Nicola Di Stefano

A new research method to test auditory preferences in young listeners: Results from a consonance versus dissonance perception study

To date, behavioural procedures adopted to assess sound preferences in young children have evaluated the responses of participants while listening to the stimuli administered by the experimenter. Due to the difficulties which may arise in the interpretation of the results, recent studies have suggested some limitations to these procedures, stimulating the further development of behavioural methods. Here, we introduce a new method for testing sound preferences in children, in which participants actively produce the stimuli during the experimental session. The apparatus consists of a musical lever which emits different sounds depending on its rotation around a hinge. The device was programmed to emit consonant and dissonant harmonic intervals. The procedure has been tested with 22 participants from 19 to 40 months of age. Results show that: (a) sound emission strongly stimulates toy manipulation; (b) the examined participants distinguished the two types of sounds, showing a preference for producing consonant over dissonant stimuli. This method could be used to study a wide range of sound qualities in young listeners, such as rhythm or pitch. Grounded in the mutual interaction between perception and action, this procedure is in line with recent research highlighting the role of embodiment in the perception of music.

On the Role of the Hand in the Expression of Music

In diverse interaction processes that characterize music experience, the human hand can be seen as a mediator and facilitator for the brain’s processing of musical expressive patterns. After a brief overview on the human expressive system for music, we consider gestures and hand articulations in music production and performance, focusing on hand dexterity and hand dystonia. Then, we discuss the role of the hand in music listening, conducting, and learning, showing that both in sound-generation and sound-accompaniment the hand mediates and facilitates action and perception in relation to musical expression. The recent use of technology in the domain of music is also considered throughout the chapter, with particular reference to sensing and motion technologies that allow users to control music parameters through hand–body movements. The hand can be considered as a co-articulated organ of the brain’s action–perception machinery. Therefore, future research on hand and music should adopt a multiperspective approach that integrates different disciplines, from motor control to music performance and expression theories.

Understanding Musical Consonance and Dissonance: Epistemological Considerations from a Systemic Perspective

Different accounts have been given in order to face the problem of the emergence of musical consonance and dissonance. Getting a more adequate comprehension of such phenomenology may require a systemic view to integrate such multidimensionality into a unitary picture in which every partial solution enlightens a particular aspect of the very same problem. Such a systemic viewpoint shifts the focus from different explanations to analytic dimensions that seem to be embedded in music perception. Taking into consideration these dimensions means understanding consonance and dissonance in an embodied context, in which arithmetic, physics, psychology and physiology are part of a complex and dynamic process of understanding, which is not reducible to any privileged explanatory level.

Computational Approach to Musical Consonance and Dissonance

In sixth century BC, Pythagoras discovered the mathematical foundation of musical consonance and dissonance. When auditory frequencies in small-integer ratios are combined, the result is a harmonious perception. In contrast, most frequency combinations result in audible, off-centered by-products labeled “beating” or “roughness;” these are reported by most listeners to sound dissonant. In this paper, we consider second-order beats, a kind of beating recognized as a product of neural processing, and demonstrate that the data-driven approach of Recurrence Quantification Analysis (RQA) allows for the reconstruction of the order in which interval ratios are ranked in music theory and harmony. We take advantage of computer-generated sounds containing all intervals over the span of an octave. To visualize second-order beats, we use a glissando from the unison to the octave. This procedure produces a profile of recurrence values that correspond to subsequent epochs along the original signal. We find that the higher recurrence peaks exactly match the epochs corresponding to just intonation frequency ratios. This result indicates a link between consonance and the dynamical features of the signal. Our findings integrate a new element into the existing theoretical models of consonance, thus providing a computational account of consonance in terms of dynamical systems theory. Finally, as it considers general features of acoustic signals, the present approach demonstrates a universal aspect of consonance and dissonance perception and provides a simple mathematical tool that could serve as a common framework for further neuro-psychological and music theory research.

A sensor-based approach to study sound perception in children

In the present paper we describe an instrumented toy to study auditory preferences in young children. After brief considerations on the theoretical framework, the design of the mechanical, electronic and software components of the system is presented. The system allows for: (a) producing audio stimuli according to how children play with the toy; (b) assessing childrens motor behaviour during the interaction. The device is provided with a sensor core enabling the assessment of manipulation in terms of angular displacement with errors lower than 1°. The laboratory validation is presented and discussed in details. Moreover, a pilot trial on two children aged 34 and 35 months is described and discussed. Results show the appropriateness of the technology to the experimental aims, and encourage research on methods based on the interaction between perception and action to investigate music preferences in young listeners.

