Abstracts

Annabel J. Cohen 

Introduction to the workshop: Why the laboratory are looking at film music, language acquisition, mapping biography, spatial music, and music and wellbeing

Abstract

This presentation welcomes all to the workshop and sets the stage within the context of the laboratory for the diversity of presentations of the students, laboratory staff, and special visitor. The laboratory focuses on auditory perception and music cognition. One of the research themes is the role of music in media. The CAM model has been proposed to account for how music works in film. The model emphasizes the active role of the audience in generating a story or working narrative based on the audiovisual information received and the expectations arising from information stored in long term memory. The laboratory pursued this research lately by focusing on how music leads to absorption in film. Two methods have been developed: one an indirect technique (used by Andy Gallant) which assumes that greater absorption increases difficulty in detecting an extraneous object in a film, and a direct method (used by Kelti MacMillan) which asks the audience members to simply rate how absorbed they are at particular points in the film. The laboratory has also been interested in the first insightful book on film psychology, written in 1916 by Hugo Münsterberg. Tracking his extraordinary life is assisted with the help of electronic maps, a technique developed by Yee May Siau. The laboratory is also interested in the acquisition of musical grammar. The work has been guided by a Plasticity Model based on a linguistic concept of the critical period -to understand musical grammar it is important to understand how language grammar is acquired. To address this problem, over the last year, two studies have been exploring factors influencing the recognition of the sounds of new words. The factors examined are musical training, bilingualism, and gender (Mary Anne Welton) and multilingualism (Sarah Simpson, taking advantage of her internship in South Africa). An aspect of music perception that has been little explored is that of the role of spatial location of the musical notes.  The laboratory has been examining this aspect for many years and this work has culminated in the compelling demonstration to be presented by Rob  Drew. Finally, the role of music in human well-being is of interest to the laboratory. Such a theme naturally takes one to the community and the laboratory is delighted that Tony Reddin will share his interest in and knowledge of the application of music in the promotion of wellness and well-being and social justice.

 

Andy Gallant 

The Role of Music on Absorption in Film using Reaction Time 

Abstract 

Congruence-Associationist Model (CAM, Cohen, 2005) of film perception proposes that music contributes to absorption in the viewer/listener's "working narrative" of a film. As a film becomes compelling, the time and ability to respond to visual information irrelevant to the film's story should increase. The present honours thesis aimed to test this theory using materials from the National Film Board "silent" film "the Railrodder" (1965) (starring silent actor Buster Keaton) with original music composed for the film by the eminent Eldon Rathburn. In each of four conditions, the participant watches a computer screen for 20 minutes during which an "X" appears randomly in one corner of the screen at approximately 1-minute intervals. The task is to respond with a key-press every time an X is detected. The baseline condition provides only the 20 X's (1 second, 30 frames) on a black background. The other conditions consist of music-soundtrack-only, film-video-only, and music-soundtrack+ film-video. The baseline condition is expected to be the most difficult task, with both music-only and visual-only conditions adding advantages due to their increased interest. Consistent with CAM, effects of music plus visual material however should decrease performance over music alone due to increased absorption in the film itself and decreased ability to detect items irrelevant to the film.  
 

 

Kelti MacMillan 

THE ROLE OF MUSIC, SOUND EFFECTS & SPEECH ON ABSORPTION IN A FILM 

Abstract 

Our laboratory has been exploring the role of music on absorption in a film. We have shown that the presence of music in a film clip can lead to higher self-ratings of absorption than ratings of identical clips lacking the music (Cohen, MacMillan, & Drew, 2005). The present study extends this enquiry by comparing absorption as a function of three different kinds of soundtracks (only sound effects, only speech, and only music) for the same visual clip. Three soundtracks were created to make sense with the film so as to determine whether the music track, as compared to the speech and sound effects tracks, promoted audience absorption. Two other conditions were also examined: one with all tracks combined and one without any sound. There were 24 participants in each condition. Each participant in the study also completed the Tellegin (1974) test of absorption, providing a measure of the tendency to becoming involved in events. The results revealed that clips with music could produce levels of absorption at least equal to those of speech and sound effects, that absorption was not nececessarily enhanced when all three soundtrack types were integrated into a single soundtrack, and that the absence of a soundtrack does not necessarily reduce absorption in a film. Significant though low correlations of absorption ratings with ratings of realism and professional quality of the film suggest that the soundtracks influence professional quality, realism and absorption similarly in part though not in whole. Curiously, the Tellegin scores bore little relation to the absorption ratings and raise issues of validity of the use of the term absorption in the present study or in the Tellegin test.

