Perceiving Musical Note Values Causes Spatial Shift of Attention in Musicians

Open Access ArticleThe Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) suggests the existence of an association between number magnitude and response position, with faster left-key responses to small numbers and faster right-key responses to large numbers. The attentional SNARC effect (Att-SNARC) suggests that perceiving numbers can also affect the allocation of spatial attention, causing a leftward (vs. rightward) target detection advantage after perceiving small (vs. large) numbers. Considering previous findings that revealed similar spatial association effects for both numbers and musical note values (i.e., the relative duration of notes), the aim of this study is to investigate whether presenting note values instead of numbers causes a spatial shift of attention in musicians. The results show an advantage in detecting a leftward (vs. rightward) target after perceiving small (vs. large) musical note values. The fact that musical note values cause a spatial shift of attention strongly suggests that musicians process numbers and note values in a similar manner

Representación linear de la altura de tono en el efecto SMARC

The Spatial-Musical Association of Response Codes (SMARC) effect consists in faster and more accurate responses to low (vs. high) pitched tones when they are executed in the bottom/left (vs. top/right) space. This phenomenon has many similarities with the Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) effect which, however, has been more extensively investigated and theoretically debated. The first theoretical account of the SNARC effect suggests the existence of a direct mapping between the position of a number on a mental number line and the external space of response execution. Conversely, following accounts claim that numbers are automatically categorized in two opposing categories (e.g., small vs. large) and then associated to response alternatives (left vs. right). A modified task, consisting in unimanual close/far responses relative to a reference key, has been employed to disentangle between the opposite theoretical accounts of the SNARC effect. However, this modified task has never been applied to pitch height and currently there are no specific theoretical accounts for the SMARC effect. The aim of this study is to fill this gap of knowledge. Contrary to what has been found for numbers, our data are more in line with the "direct mapping" account and suggests a linear representation of pitch height. Our data suggest that SNARC and SMARC effects might have different origins and might require different theoretical accounts.Efekt se prostorno-glazbene povezanosti kodova za odgovor (engl. spatial-musical association of response codes – SMARC) odnosi na potvrđenu pojavu bržeg i točnijeg reagiranja na niske, odnosno visoke tonove kada se odgovor da u donjem ili lijevom, odnosno u gornjem ili desnom dijelu prostora. Ova pojava ima mnogo sličnosti s efektom prostorno-numeričke povezanosti kodova za odgovor (engl. spatial-numerical association of response codes – SNARC), koji je u mnogo većoj mjeri istražen i teorijski razmatran. Prva teorija koja je pokušala objasniti efekt SNARC pretpostavlja da se položaj broja na mentalnoj numeričkoj crti izravno preslikava na vanjski prostor u kojem izvršavamo motorni odgovor. Suprotno tome, kasnija objašnjenja pretpostavljaju da se brojevi automatski kategoriziraju u dvije suprotstavljene kategorije (npr. mali nasuprot veliki), a zatim se povezuju s alternativama za odgovor (lijevo nasuprot desno). Kako bi se razlučilo koja teorija bolje objašnjava efekt SNARC, napravljena je modifikacija zadatka u kojem se odgovor bliže/dalje u odnosu na referentnu tipku daje jednom rukom. Međutim, modificirani zadatak nikad nije primijenjen na visine tonova i dosad nije predloženo specifično teorijsko objašnjenje efekta SMARC. Suprotno su prethodnim istraživanjima s brojevima naši rezultati više u skladu s hipotezom o izravnom preslikavanju i upućuju na linearnu reprezentaciju visine tona te upućuju na zaključak da su efekti SNARC i SMARC u osnovi različiti fenomeni, pa samim time zahtijevaju i različito teorijsko objašnjenje.El efecto de la asociación espacio-musical de códigos para la respuesta (inglés: SMARC) consiste en las respuestas más rápidas y más precisas a tonos bajos (vs. altos) cuando se realizan en el espacio de abajo/izquierda (vs. arriba/derecha). Este fenómeno tiene mucho en común con el efecto de la asociación espacio-numérica de códigos para la respuesta (inglés: SNARC) que en todo caso se ha investigado más exhaustivamente y discutido teoréticamente. La primera teoría que intentó explicar el efecto SNARC supuso que la posición del número en la línea numérica mental se refleja directamente al espacio exterior en el que se ejerce la respuesta. Al contrario, los intentos posteriores de explicar el efecto afirman que los números se categorizan automáticamente en dos categorías opuestas (p. ej. pequeño vs. grande) y luego se asocian con las alternativas de respuestas (izquierda vs. derecha). Para aclarecer cuál de las dos teorías opuestas explica mejor el efecto SNARC, se modificó la tarea en la que se responde con una mano si está más cerca o lejos de la clave de referencia. Sin embargo, esta tarea modificada nunca se ha aplicado a la altura de tonos y en este momento no hay explicaciones teoréticas específicas del efecto SMARC. El objetivo de este trabajo es llenar este hueco en nuestro saber. Al contrario de aquello que se comprobó para los números, nuestros resultados se asocian más con la hipótesis del reflejo directo e indican la representación linear de la altura de tono. Nuestros datos sugieren la posibilidad de que los efectos SNARC y SMARC tengan un origen diferente y requieran diferentes explicaciones teoréticas