The sound of actions: A new tool to study music perception in young children

In this work we describe a new sensing technique to study auditory preferences in young children based on the interaction between perception and action. Manipulation is assessed thanks to a novel device instrumented with a magneto-inertial sensing core. This system allows estimating the manipulation in terms of angular displacements with errors lower than Io. The laboratory validation is presented and discussed in details. Moreover, a pilot trial on two children aged 34 and 35 months is reported to evaluate the appropriateness of the technology to the experimental aims. Preliminary results foster the application of this method to investigate music preferences in young listeners.

Changing Framework in Explaining Complex Dynamics: Convergences on Systemic Accounts from Two Different Case Studies

Starting from two different case studies—cancer explanatory theories and musical consonance and dissonance perception theories—we aim to show how different analytical aspects of complex phenomena can be grasped by apparently divergent accounts. Reaching a more adequate understanding of these phenomena thus needs an integrated systemic view in which every partial solution enlightens a particular aspect of the very same phenomenon. Such systemic viewpoint shifts the focus from different explanations to analytic dimensions that integrate the multidimensional phenomenology of our case studies: cancer pathology and music perception. Taking into consideration these dimensions means understanding the relationship between the systems and the environment in a discrete, continuous and embodied, i.e. context-dependent, way. To this purpose, we need to integrate the understanding activity through an authentic transdisciplinary approach.

Il problema della consonanza e la ricerca sperimentale contemporanea

Il fenomeno della consonanza e oggetto di indagine nella tradizione teorico-musicale occidentale sin dalle sue origini. Ad oggi, non esiste una teoria della consonanza la cui validita sia universalmente riconosciuta. Nella prima sezione dell’articolo, presentiamo quattro modelli di spiegazione della consonanza – quello aritmetico, psico-fisico, fisico-acustico e culturale – che, da Pitagora ad Helmholtz, possono distinguersi nell’arco dell’evoluzione storica della riflessione. Nella seconda sezione, consideriamo la ricerca sperimentale degli ultimi decenni in ambito di psicologia della musica. Se, negli studi sulla percezione della consonanza, le metodologie dirette rappresentano una fonte quasi inesauribile di dati, quelle comportamentali sembrano oggi attraversare un periodo di crisi, che porta ad una forte riflessione critica sul metodo e sui risultati. Nella conclusione, a partire da lavori di recente pubblicazione, delineiamo alcuni interessanti sviluppi che rinnovano, e in parte rivedono, l’apparato teorico-empirico tradizionale.

Embodied intelligence: epistemological remarks on an emerging paradigm in the artificial intelligence debate

A new paradigm about machine-design in robotics, currently defined as ‘Embodied Intelligence’, has recently been developed. Here we consider the debate on the relationship between the hand and the intellect, from the perspective of the history of philosophy, aiming at providing a more suitable understanding of this paradigm. The new bottom-up approach to design is deeply rooted in a new kind of empiricism, which tries to overcome issues connected with the previous approach strongly committed with the Artificial Intelligence (AI) debate and its origin. Since Turing’s time, the AI debate showed a rationalistic bias which remained undisputed until now. The paradigm shift we are witnessing nowadays is a reply to that bias in order to achieve not only a better way to design robots, but also to understand some underlying epistemological remarks. In robotica si e recentemente sviluppato un nuovo paradigma relativo alla progettazione e sviluppo dei robot, definito ‘embodied intelligence’. Muovendo dal dibattito sulla relazione tra mano e intelletto, per come emerge dalla storia della filosofia, miriamo a guadagnare una miglior comprensione del nuovo paradigma. L’approccio progettuale bottom-up si qualifica come una risposta di conio empirico che tenta di risolvere alcuni nodi problematici connessi al dibattito sull’Intelligenza Artificiale sin dalle sue origini. Dai tempi di Turing, tale dibattito ha infatti presentato un profilo e una tendenza razionalistici finora non adeguatamente problematizzati. Il mutamento di paradigma a cui si sta assistendo puo essere considerato una replica a questa tendenza sia per migliorare la progettazione dei robot sia per comprendere alcuni problemi epistemologici soggiacenti.