MIT Music Perception Test

[rostasi]

http://music.media.mit.edu

Why a Music Perception Test?

From the perspective of cognitive science, music ranks among the most bizarre and fascinating features of human culture. Music is apparently a signature feature of human culture, being found in every known society, past and present. It is incorporated into a vast array of cultural events, including weddings and funerals, religious services, dances and sporting events, as well as solitary listening sessions. It can make people feel happy or sad, so much so that music is central to modern advertising campaigns. And people throughout the world spend billions of dollars annually on the music and clubbing industries. Despite this central role in human culture, the origins and adaptive function of music remain virtually a complete mystery. Music stands in sharp contrast to most other enjoyable human behaviors (eating, sleeping, talking, sex) in that it yields no obvious benefits to those who partake of it. Music perception has thus puzzled scientists and philosophers alike for thousands of years.

Many questions about music perception center around universality. To what extent are various aspects of music perception shared across cultures, and age groups, and therefore innate? Web-based psychology tests provide a powerful tool with which to efficiently collect data from thousands of people from all areas of the world and all walks of life. Here on our web site internet users can listen to brief clips of music and music-related stimuli, and then answer questions about them. The questions involve musical preferences, the perception of emotion in music, and the perception of tension and resolution. This methodology provides a way to both collect huge amounts of data, and to collect data from people living in distant parts of the world with relative ease.

It is our hope that the data we collect will help to reveal which aspects of music perception are universal, and which vary with culture and musical exposure. The test can be taken by anyone, and takes less than 15 minutes to complete. Participation is voluntary and responses are kept completely confidential.

About the Music Universals Study

This web-based experiment is part of an investigation of the universality of various aspects of music perception.

Why do we like some sorts of music but not others?

Are there innate constraints on how we hear music?

How do people perceive the structure of music?

Collecting data from around the world can help to illuminate these issues by revealing how different aspects of music perception vary with culture, age, musical training, and other factors. By taking part in our study you can provide us with some of this data!

Anyone who wishes to do so may participate in our study. The questions should take approximately 15 minutes to complete.

Participation in this study is completely voluntary. Although your data will be most useful if you complete the entire test, you are free to stop at any time and have no obligation to answer all the questions if you do not wish to. You will also have the option of withdrawing your data if you do not wish it to be used. Your responses will be kept completely confidential.

If you have trouble starting the study, please e-mail mus@media.mit.edu and describe the problem.

Because the success of our study depends on getting high levels of participation, we would greatly appreciate any links to our website from external sites.

[porcy62]

Done it.

My biggest contribute to the science ever.

And it was the MIT.