Slow and fast beat sequences are represented differently through space

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version.The Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) suggests the existence of an association between number magnitude and response position, with faster left-hand responses to small numbers and faster right-hand responses to large numbers. Recent studies have revealed similar spatial association effects for non-numerical magnitudes, such as temporal durations and musical stimuli. In the present study we investigated whether a spatial association effect exists between music tempo, expressed in beats per minutes (bpm), and response position. In particular, we were interested whether this effect is consistent through different bpm ranges. We asked participants to judge whether a target beat sequence was faster or slower than a reference sequence. Three groups of participants judged beat sequences from three different bpm ranges, a wide range (40, 80, 160, 200 bpm) and two narrowed ranges (“slow” tempo, 40, 56, 88, 104 bpm; “fast” tempo 133, 150, 184, 201 bpm). Results showed a clear SNARC-like effect for music tempo only in the narrowed “fast” tempo range, with faster left-hand responses to 133 and 150 bpm and faster right-hand responses to 184 and 201 bpm. Conversely, a similar association did not emerge in the wide nor in the narrowed "slow" tempo ranges. This evidence suggests that music tempo is spatially represented as other continuous quantities, but its representation might be narrowed to a particular range of tempi. Moreover, music tempo and temporal duration might be represented across space with an opposite direction

Contrasting a Misinterpretation of the Reverse Contrast

open access articleThe reverse contrast is a perceptual phenomenon in which the effect of the classical simultaneous lightness contrast is reversed. In classic simultaneous lightness contrast configurations, a gray surrounded by black is perceived lighter than an identical gray surrounded by white, but in the reverse contrast configurations, the perceptual outcome is the opposite: a gray surrounded by black appears darker than the same gray surrounded by white. The explanation provided for the reverse contrast (by different authors) is the belongingness of the gray targets to a more complex configuration. Different configurations show the occurrence of these phenomena; however, the factors determining this effect are not always the same. In particular, some configurations are based on both belongingness and assimilation, while one configuration is based only on belongingness. The evidence that different factors determine the reverse contrast is crucial for future research dealing with achromatic color perception and, in particular, with lightness induction phenomena

Walking and encoding heading bias

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI linkPrevious studies demonstrated that physical movement enhanced spatial updating in described environments. However, those movements were executed only after the encoding of the environment, minimally affecting the development of the spatial representation. Thus, we investigated whether and how participants could benefit from the execution of physical movement during the encoding of described environments, in terms of enhanced spatial updating. Using the judgement of relative directions task, we compared the effects of walking both during and after the description of the environment, and walking only after the description on spatial updating. Spatial updating was evaluated in terms of accuracy and response times in different headings. We found that the distribution of response times across Headings seemed not to be related to the physical movement executed, whereas the distribution of accuracy scores seemed to significantly change with the action executed. Indeed, when no movement occurred during the encoding of the environment, a preference for the learning heading was found, which did not emerge when walking during encoding occurred. Therefore, the results seem to suggest that physical movement during encoding supports the development of a heading-independent representation of described environments, reducing the anchoring for a preferred heading in favor of a global representation

