attenuated tones on specific metric positions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Niels T Haumann
- Department of Aesthetics and Communication (Musicology), Faculty of Arts, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.,Department of Clinical Medicine, Center for Music in the Brain, Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Peter Vuust
- Department of Clinical Medicine, Center for Music in the Brain, Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Freja Bertelsen
- Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.,Department of Nuclear Medicine and PET Centre, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Eduardo A Garza-Villarreal
- Department of Clinical Medicine, Center for Music in the Brain, Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.,Clinical Research Division, Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz (INPRFM), Mexico City, Mexico.,Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital, Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, Monterrey, Mexico
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Roncaglia-Denissen MP, Bouwer FL, Honing H. Decision Making Strategy and the Simultaneous Processing of Syntactic Dependencies in Language and Music. Front Psychol 2018; 9:38. [PMID: 29441035 PMCID: PMC5797648 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2015] [Accepted: 01/10/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite differences in their function and domain-specific elements, syntactic processing in music and language is believed to share cognitive resources. This study aims to investigate whether the simultaneous processing of language and music share the use of a common syntactic processor or more general attentional resources. To investigate this matter we tested musicians and non-musicians using visually presented sentences and aurally presented melodies containing syntactic local and long-distance dependencies. Accuracy rates and reaction times of participants' responses were collected. In both sentences and melodies, unexpected syntactic anomalies were introduced. This is the first study to address the processing of local and long-distance dependencies in language and music combined while reducing the effect of sensory memory. Participants were instructed to focus on language (language session), music (music session), or both (dual session). In the language session, musicians and non-musicians performed comparably in terms of accuracy rates and reaction times. As expected, groups' differences appeared in the music session, with musicians being more accurate in their responses than non-musicians and only the latter showing an interaction between the accuracy rates for music and language syntax. In the dual session musicians were overall more accurate than non-musicians. However, both groups showed comparable behavior, by displaying an interaction between the accuracy rates for language and music syntax responses. In our study, accuracy rates seem to better capture the interaction between language and music syntax; and this interaction seems to indicate the use of distinct, however, interacting mechanisms as part of decision making strategy. This interaction seems to be subject of an increase of attentional load and domain proficiency. Our study contributes to the long-lasting debate about the commonalities between language and music by providing evidence for their interaction at a more domain-general level.
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Affiliation(s)
- M. P. Roncaglia-Denissen
- Institute for Logic, Language and Computation, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Amsterdam Brain and Cognition, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Fleur L. Bouwer
- Institute for Logic, Language and Computation, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Amsterdam Brain and Cognition, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Henkjan Honing
- Institute for Logic, Language and Computation, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Amsterdam Brain and Cognition, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
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Roncaglia-Denissen MP, Roor DA, Chen A, Sadakata M. The Enhanced Musical Rhythmic Perception in Second Language Learners. Front Hum Neurosci 2016; 10:288. [PMID: 27375469 PMCID: PMC4901070 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2016.00288] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2015] [Accepted: 05/27/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous research suggests that mastering languages with distinct rather than similar rhythmic properties enhances musical rhythmic perception. This study investigates whether learning a second language (L2) contributes to enhanced musical rhythmic perception in general, regardless of first and second languages rhythmic properties. Additionally, we investigated whether this perceptual enhancement could be alternatively explained by exposure to musical rhythmic complexity, such as the use of compound meter in Turkish music. Finally, it investigates if an enhancement of musical rhythmic perception could be observed among L2 learners whose first language relies heavily on pitch information, as is the case with tonal languages. Therefore, we tested Turkish, Dutch and Mandarin L2 learners of English and Turkish monolinguals on their musical rhythmic perception. Participants' phonological and working memory capacities, melodic aptitude, years of formal musical training and daily exposure to music were assessed to account for cultural and individual differences which could impact their rhythmic ability. Our results suggest that mastering a L2 rather than exposure to musical rhythmic complexity could explain individuals' enhanced musical rhythmic perception. An even stronger enhancement of musical rhythmic perception was observed for L2 learners whose first and second languages differ regarding their rhythmic properties, as enhanced performance of Turkish in comparison with Dutch L2 learners of English seem to suggest. Such a stronger enhancement of rhythmic perception seems to be found even among L2 learners whose first language relies heavily on pitch information, as the performance of Mandarin L2 learners of English indicates. Our findings provide further support for a cognitive transfer between the language and music domain.
