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Different brain mechanisms mediate sensitivity to sensory consonance and harmonic context: evidence from auditory event-related brain potentials.

The goal of this study was to analyze the time-course of sensory (bottom-up) and cognitive (top-down) processes that govern musical harmonic expectancy. Eight-chord sequences were presented to 12 musicians and 12 nonmusicians. Expectations for the last chord were manipulated both at the sensory level (i.e., the last chord was sensory consonant or dissonant) and at the cognitive level (the harmonic function of the target was varied by manipulating the harmonic context built up by the first six chords of the sequence). Changes in the harmonic function of the target chord mainly modulate the amplitude of a positive component peaking around 300 msec (P3) after target onset, reflecting top-down influences on the perceptual stages of processing. In contrast, changes in the acoustic structure of the target chord (sensory consonance) mainly modulate the amplitude of a late positive component that develops between 300 and 800 msec after target onset. Most importantly, the effects of sensory consonance and harmonic context on the event-related brain potentials associated with the target chords were found to be independent, thus suggesting that two separate processors contribute to the building up of musical expectancy.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

The cognitive impact of past behavior: influences on beliefs, attitudes, and future behavioral decisions.

To study the processes by which past behavior influences future behavior, participants were led to believe that without being aware of it, they had expressed either support for or opposition to the institution of comprehensive exams. Judgment and response time data suggested that participants' perceptions of their past behavior often influenced their decisions to repeat the behavior. This influence was partly the result of cognitive activity that influenced participants' cognitions about specific behavioral consequences and the attitude they based on these cognitions. More generally, however, feedback about past behavior had a direct effect on participants' attitudes and ultimate behavioral decisions that was independent of the outcome-specific cognitions. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for biased scanning of memory, dissonance reduction, self-perception, and the use of behavior as a heuristic.

Adult↗

Social and cognitive factors contributing to the intention to undergo a smoking cessation treatment.

Elaborating on a recently developed perspective, it is predicted that interest in the use of smoking cessation treatments (SCTs) is typical of 'dissonant smokers,' that is, smokers who dearly want to quit but feel unable to do so. Further, it is assumed that the interest in the use of SCTs is more prevalent among subjects who believe in the efficacy of these treatments. Finally, it is assumed that past behavior has an important influence on the interest in the use of SCTs. The theory was tested using analysis of linear-structural relations (LISREL) on a Dutch national probability sample of 763 adults, all smoking cigarettes and/or cigars. Results show that interest in the use of SCTs was positively influenced by being old, information seeking about smoking cessation in the past, nicotine dependency, having undergone a SCT in the past, experiencing social stimulation for abstinence, seeing many advantages and or many disadvantages with regards to abstinence, and having a positive attitude towards SCTs.

Attitude to Health↗

Ego-defense or cognitive consistency effects on environmental evaluations.

Numerous investigators have commented upon the sanguine evaluations of their living environments which are given by elderly people. The discrepancy between residents' and observers' evaluations suggests the involvement of ego defense or dissonance reduction. Insofar as this is true, old people's evaluations should become more negative when their efforts to move to a more desirable setting meet with sucess. This hypothesis was tested with the original group of applicants to one housing project for the elderly and cross-validated 9 years later with the original group of applicants to a different project. In both cases the hypothesis was supported. Applicants who were selected to move to new housing became more negative in their evaluations of housing than applicants who were not selected to move.

Aged↗

Connecting terror management and dissonance theory: Evidence that mortality salience increases the preference for supporting information after decisions.

From the perspective of terror management theory, reminders of mortality should intensify the desire to pursue cognitive consistency. The authors investigated this notion with regard to dissonance theory starting from the finding of research on "selective exposure to information" that after having made a decision, people prefer consonant over dissonant information. The authors found that following mortality salience, people indeed showed an increased preference for information that supported their decision compared to information conflicting with it. However, this only occurred with regard to a worldview-relevant decision case. For a fictitious decision scenario, mortality salience did not affect information seeking. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

Affect↗

Spatial organization of EEG coherence during listening to consonant and dissonant chords.

Theories of harmony state that the contribution of both sensory and cognitive components is important for musical consonance perception. The aims of the present study were to analyze (a) functional intra- and inter-hemispheric connectivity associated with listening to consonant and dissonant chords using EEG coherence method; (b) relationships between affective responsiveness, sensory aspects of perceived consonance and associated brain connectivity. We identified two lines of inter-hemispheric connectivity in the theta band; one localized anterior being sensitive to consonance and one localized posterior sensitive to dissonance. Stronger right intra-hemispheric connectivity for consonance than dissonance in the theta band was associated with higher pleasantness ratings. The relationship between sensory aspects of perceived consonance and left intra-hemispheric connectivity found in theta-2 was interpreted as processing of vertical harmony without emotional involvement. The stronger connectivity along the axis "left anterior-right posterior" for dissonance than consonance in the alpha-1 band is discussed as a correlate of novelty processing. By introducing a "auditory object dissociation" hypothesis we suggest to extend the present concept of harmony perception. We believe that "auditory object dissociation" is a component of "sensory dissonance."

Acoustic Stimulation↗

Social class and preschool language skill: V. Cognitive and semantic mastery of number.

This study was done to test the validity of two hypotheses of why children, and especially black children, of families of the poverty sector commonly fail in school. Sociologists deny for them either a cognitive or a linguistic deficit, and blame their failures on having to master the unfamiliar dialect of standard English while learning to read. The authors, on the other hand, blame the failures on inadequacies of early preschool experience that result in such deficits as one in semantic mastery of various elementary abstractions. In 1970-1971, 87 four-year-old students (58 black and 29 white) of Head Start and 33 of nursery school were examined with a five part test of number identification. In 1971-1972, the study was repeated with 69 four-year-olds of Head Start and 46 of the nursery school. A much smaller percentage of Head Start than of nursery school identify the numbers of blocks from 2 through 4 by either the heard or spoken mode of number identification. For numbers 5 and 6, most children of both classes fail. The evidence for a semantic deficit for number is very strong. The evidence indicates also a deficit in the span of apprehension and suggests the existence of class differences in the power of examiner demands for heard and for spoken identification to elicit the counting strategy. Evidence of sex differences in semantic mastery of number is absent, and among Head Start children, race differences lack statistical significance. These findings are highly dissonant with the contention of the sociolinguists that no cognitive or linguistic deficits exist and uncovering them can be helpful in guiding compensatory education.

Child, Preschool↗