From Music to Animacy: Children’s Causal Reasoning About Musical Sounds

• In Event: Poster Session 04
  In Poster Session: PS 04 Topic - Social Cognition

Abstract

Introduction: What cognitive processes are involved in children’s perception of music? In adulthood, the mere act of listening activates representations of movements, people and mental states (Grahn & Brett, 2007; Steinbeis & Koelsch, 2009). Why does this occur? We propose that from childhood, rational causal inference plays a role in linking music with agents and movements. Specifically, we hypothesize that when children hear music, they intuitively reason about how the sounds were generated, through a process of inverse planning (e.g. Liu et al., 2018). Here we test whether preschool children can use causal inference to link musical sounds with animate agents as causes.

Methods: To test this, we will present 60 children 4-6 years of age with a simple environment involving one of two xylophone-like instruments (Figure 1). The xylophone’s bars are positioned on a ramp, spaced either evenly or unevenly-- such that a ball rolling down would produce a descending scale with one of two different timings (even or uneven notes; 2x2 design). We will familiarize children with the xylophone, an animated agent and an inanimate ball. Then on each of four test trials, we cover the xylophone, and musical sounds play: Either an evenly or unevenly-timed descending scale. We then ask children to judge what is behind the curtain, causing the sounds: the animate agent, or inanimate ball; as well as their certainty (very sure, not so sure); which we will combine to create a 4-point scale. The order of trials (environments and sounds) will be counterbalanced across participants. We will test children remotely over Zoom. Based on the current rate of data collection for other projects in the lab (~6 children/week) we expect to complete this sample within ~3 months.

Predictions & Analyses: We predict that children will infer that musical sounds are caused by an agent when producing the sounds requires self-propelled movement. Thus, children should flexibly make different inferences about the same musical stimulus, depending on the environment in which it was produced. In the environment with evenly-spaced bars, children should infer that an agent caused the unevenly-spaced notes (and choose the agent less often/ with less certainty for the evenly-spaced notes). In the environment with unevenly-spaced bars, children should infer that the agent produced the evenly-spaced notes (and choose the agent less for the unevenly-spaced notes). Using repeated measures ANOVA, we will analyze children’s answers on a 4-point scale (certainly agent - certainly ball); predicting an interaction between the xylophone type and the melody type. We will also use paired-sample t-tests to compare results for the two sound outcome types within each environmental context (Figure 2).

Implications: This study will extend our knowledge of children’s perception of music. In particular, it will tease apart accounts of why musical sounds are linked with agency: Due solely to perceptual features of the auditory stimulus, or due to causal reasoning about the process that created the sounds? This work also provides a foundation for further study of the role of inverse planning in children’s reasoning about music.

Authors

• Minju Kim, University of California - San Diego
  Presenting Author

• Heidy Milena Davila, University of California at San Diego
  Non-Presenting Author

• Adena Schachner, University of California - San Diego
  Non-Presenting Author