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Affiliation(s)
- M. Paula Roncaglia-Denissen
- Institute for Logic, Language and Computation, University of AmsterdamAmsterdam, Netherlands
- Amsterdam Brain and Cognition (ABC), University of AmsterdamAmsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Drikus A. Roor
- Musicology Department, University of AmsterdamAmsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Ao Chen
- Utrecht Institute of Linguistics (Uil OTS), Utrecht UniversityUtrecht, Netherlands
| | - Makiko Sadakata
- Institute for Logic, Language and Computation, University of AmsterdamAmsterdam, Netherlands
- Musicology Department, University of AmsterdamAmsterdam, Netherlands
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University NijmegenNijmegen, Netherlands
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Cameron DJ, Bentley J, Grahn JA. Cross-cultural influences on rhythm processing: reproduction, discrimination, and beat tapping. Front Psychol 2015; 6:366. [PMID: 26029122 PMCID: PMC4429809 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00366] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2014] [Accepted: 03/16/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The structures of musical rhythm differ between cultures, despite the fact that the ability to entrain movement to musical rhythm occurs in virtually all individuals across cultures. To measure the influence of culture on rhythm processing, we tested East African and North American adults on perception, production, and beat tapping for rhythms derived from East African and Western music. To assess rhythm perception, participants identified whether pairs of rhythms were the same or different. To assess rhythm production, participants reproduced rhythms after hearing them. To assess beat tapping, participants tapped the beat along with repeated rhythms. We expected that performance in all three tasks would be influenced by the culture of the participant and the culture of the rhythm. Specifically, we predicted that a participant's ability to discriminate, reproduce, and accurately tap the beat would be better for rhythms from their own culture than for rhythms from another culture. In the rhythm discrimination task, there were no differences in discriminating culturally familiar and unfamiliar rhythms. In the rhythm reproduction task, both groups reproduced East African rhythms more accurately than Western rhythms, but East African participants also showed an effect of cultural familiarity, leading to a significant interaction. In the beat tapping task, participants in both groups tapped the beat more accurately for culturally familiar than for unfamiliar rhythms. Moreover, there were differences between the two participant groups, and between the two types of rhythms, in the metrical level selected for beat tapping. The results demonstrate that culture does influence the processing of musical rhythm. In terms of the function of musical rhythm, our results are consistent with theories that musical rhythm enables synchronization. Musical rhythm may foster musical cultural identity by enabling within-group synchronization to music, perhaps supporting social cohesion.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jocelyn Bentley
- Brain and Mind Institute, Western University, London, ON, Canada
- University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Jessica A. Grahn
- Brain and Mind Institute, Western University, London, ON, Canada
- Department of Psychology, Western University, London, ON, Canada
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The Potential Role of Music in Second Language Learning: A Review Article. JOURNAL OF EUROPEAN PSYCHOLOGY STUDENTS 2014. [DOI: 10.5334/jeps.ci] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
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Witek MAG, Clarke EF, Wallentin M, Kringelbach ML, Vuust P. Syncopation, body-movement and pleasure in groove music. PLoS One 2014; 9:e94446. [PMID: 24740381 PMCID: PMC3989225 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0094446] [Citation(s) in RCA: 131] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2013] [Accepted: 03/16/2014] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Moving to music is an essential human pleasure particularly related to musical groove. Structurally, music associated with groove is often characterised by rhythmic complexity in the form of syncopation, frequently observed in musical styles such as funk, hip-hop and electronic dance music. Structural complexity has been related to positive affect in music more broadly, but the function of syncopation in eliciting pleasure and body-movement in groove is unknown. Here we report results from a web-based survey which investigated the relationship between syncopation and ratings of wanting to move and experienced pleasure. Participants heard funk drum-breaks with varying degrees of syncopation and audio entropy, and rated the extent to which the drum-breaks made them want to move and how much pleasure they experienced. While entropy was found to be a poor predictor of wanting to move and pleasure, the results showed that medium degrees of syncopation elicited the most desire to move and the most pleasure, particularly for participants who enjoy dancing to music. Hence, there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between syncopation, body-movement and pleasure, and syncopation seems to be an important structural factor in embodied and affective responses to groove.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Eric F. Clarke
- Faculty of Music, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Mikkel Wallentin
- Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark
- Center for Semiotics, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Morten L. Kringelbach
- Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Peter Vuust
- Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark
- The Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus/Aalborg, Denmark
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