Interaction in musical time

Social cognition in general, and rhythmic entrainment in particular, have previously mainly been studied in settings where isolated individuals perform controlled tasks. Recently, a number of alternative approaches have been developed to redefine what constitutes the “cognitive system”. In addition to the individual mind/brain, the body, the social context, and musical instruments should be included in the analytical framework. In general, this means studying cognition and behaviour at settings that are as naturalistic as possible. Music and dance are ideal domains for studying these phenomena, as naturally social, embodied activities. Extending the traditional setting poses many challenges. I make the case for focusing the analysis on the interaction of multiple participants, instead of trying to measure the performance or mind-states of the individuals. This interactionist approach requires a specific set of analysis tools. For this purpose, I distinguish rhytmic synchronisation from entrainment between mutually cooperative individuals. I discuss a range of options from circular statistics to cross-recurrence analysis to various correlation-based analyses. Through a number of pilot studies, I developed a cooperative tapping setup for studying rhythmic entrainment in dyads. Using this setup, I compared human–human interaction to synchronising with a computer. Surprisingly, two human tappers reached better synchronicity than a human with a computer tapper, even though the human pairs drifted in tempo. This demonstrated the power of mutual adaptation. In a second series of experiments, motion capture was used to investigate the embodied nature of rhythmic entrainment. These cross-cultural studies on African dance, illustrated in more detail how synchronicity was achieved through a process of continuous, mutual adaptation. We observed interesting contrasts in how Finnish novices and South-African or Kenyan experts exhibited embodied metrical structures. As a conclusion, mutual adaptation is a powerful and ubiquitous phenomenon that can only be observed in real-time interactions. It is a good example of the kind of “new psychology” that can be uncovered by adopting a social, embodied, and dynamic approach to cognition

Beat Construal, Tempo, Metric Dissonance, and Transgressing the Groove in Heavy Metal

This dissertation explores the relationship between the metric practices of heavy metal and the elements and processes of the musical quality known as “groove.” Although heavy metal is not often expressly associated with groove per se, it occupies a historical position within the stylistic milieu for which groove music has established the primary, referential conditions. In order to uncover this connection, then, I begin with an analysis of groove in relation to established groove-music styles, defining it as an embodied and encultured knowledge of a set of cognitive, social, kinetic, aesthetic, and musical behaviors extending in practice from African-American popular-music styles of (mostly) the twentieth century and continuing into the present. Groove operates around a series of interactive musical cues that act to initiate and regulate an aesthetic sensibility characterized by musical dialogue, antiphonal musical structures, and a heightened, consonant mutual awareness among performers and audiences. Moreover, through an active physical entrainment and participatory kinesthetic knowledge of groove structures—such as the backbeat motive, the consonant weight profile of the basic rock beat, stylistically consistent uses of metric dissonance, and the collective negotiations of an isochronous beat and metric grid—participants, including musicians and listeners, define and signify upon the most important metric features of particular grooves at any given time. I conclude that, because metal musicians are often concerned with generating a consonant emotional and physical relation between themselves, the music, and its audiences, and because they do so in ways that are demonstrably responsive to groove structures, they are fundamentally connected with groove as defined. Complicating this relationship is that metal artists as often signify upon the metric practices associated with groove styles as confirm them. More specifically, I argue, they appropriate certain facets of groove, while deviating from one or more of these facets in order to create a relation between the listener and the sounding music that is often characterized by its fans and critics as transgressive. This complication can be witnessed when viewing the multiple and sometimes drastic physical responses exhibited by listeners. Heavy metal’s metric deviations in the domains of groove arguably form a stylistic signifier for metal music as a whole and help define the parameters for experimentation in “extreme” genres of metal, such as grindcore, doom, black, and varieties of progressive metal. This “extremfication” is a process that can be described, following Ronald Bogue (2003), as moving from quantitative to qualitative modes of expression. This dissertation concludes with an analysis of four heavy metal tracks that occupy a mediating position within this process. These tracks, while they exhibit deference to the consonant values of groove aesthetics and groove structures, also use these parameters and the bodily affordances they provide as bases for a multiplicity of metric and kinesthetic responses to their musical unfolding

Dubbing Star Wars: a journey to bridge the uncanny valley

This doctoral thesis examines the phenomenon of the uncanny valley, its relationship to genres of Imaginary Fiction (such as science-fiction, high fantasy…), the specificities of language in those genres, and ultimately its impact on the dubbing of films belonging to this genres. The corpus that is used to conduct this examination is the Star Wars series. The first part of this thesis explores the notion of the uncanny from a historical, as well as from a cognitive science perspective, with the goal of identifying the mechanics of the phenomenon and its impact on individuals. The second chapter is dedicated to a class of narrative storytelling that I call Imaginary Fiction, a set of genres that allows for the presence of non-human speaking characters. The section explores the idiosyncrasies of Imaginary Fiction, with a focus of the balance it creates between Cognitive Estrangement and Suspension of Disbelief, and their relation to the uncanny. In the Third chapter, I explore the particular utilisation of language in genres of Imaginary Fiction, both from a storytelling perspective, and from a linguistic perspective. This chapter is interested in the ways Imaginary Fiction uses alternative vocabulary as well as constructed languages to create Estrangement and Suspension of Disbelief. The fourth chapter of this thesis focuses on the practice of dubbing and on the uncanny sensation that it can evoke in viewers. The chapter breaks down the individual elements of dubbing in an effort to uncover the ways different stimuli can potentially conflict with another, therefore creating breakdowns in immersion. This chapter also argues that dubbing creates a shift in characterisation for protagonists, that impacts viewer experience. The fifth and final chapter comprises of two main case studies from the Star Wars series, that involve non-human characters. The aim of these studies is to further the relationship between lip synchronisation and the uncanny effect in dubbing, and to determine if the heightened levels of Estrangement and Suspension of Disbelief associated with genres of Imaginary Fiction in any way mitigates those effects This thesis concludes by a summary of its findings and suggestions for further research. It also explores technological ways media localisation might evolve in the future in an effort to offer a greater level of immersion and enjoyment to audiences all around the world