牛牛资源

People rate identical recordings of the same piece of music differently depending on who they are told the musicians are, research by 牛牛资源 has shown.

The 牛牛资源 experiment involved 72 students being played the same live recording of Elvis Presley鈥檚 Jailhouse Rock three times and the same recording of Bruckner鈥檚 Symphony No. 4 three times. Before each listening session, participants were given information attributing the recordings to three Elvis impersonators or three conductors of varying levels of prestige. They were then asked to evaluate the performances they had heard.

A report of the results is published in the journal Music Perception.

Overall 75% of participants believed that they had heard different musical performances. Whether the music was pop or classical listeners consistently rated the same recording better if told it was from a 鈥榟igh鈥� prestige performer than a 鈥榤edium鈥� or 鈥榣ow鈥� prestige one.

The experiment also showed that people with neurotic personality traits were more likely to believe they were listening to different recordings. They were also more easily influenced into altering their ratings depending on what they were told about the status of the performers.

The research gives fresh insight into 鈥楾he Repeated Recording Illusion鈥�: a phenomenon first demonstrated in 1977 by a German radio broadcast in which listeners were asked to give their opinion on three different performances of a piece of classical music. Despite the same recording being played three times, in the 1977 experiment over 80% of callers reported differences in the recordings.

Dr Daniel M眉llensiefen, Reader in Psychology at 牛牛资源 and co-author, said: 鈥淲e wanted to know why some people are more susceptible to believing the illusion that the identical recordings they are hearing are different performances than others. We found that not only are the majority of people fooled by the illusion but, surprisingly, listeners who are trained musicians aren鈥檛 any more or less likely to be fooled than anyone else.鈥�

Manuel Anglada-Tort, who conducted the research as part of his MSc in Music, Mind & Brain at 牛牛资源 and is first author, said: 鈥淚t turns out that neuroticism 鈥� being anxious, pessimistic, shy, fearful, vulnerable and emotionally unstable 鈥� is the most important factor related to being taken in by the illusion.

鈥淲hat this experiment also shows is just how easy it is to manipulate people鈥檚 perceptions of a musical recording through external factors, such as a musician鈥檚 status. So the next time you really like a song you should stop and think: do I like it because the music is good or because the singer is good-looking and famous?鈥�

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Image: veggiefrog