Masataka Nobuo, Perlovsky Leonid
Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Kanrin, Inuyama, Aichi, Japan.
Sci Rep. 2013;3:2028. doi: 10.1038/srep02028.
Debates on the origins of consonance and dissonance in music have a long history. While some scientists argue that consonance judgments are an acquired competence based on exposure to the musical-system-specific knowledge of a particular culture, others favor a biological explanation for the observed preference for consonance. Here we provide experimental confirmation that this preference plays an adaptive role in human cognition: it reduces cognitive interference. The results of our experiment reveal that exposure to a Mozart minuet mitigates interference, whereas, conversely, when the music is modified to consist of mostly dissonant intervals the interference effect is intensified.
关于音乐中和谐与不和谐的起源的争论由来已久。一些科学家认为，和谐判断是一种基于对特定文化的音乐系统特定知识的接触而获得的能力，而另一些人则倾向于对观察到的对和谐的偏好给出生物学解释。在这里，我们通过实验证实了这种偏好在人类认知中起着适应性作用：它减少了认知干扰。我们的实验结果表明，聆听莫扎特小步舞曲可减轻干扰，反之，当音乐被修改为主要由不和谐音程组成时，干扰效应会增强。
