Description
Research and theory on music in childhood is heavily centred around traditional music training with a focus on how children learn instruments and process pitch and rhythm. Development of the ability to understand musical expression is less commonly explored. While we know children can discriminate musical emotions, we lack a comprehensive explanation of how they can do this at early stage in development and of how individual differences in this ability influence wider music learning. The Young Gold Project (YGP) aims to investigate how socio-emotional understanding, such as embodied representations of emotional expression, and cross-modal processing of emotional information, necessary for combining visual and auditory cues or evaluating the emotional content of music presented in the context of a film for example, contribute to this area of musical learning. We propose a new theoretical model as a starting point for the project. Gathering empirical evidence to evaluate the model required tests suitable for assessing movement imitation (Lainé et al., 2011; Marton, 2009; Srinivasan et al., 2013), audio-visuomotor coupling (Filippa et al., 2020), musical emotion discrimination (Dalla Bella et al., 2001a; MacGregor et al., 2023) and cross-modal evaluation (Cespedes-Guevara, 2023). Unfortunately, existing tests (a) are not suitable for groups of children (b) lacked attractive, interactive tasks that keep children engaged or (c) for adults. To address this gap, we developed four new tasks using sophisticated motion tracking and movement sonification techniques. A sample of primary school children aged 5-11 (N=105) completed these tasks plus other music perception and production tasks and a self-report child musicality index. We found moderate correlations between musical emotion perception ability and action copying (r=.29) and synchronisation (r=.28) skills, endorsing imitation as one possible mechanism for understanding embodied representations of expression in music. Our poster will further outline whether findings adhere to predictions of our new model.
| Names, affilations and contact information | Chloe MacGregor & Daniel Müllensiefen, Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London. |
|---|---|
| Bio | Chloe MacGregor is a PhD student and MSc in Music, Mind and Brain graduate from Goldsmiths, University of London. Her PhD project explores how understanding of musical expression develops in children, focusing on the roles of embodied expression, social interaction, and emotion processing across modalities. Daniel Müllensiefen is an emeritus professor of psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London. His scholarly work comprises many areas of music psychology, including computer models of music perception, the development of musicality, and the behavioural economics of music. Since 2015 he has been directing LongGold, a longitudinal study on the development of musical abilities during adolescence. From April 2025 he will be a professor of systematic musicology at the University of Hamburg, Germany. |