From Cognition and Brain Plasticity Unit, Learning from Reward
will present the talk titled
MUSICOS: a new paradigm to understanding music appreciation
Abstract
The ability to experience pleasure with music is one of humans’ most impressive skills. However, how musical patterns become rewarding is still poorly understood. Theoretical models suggest that much of music’s power stems from the predictions it engenders and exploits through its structural and temporal patterns, which resonates with the growingly accepted view of the brain as a predictive machine. Learning is essential for understanding one’s environment and facilitating individuals survival. Thus, it seems plausible that the brain may intrinsically reward us when learning occurs. In this vein, Berlyne proposed that an intermediate degree of complexity – i.e., a manageable challenge – might optimize learning and, therefore, liking across aesthetic domains (Wundt effect). Yet the evidence of the Wundt effect in music is mixed. I will present a new paradigm (MUSICOS: MUSIc COmplexity Sensitivity task) to provide a formal demonstration of this effect at the individual level with well-defined complexity measures and a heterogeneous and large sampling of novel music to identify potential curvilinear effects. Finally, I will show that by combining this paradigm with computational modeling, we can predict individuals’ music preferences and likings.
ZOOM LINK: https://ub-edu.zoom.us/j/98949097609