Tunis El-Manar University

High Institute of Human Sciences of Tunis

Psychology department
M1 clinical neuropsychology and cognitive
psychopathology
RESEARCH STUDY

The Effects Of Most And Least Preferred Music On Selective Attention.

Prepared by: Hiba Saidi

Under the supervision of: Mr.Imed Bouzaouache

Academic year 2018-2019

 Table of content
Abstract ............................................................................................................................................... 3

1 Introduction: ................................................................................................................................ 3

1.1 Music and evolution: ............................................................................................................. 3

1.1.1 Information driven from non human primates ................................................................. 7

1.1.2 Information driven from animals: ................................................................................... 8

1.2 Production and comprehension of music in modern humans: ............................................... 10

1.2.1 Human infants: ............................................................................................................. 10

1.2.2 Music as a cultural heritage: ......................................................................................... 10

1.2.3 Music and neuroscience: ............................................................................................... 11

1.2.4 Music and cognition ..................................................................................................... 14

Language: ................................................................................................................... 15

Memory: ..................................................................................................................... 16

Attention .................................................................................................................. 17

2 Method ...................................................................................................................................... 19

2.1 Population ........................................................................................................................... 19

2.2 Material ............................................................................................................................... 19

2.3 Procedure: ........................................................................................................................... 20

2.4 Variables and hypothesis ...................................................................................................... 21

3 Data Presentation and Analysis .................................................................................................. 21

4 Discussion ................................................................................................................................. 24

5 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 28
 The Effects of Most and Least Preferred Music on Selective Attention.

Abstract

Music has always intrigued many researchers from different fields of study. The complexity of music
and its history through human evolution provided a wide area of research and allowed more questions
to arise regarding its effects on human behavior, including brain activity, social bonding and cognitive
performance. The effect of different aspects of music on cognitive performance has been investigated
by numerous researchers, revealing the interaction between emotion and cognition in music processing.
However, the effects of emotional valence provoked by music remains mildly investigated in relation
to cognitive domains, such as attention.

The aim of the present study is to examine the effect of the emotional valence provoked by music on
selective attention performance. We tested 34 participants in a selective attention task under two
conditions: “condition1” where they complete the task while listening to their favorite song, and
“condition 2” where they complete the task while listening to their least favorite song.
Results indicated that within the group of males there was no significant difference between
performance under condition 1 and 2. In the female group however, it was shown that participants took
significantly longer time responding to the stimuli presented in the test while listening to their least
favorite song,

1 Introduction:
1.1 Music and evolution:

Music has been the companion of the humankind since the beginning of its existence. Nature has been
offering human beings a rich musical spectrum. The encounter of thousands of plant and animal
species, each possessing a unique sound and rhythm, along with different weather conditions, made
from nature a diverse orchestra, from which human beings were able to inspire and create new music
of their own.( Fitch, 2013;Fitch, Arbib, & Merlin, 2010;Mithen, 2005).This follows the musical
protolanguage hypothesis, according to which speech and music share a common ancestral precursor
(or musical protolanguage) that originated from the imitation and modification of environmental
sounds.
If a human being’s brain has different neurobiological basis for music, we can infer that music has a
phylogenetic history and served -at some point of our evolution- the survival of our ancestors, whether
it was related to reproduction, communication or protection from predators. This also leads us to grant
music an adaptative function.

Before talking about the first archeological evidence for instruments that our evolutionary ancestors
possessed (a rich collection of musical instruments, dating back 35,000 years or beyond.) (Cross,
Zubrow, & Cowan, 2002;), we should explore the reason behind the desire of creating a musical
instrument, whether it was purely for hedonic reasons or not. Prior to musical instruments, the
emission of sounds and vocals by primeval human beings served the communication between each
other and the expression of their different emotional states such as fear, appreciation, warning, triumph
etc.
In his book, descent of man Darwin (1871) elucidated the importance of human vocalizations in
animating strong emotions among groups or between couples. He wrote “The impassioned orator, bard,
or musician, when with his varied tones and cadences he excites the strongest emotions in his hearers,
little suspects that he uses the same means by which his half-human ancestors long ago aroused each
other's ardent passions, during their courtship and rivalry” (p.1546).

