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Cross-Modal Multivariate Pattern Analysis
Published on: November 9, 2011
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Crossmodal Correspondence Between Tonal Hierarchy and Visual Brightness: Associating Syntactic Structure and
Neta B Maimon1, Dominique Lamy1,2, Zohar Eitan3
11The School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv University, POB 39040, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel.
Multisensory Research
|March 11, 2021
Summary
Crossmodal correspondences link music tonality to visual brightness. This association between tonal stability and brightness exists in both musicians and non-musicians, operating automatically.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Science
- Auditory Perception
- Crossmodal Perception
Background:
- Crossmodal correspondences (CMC) systematically link perceptual dimensions across senses.
- Previous research focused on basic perceptual dimensions, not high-level musical structures.
- Music tonality, governing stability and tension, has proposed non-auditory links.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate crossmodal correspondences between music tonality and visual brightness.
- To examine these correspondences in both musicians and non-musicians.
- To differentiate between explicit and implicit measures of this association.
Main Methods:
- Explicit testing: Participants matched probe tones to circles of varying brightness after hearing tonal contexts.
- Implicit testing: The Implicit Association Test (IAT) was used with auditory (tonal stability) and visual (brightness) stimuli.
- Participants included both musicians and non-musicians.
Main Results:
- Tonal stability was consistently associated with visual brightness across both explicit and implicit measures.
- The correspondence was observed in both musicians and non-musicians.
- Findings suggest the association relies only partially on conceptual musical knowledge, indicating automatic processes.
Conclusions:
- Abstract musical structures, like tonality, can evoke concrete sensory connotations.
- This research opens new avenues for understanding the link between syntactical structure and connotative meaning in perception.
- Crossmodal correspondences extend beyond basic features to complex, abstract musical elements.
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