Unexpected melodic events during music reading: Exploring the eye-movement approach

Abstract

<div> Two studies examined the eye-movement effects of unexpected </div> <div> melodic events during music reading. Simple melodic variants of a </div> <div> familiar tune were performed in a temporally controlled setting. In a </div> <div> pilot study with five university students, unexpected alterations of the </div> <div> familiar melody were found to increase the number of incoming </div> <div> saccades to the altered bar and the bar immediately before the </div> <div> alteration. The main experiment with 34 music students, incorporating </div> <div> several improvements to the experimental design, again showed an </div> <div> increase in the number of incoming saccades to the bar before the </div> <div> alteration, but no effects in the altered bar itself. In addition, the bar </div> <div> following the alteration showed decrease in relative fixation time and </div> <div> incoming saccades. These results are discussed with a view to future </div> <div> studies in eye-movements in music reading, emphasizing the need for </div> <div> more systematic research on truly prima vista performance and, in </div> <div> general, temporally controlled music reading. </div> <div> Two studies examined the eye-movement effects of unexpected melodic events during music reading. Simple melodic variants of a familiar tune were performed in a temporally controlled setting. In a pilot study with five university students, unexpected alterations of the familiar melody were found to increase the number of incoming saccades to the altered bar and the bar immediately before the alteration. The main experiment with 34 music students, incorporating several improvements to the experimental design, again showed an increase in the number of incoming saccades to the bar before the alteration, but no effects in the altered bar itself. In addition, the bar following the alteration showed decrease in relative fixation time and incoming saccades. These results are discussed with a view to future studies in eye-movements in music reading, emphasizing the need for more systematic research on truly prima vista performance and, in general, temporally controlled music reading. </div>