Original scientific paper

A SNARC-like effect for music tempo

Valter Prpic ; Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste
Antonia Fumarola ; Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste
Matteo De Tommaso ; Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste
Giulio Baldassi ; Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste
Tiziano Agostini ; Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste

Abstract

The Spatial Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) suggests the existence of an association betweennumber magnitude and response position, with faster left-hand responses to small numbers and faster righthandresponses to large numbers (Dehaene, Bossini, & Giraux, 1993). Moreover, Rusconi, Kwan, Giordano, Umiltà,& Butterworth (2006) showed that the internal representation of pitch height is spatially organized, especially inparticipants with formal musical education (i.e., Spatial Musical Association of Response Codes: the SMARC effect).In the present study we investigated whether a similar association exists between music tempo (beats per minutes)and the spatial position of response execution. Participants were all musically untrained persons. To test ourhypothesis they performed both an order-relevant task (i.e., time comparison task) and an order-irrelevant task (i.e.,timbre judgment task). Results showed a global trend with faster left-hand responses to slower beat sequences andfaster right-hand responses to faster beat sequences. From this evidences we can finally conclude that a SNARC-likeeffect exists for music tempo similar as for pitch height and numbers.

Keywords

SNARC; music cognition; psychology of music; spatial response correspondence; tempo

Hrčak ID:

116339

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/116339

Publication date:

28.12.2013.

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