Correction

A reader pointed out to me that Schultze's 1978 study did not find a bias to hear a fast tempo as speeding up and slow tempo as slowing down. In fact, Schultze found that we were remarkably accurate at detecting tempo changes. So we do replicate Schultze! A misreading on my part of Quinn and Watt led to the confusion.

However, Quinn and Watt do cite a 1997 article which claims to find the bias I describe in the post from yesterday and the day before.

I haven't been able to get my hands on the article, but here's the reference:

Vos, P. G., van Assen, M., & Fraiiek, M. (1997) Perceived tempo change is dependent on base tempo and direction of change: Evidence for a generalized version of Schulze's (1978) internal beat model. Psychological Research, 59, 240-247.

More like this

Psychologists have known for decades that people perceive music as happier when it's played faster, and in a major key (mode). Take a listen to the following sound clips I created using a synthesized flute.
Music can be used to convey a range of emotion, from sadness to happiness, from anger to fear. We use music to help fall asleep at night, and to wake up in the morning. Its effect on our mood may be enough to improve our performance on a range of intellectual tasks.

I found the article via Web of Science, and Springerlink.com hosts it. The problem is probably the name of the third author, which is not Fraiiek, but FraÅek (an n with an inverse ^), and is listed as Franek. If you are unable to access the document I would be happy to send it to you.

By Maarten Inklaar (not verified) on 10 Jan 2008 #permalink