Can The Moving Image Influence the Experience of Music? An Experimental Investigation of the Impact of The Moving Image on Musical Emotions

Abstract

The combination of music and the moving image is prevalent in our society, occurring in visual art forms and medias like movies, music videos and commercials. The relationship between the two has received much interest in existing research, but the investigation has mainly been one sided. While the influence of music on the moving image is well documented, the reverse relationship has not been given much attention. The present study is devoted to the latter approach and examines how a visual context and extramusical information from the moving image may influence the experience of music. Sixty-six participants were presented with three music excerpts (“ambient track”, “string quartet”, and a “pop tune”) that were either presented alone or paired with one of two videos expected to elicit strong emotions (“surfing video”, expected to evoke awe; “Christian the lion video”, expected to evoke feelings of being moved). The participants were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions, where the different music-video (or no video) combinations were balanced across conditions. After a short filler task, the three music excerpts were presented again (without any visual accompaniment) to see if a possible influence of previously presented visual information was persistent. Participants were requested to provide ratings of enjoyment, congruency between music and visuals, the occurrence of physiological responses, the experience of awe and being moved, - and perceived valence and arousal. During the first presentation, the moving image (in particular the “surfing video”) had a significant positive effect on the experience of awe when compared to music alone. This was true for the “ambient track” and the “pop tune”. The “Christian the lion video” also had a significant positive effect on being moved when paired with the “pop tune”. When the “string quartet” was paired with “Christian the lion video”, there was a significant negative effect on both enjoyment and valence (compared to music alone) and this pairing was also perceived as the least congruent by the participants. This negative effect was sustained and present also during the second presentation of the “string quartet”, being the only significant carry-over effect. The current study suggests that the moving image can have an intensifying effect on emotions induced while listening to music, especially when the music and visuals are congruent. Interestingly a mismatch between visuals and music seemed to have the most persistent effect, observable also during the second presentation of music alone