Processing Surprise Tension in Tonal Melodies

Expectation plays a vital role in understanding how we experience music. Processing music requires listeners to form expectations about upcoming events as they unfold. The formation and violation of these expectations has been empirically tested in harmonic priming paradigms, in harmonic priming during melodies, and in more general divided attention models. Recent research has also suggested that passive exposure to music leads to the development of implicit knowledge about musical expectations for untrained as well as trained listeners. Expectation has even been cited by the theorist Leonard Meyer as the prime generator of musical affect (qtd. in Margulis, 2005). Expectation therefore not only plays a role in how listeners process melodies, but might also provide evidence as to why musical events produce affective response in listeners. Unfortunately, much of the psychological research concerning expectation in music has appropriated a commonplace definition of the term expectation, and in fact fails to address the difficulties in rendering the term more accessible to empirical scrutiny. Such a decision most likely reflects a lack of awareness of the dynamic nature of listener expectations. Is it possible to consider the subtle and more nuanced variations of expectation, such as events that invoke a sense of surprise, yearning, or foreboding

EFFICACY OF THREE BACKWARD MASKING SIGNALS

Increased backward masking has been correlated with Auditory Processing Disorders (APD). An efficacious test of the backward masking function that is compatible with naïve listeners could have clinical utility in diagnosing APDs. In order to determine an appropriate probe for such a test, three 20-ms signal-types were compared for ease-of-task. Response times (RT) were taken as a proxy for ease-of-task. Seven participants used a method-of-adjustment to track threshold in the presence of a 50-ms broadband-Gausian-noise backward-masker. The signal-types yielded two comparisons: Linear rise-fall on a 1000Hz sine-wave versus a “chirp” (750 Hz-4000Hz); Linear rise-fall vs Blackman gating function on a 1000Hz sine-wave. The results suggest that signal-type is a significant factor in participant response time and hence, confidence. Moreover, the contribution of signal-type to RT is not confounded by any potential interaction terms, such as inter-stimulus interval (ISI). The signal-type that yielded the quickest RTs across all participants, ISIs, and intensity levels was the 20-ms, 1000 Hz sine-wave fitted with a trapezoidal gating function. This may be the most efficacious signal-type to serve as a probe in a clinical test of backward masking

Energetics and dynamics of H2_2 adsorbed in a nanoporous material at low temperature

Molecular hydrogen adsorption in a nanoporous metal organic framework structure (MOF-74) was studied via van der Waals density-functional calculations. The primary and secondary binding sites for H$_2$ were confirmed. The low-lying rotational and translational energy levels were calculated, based on the orientation and position dependent potential energy surface at the two binding sites. A consistent picture is obtained between the calculated rotational-translational transitions for different H$_2$ loadings and those measured by inelastic neutron scattering exciting the singlet to triplet (para to ortho) transition in H$_2$. The H$_2$ binding energy after zero point energy correction due to the rotational and translational motions is predicted to be $\sim$100 meV in good agreement with the experimental value of $\sim$90 meV.Comment: 5 pagers, 4 figures. added reference

Thermodynamic Entropy And The Accessible States of Some Simple Systems

Comparison of the thermodynamic entropy with Boltzmann's principle shows that under conditions of constant volume the total number of arrangements in simple thermodynamic systems with temperature-independent heat capacities is TC/k. A physical interpretation of this function is given for three such systems; an ideal monatomic gas, an ideal gas of diatomic molecules with rotational motion, and a solid in the Dulong-Petit limit of high temperature. T1/2 emerges as a natural measure of the number of accessible states for a single particle in one dimension. Extension to N particles in three dimensions leads to TC/k as the total number of possible arrangements or microstates. The different microstates of the system are thus shown a posteriori to be equally probable, with probability T-C/k, which implies that for the purposes of counting states the particles of the gas are distinguishable. The most probable energy state of the system is determined by the degeneracy of the microstates.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figur