Octave bias in an absolute pitch identification task

Octave errors are common within musicians, even among absolute pitch possessors. Overall, evidence shows pitch class and octave to be perceived in a different way, even if they are highly connected. We investigated whether pitch class perception, in an absolute pitch identification task, can be influenced by the octave context, examined among two consecutive octaves. Participants, all musicians with formal musical education, showed different response patterns in the two octaves even if the octave context was explicitly told to be task irrelevant. The direction of errors revealed a consistent tendency to underestimate pitch height in the lowest octave and to overestimate pitch height in the highest octave. Thus, pitch class identification showed to be biased by the octave context. These results are discussed in terms of polarity and pitch enhancement

Spatial Descriptions Eliminate the Serial Position Effect

Aims: The present study aims to investigate the occurrence of the serial position effect in the recall of items verbally presented in three different contexts. Background: The serial position effect has been studied with both verbal (e.g., words) and visuospatial (e.g., locations) stimuli but not with verbal-spatial stimuli (i.e., spatial description of an environment). In particular, a spatial description of an environment has both spatial information and a meaningful context. Objective: The objective of the present study is to determine whether the use of different contexts (namely, a classic word list, a spatial description of a room, and a narrative without spatial information) can alter the serial position effect. Methods: Depending on the condition, participants were exposed to a) a list of objects, b) a spatial description of a room containing the same objects; c) a narrative presenting the same objects in lack of spatial information. After this learning phase, participants performed a recognition task. Results: The recognition task revealed different accuracy distributions in the three conditions. In particular, in the spatial description condition, the accuracy distribution did not change across the item position. Conclusion: This result is in line with previous studies with visuospatial stimuli. Thus, it seems that spatial descriptions are a particular kind of verbal stimuli, which are encoded similarly to visuospatial stimuli. Overall, these outcomes support the idea that spatial descriptions elicit a spatial representation, which enhances item retention and eliminates the serial position effect

A systematic investigation reveals that Ishihara et al.'s (2008) STEARC effect only emerges when time is directly assessed

The Spatial-TEmporal Association of Response Codes (STEARC) effect (Ishihara et al. in Cortex 44:454-461, 2008) is evidence that time is spatially coded along the horizontal axis. It consists in faster left-hand responses to early onset timing and faster right-hand responses to late onset timing. This effect has only been established using tasks that directly required to assess onset timing, while no studies investigated whether this association occurs automatically in the auditory modality. The current study investigated the occurrence of the STEARC effect by using a procedure similar to Ishihara and colleagues. Experiment 1 was a conceptual replication of the original study, in which participants directly discriminated the onset timing (early vs. late) of a target sound after listening to a sequence of auditory clicks. This experiment successfully replicated the STEARC effect and revealed that the onset timing is mapped categorically. In Experiments 2, 3a and 3b participants were asked to discriminate the timbre of the stimuli instead of directly assessing the onset timing. In these experiments, no STEARC effect was observed. This suggests that the auditory STEARC effect is only elicited when time is explicitly processed, thus questioning the automaticity of this phenomenon

Temporal speed prevails on interval duration in the SNARC-like effect for tempo

The Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) effect is evidence of an association between number magnitude and response position, with faster left-key responses to small numbers and faster right-key responses to large numbers. Similarly, recent studies revealed a SNARC-like effect for tempo, defined as the speed of an auditory sequence, with faster left-key responses to slow tempo and faster right-key responses to fast tempo. In order to address some methodological issues of previous studies, in the present study we designed an experiment to investigate the occurrence of a SNARC-like effect for tempo, employing a novel procedure in which only two auditory beats in sequence with a very short interstimulus interval were used. In the "temporal speed" condition, participants were required to judge the temporal speed (slow or fast) of the sequence. In the "interval duration" condition, participants were required to judge the duration of the interval between the two beats (short or long). The results revealed a consistent SNARC-like effect in both conditions, with faster left-hand responses to slow tempo and faster right-hand responses to fast tempo. Interestingly, the consistency of the results across the two conditions indicates that the direction of the SNARC-like effect was influenced by temporal speed even when participants were explicitly required to focus on interval duration. Overall, the current study extends previous findings by employing a new paradigm that addresses potential confounding factors and strengthens evidence for the SNARC-like effect for tempo