 

Yee May Siau 

Mapping the biography of an eminent notorious psychologist - Hugo Münsterberg 

Abstract 

The current project involves the use of maps in tracking the biography of Hugo Münsterberg (1896-1916). Münsterberg was a psychologist, a philosopher, and a most prominent professor at Harvard, who traveled extensively between the United States and Europe. These journeys contributed to his discoveries and innovations on various areas of experimental and applied psychology, including forensics, industrial (I/O), psychotherapy, and film perception. In his work, The Photoplay: A psychological study (1916), he provides the first comprehensive treatment of cognitive processes underlying watching a movie (e.g., attention, memory and imagination, and emotions), and the importance of moving pictures in our lives. Using maps in tracking biography is analogous to creating moving pictures, since this technique aids the processing of information through the use of organization and self-reference, as well as the benefits of picture superiority effect in learning (Paivio, A., 1991; Paivio, A., Khan, M., & Begg, I., 2000).

 

Mary Anne Welton 

Critical Periods in Language Acquisition: How Critical are Age, Sex, Musical Training and Bilingualism? 
 
Abstract 
 
The presentation arises from the author's honours thesis which examines the notion of a "critical or sensitive period" for language acquisition. Ulyings (2006) suggests that "...critical period is the restricted period in which recovery or a flexible response occurs  
(i.e., a ‘‘period of plasticity' or ‘sensitive period'). In other words, in terms of language, after this period, acquiring language would be difficult and less likely to occur. Aitchinson (1998) thinks of language acquisition in terms of a sensitive period, which she defines as "a time early in life when acquiring language is easiest, and which tails off gradually, though never entirely". The study explores the roles that bilingualism and musical training play  
in the acquisition of language (foreign phoneme strings) at three different ages surrounding a proposed critical period. Following research conducted by previous honours students in this area (Stacey Enman and Adriana Lopez), and the literature surrounding this topic  
(as reviewed by Hakuta, Bialystok, Wiley, 2003), it is hypothesized that recognition of a list of previously presented foreign language words and English non-words will show least disadvantage during a sensitive period for language acquisition than will native language  
words (English words). As well, it is hypothesized that there will be a difference between Unilingual (English) speakers and Bilingual (English and French) speakers, and there will be a difference between participants without musical training as compared to those with  
musical training, in terms of their ability to recognize foreign language words and English non-words as opposed to native language words. The direction of these differences however remains to be shown as there are arguments that would predict either outcome.

 

Sarah Simpson 

The role of multilingualism on language acquisition: a psycholinguistics project conducted in South Africa 

Abstract 

It is widely believed that success in language learning is directly related to the age of the subject. This study examines the recognition of previously heard basic familiar and foreign phonemes by university students in Eastern South Africa who have varied linguistic backgrounds. The data suggest that the number of languages spoken or linguistic proficiency is not relevant in the recognition of previously heard words and newly presented words. Trends point to the first language as playing more of a role in test scores, which in current day South Africa relates directly to the quality of early education of the participant as well as the education in the childhood household. It appears that high language proficiency does not result in an advantage in recognizing whether foreign words have been heard before, or whether they are new.  

 

Robert Drew 

Music in Space:  A new principle for surround-sound music

Music theorists often talk metaphorically about tonal space.  Our laboratory has been unique in literally examining the effects of presentation of musical structure in the space surrounding the listener. The approach is very different from the use of multiple speakers in surround-sound. In our case the tones of the music can be assigned to particular spatial locations. The task of assigning tones to space is non-trivial and is enhanced by the availability of a variety of software tools and the use of some in-house custom procedures which will be described. The effect will also be demonstrated with two contrasting pieces.

Abstract 
Tony Reddin  

Abstract 

The presentation will be based on personal anecdotes showing the benefits of participation in music and singing for good health. Open discussion to follow.