Abstract
Usage-based theories of language acquisition are thought to rely on domain-general learning mechanisms, such as mastering familiar routines by rote before generalizing to novel unfamiliar instances. If so, then the role of familiarity should extend to non-linguistic domains, like music. The purpose of the present study was to test the role of familiarity in children’s learning of affective meaning of music. Music carries an affective meaning that is relayed through its elements, such as mode, rhythm, and tempo. The previous research has found differences between children and adults in their understanding of music’s affective meaning, suggesting that this meaning is learned. We predicted that children would initially learn the affective meaning of familiar musical pieces before generalizing to unfamiliar pieces. Children between 3 and 5 years of age heard 16 musical segments, one for each emotion (i.e., anger, sadness, and happiness), and their accuracy in pairing music–emotion was measured. For younger children, their familiarity with the piece was positively associated with their accuracy. These results suggest that familiarity plays a role in learning affective meaning in music, providing support for the claim that this learning mechanism is domain-general.
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This study was funded by a Discovery Grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to the second author (Grant Number 2018-04978).
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Appendices
Appendix A
Musical elements of segments
Anger | Happiness | Sadness | |
|---|---|---|---|
Maleficent’s Frustration (0:10–0:27) Sleeping Beauty (1959) | Intense articulations, repetitive dramatic rhythms, quick dynamic changes, low pitches | ||
Have a Bite (0:39–1:07) Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) | Minor mode, fast paced rhythms, slow crescendo in percussion to the climax, hard accents | ||
Sinister Stromboli (1:05–1:21) Pinocchio (1940) | No clear melody, fast rhythms, changing tempo, sharp crescendos, low brass | ||
McQueen’s Lost (1:23–1:38) Cars (2006) | Minor mode, low brass instruments, harsh attacks in accents, intense dynamic changes, changes in pitch | ||
Ewe Fell For It (0:50–1:06) Zootopia (2016) | Atonality, sharp crescendos, dramatic dynamics, harsh accents, low pitches, low brass instruments primarily | ||
Whiteout (0:52–1:09) Frozen (2013) | Heavy accents, immediate crescendos, fast tempo, sudden pitch changes | ||
Little Wooden Head (1:03–1:20) Pinocchio (1940) | Major mode, fast tempo and rhythm, clear melody, high pitches, constant dynamic, high woodwinds | ||
Love’s First Kiss/Finale (2:33–2:50) Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) | Major modality, quick tempo, moving rhythms, higher pitches, constant dynamics | ||
The Three Good Fairies (0:08–0:23) Sleeping Beauty (1959) | Major mode, high woodwinds, clear melody, fast tempo, high pitches | ||
Suite from Zootopia (3:22–3:40) Zootopia (2016) | Major mode, quick rhythmic pattern, higher pitches, dynamic consistency | ||
New Road (0:01–0:20) Cars (2006) | Clear melody, major mode, high pitches, consistent dynamics, high woodwinds primarily | ||
Elsa and Anna (0:29–0:40) Frozen (2013) | Major mode, smooth rhythms, constant upbeat tempo, simple bass line, higher woodwinds, high pitches | ||
Poor Aurora/Sleeping Beauty (0:27–0:45) Sleeping Beauty (1959) | Minor mode, strings and solo flute, high and low pitches, soft dynamics, slow moving rhythm | ||
Sad Reunion (1:40–2:00) Pinocchio (1940) | Minor, tempo rises and falls, stringed instruments, high pitches, slow moving rhythms | ||
Animal Friends (0:18–0:38) Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) | Minor mode string instruments primarily, softer dynamics, slow rhythmic patterns, low pitches | ||
Goodbye (0:15–0:35) Cars (2006) | Minor mode, slow tempo, solo instruments, thin texture, legato rhythms | ||
Not a Real Cop (0:29–0:52) Zootopia (2016) | Minor mode, slow moving rhythm, few instruments, piano, quiet dynamics, legato articulations | ||
Only an Act of True Love (0:21–0:38) Frozen (2013) | Solo oboe line, minor mode, quiet dynamics, thin texture, slow tempo and rhythms |
Appendix B
Emojis used for pairings (in order from top left to bottom right: angry, sad, happy, surprised).
Appendix C
Confusability matrices for younger and older children
Familiar | Unfamiliar | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Selected emotion | Selected emotion | ||||||||||||
Angry | Happy | Sad | Surprised | na | Total | Angry | Happy | Sad | Surprised | na | Total | ||
Angry | 22 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 12 | 45 | Angry | 8 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 13 | 30 |
Happy | 5 | 28 | 1 | 5 | 12 | 51 | Happy | 9 | 16 | 6 | 12 | 19 | 62 |
Sad | 5 | 5 | 22 | 4 | 15 | 51 | Sad | 7 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 25 | 62 |
Total | 32 | 35 | 29 | 12 | 39 | 147 | Total | 24 | 32 | 18 | 23 | 57 | 154 |
Familiar | Unfamiliar | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Selected emotion | Selected emotion | ||||||||||||
Angry | Happy | Sad | Surprised | na | Total | Angry | Happy | Sad | Surprised | na | Total | ||
Angry | 42 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 53 | Angry | 14 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 18 |
Happy | 5 | 47 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 65 | Happy | 5 | 21 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 42 |
Sad | 3 | 13 | 44 | 5 | 1 | 66 | Sad | 2 | 3 | 26 | 7 | 4 | 42 |
Total | 50 | 65 | 52 | 14 | 3 | 184 | Total | 21 | 26 | 30 | 15 | 10 | 102 |
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Stuber, R., Nicoladis, E. “This is a Titanic song”: the effect of familiarity on children’s learning affective meaning in music. Cogn Process 22, 105–116 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-020-00988-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-020-00988-2