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Affective priming with musical chords is influenced by pitch numerosity

Lahdelma, I.; Armitage, J.; Eerola, T.

Affective priming with musical chords is influenced by pitch numerosity Thumbnail


Authors

J. Armitage



Abstract

Previous studies using an affective priming paradigm have shown that valenced chords (e.g., consonant–positive; dissonant–negative) facilitate the evaluation of similarly valenced target words. The role of numerosity (the total number of pitches in a chord) and timbre has not yet been systematically investigated in previous priming studies using consonant/dissonant chords. An experiment was conducted in which 40 participants evaluated positive and negative target words with consonant/dissonant chords used as affective primes. Eight distinct chords (four consonant and four dissonant) were used as primes; the consonant and dissonant chords were equally divided to comprise either two (i.e., interval) or four (i.e., tetrad) pitches. Each chord was played with two distinct timbres (piano and harmonium), resulting in a total of 16 chords. Results showed that congruent chord–word pairings resulted in faster reaction times, and this finding was in line with previous research using consonant/dissonant chords as primes. However, this effect was present only with tetrad chords, suggesting that numerosity influences affective priming done with chords. There were no significant effects of timbre or the musical sophistication of the participants. Arguments are made as to why higher pitch numerosity in chords (resulting in acoustic complexity) might influence the evaluation of valenced target words.

Citation

Lahdelma, I., Armitage, J., & Eerola, T. (2022). Affective priming with musical chords is influenced by pitch numerosity. Musicae Scientiae, 26(1), 208-217. https://doi.org/10.1177/1029864920911127

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Feb 15, 2020
Online Publication Date Mar 19, 2020
Publication Date Mar 1, 2022
Deposit Date Feb 20, 2020
Publicly Available Date Apr 20, 2020
Journal Musicae Scientiae
Print ISSN 1029-8649
Electronic ISSN 2045-4147
Publisher SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 26
Issue 1
Pages 208-217
DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/1029864920911127

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