The ability of producing and comprehending a wide range of different sounds seems to participate in
strengthening and reinforcing early human interactions. It could also be the expression of the need for
social bonding, determining the role of each individual among the group, and imposing a certain
hierarchy depending on each individual’s quality of signalization along with other physical
competences. High quality of vocalizations supplies us with hints on well-being; A person who could
engage in such an activity that requires a prolonged physical effort and a certain mental ability to
control and choose the content of the communicated message, promotes his physical and mental health
to his group, rivals, and potential mates.

As a mean of courtship, musical vocalization along with dance moves provide hints on an individual’s
stamina and his extra resources of energy to put into a skill that is not primarily vital. Which means,
that he is not only confident of mastering the fundamental needs of survival, but also has a qualified
metabolism and sturdiness to perfect his aesthetic display and advertise it to potential sexual partners
(J.Levitin, 2007). Furthermore, musical vocalizations constitute a valuable source of conveying
emotions between individuals. Each vocalization produced to attract a potential mate is a special and
unique creation, moved by the drive and motivation of the individual to engage in the process of
reproduction. In his book “the descent of men” Darwin wrote “it appears probable that the progenitors
of man, either the males or females or both sexes, before acquiring the power of expressing their
mutual love in articulate language, endeavored to charm each other with musical notes and rhythm.”
(Darwin, 1871, p.880). Musical vocalizations constitute a significant factor in sexual selection in
primeval humans and has a major role in the reinforcement of the emotional bond between sexual
partners, which ensures the physical, mental and emotional growth for their descendants.

Numerous researches and studies were conducted around whether music was or was not a direct target
of selection through the evolution of humans. Charles Darwin combined data from evolutionary,
comparative and biological data to illustrate the role of music as a courtship display and sexual
selection “When we treat of sexual selection we shall see that primeval man, or rather some early
progenitor of man, probably first used his voice in producing true musical cadences, that is in singing,
as do some of the gibbon-apes at the present day; and we may conclude from a widely-spread analogy,
that this power would have been especially exerted during the courtship of the sexes,—would have
expressed various emotions, such as love, jealousy, triumph,—and would have served as a challenge to
rivals. It is, therefore, probable that the imitation of musical cries by articulate sounds may have given
rise to words expressive of various complex emotions.” (The Descent of Man, and Selection in
Relation to Sex. 1871)

Regarding the same matter, Todd & Werner,( 1997) worked on simulations of male and female
populations which were represented artificially on neural networks. Males produced rhythmic acoustic
sequences and females received the songs based on which they made the decision whether to mate or
to abstain “We have found that under such conditions, pure sexual selection can favor ever more
complex acoustic sequences, and can maintain considerable diversity in such sequences between
individuals and across generations” (Miller, G.2000).

The theory of musical protolanguage has been supported by several authors (Darwin included). It shed
the light on the role of music in the emergence of language. Numerous studies explored the schemes
involved in the transition from emotionally expressive musical protolanguage to substantial language
that carries meaningful information. Darwin suggested that articulate language “owes its origins to the
imitation and modification, aided by signs and gestures, of various natural sounds, the voices of other
animals, and man's own instinctive cries..As the voice was used more and more, the vocal organs
would have been strengthened and perfected” (The Descent of Man, chapter 3,p.87). Music’s
contribution in natural selection through strengthening social bonds, influencing sexual selection, and
expressing rivalry offered our earlier ancestors a broad range of artistic and cognitive abilities
transmitted genetically, hence allowing the development of cognitive faculties and prepared for the
neural basis for language production and comprehension (Tomasello, 1999).

Figure 1: 'Hmmmm "A prelinguistic 'musical' mode of thought and action", John Blacking, 1973 1

Music was, and remains, a significant driving force in human cognitive, cultural and neurological
evolution, however its characteristics and components are not static. Now that musical practices

1
“The evolution of music and language,”Avorgbedor, Daniel. (2008). Steven Mithen,, The Singing: The Origins of Music,
Language, Mind, and Body. (p. 99)
became less related to survival drives and more related to hedonic activities, the characteristics of
music as well as its significance are continuously evolving and becoming more complex, making its
understanding a puzzle for evolutionary and cognitive researchers.

In following section we review various animal communication systems that appear to be related to the
human approach to music.

1.1.1 Information driven from non human primates

In order to understand the weight of music in human beings evolution, it is beneficial to investigate
musical behaviors adopted by other species, with which we shared ancestors at some point of evolution.
Music is not a direct survival tool or skill, it’s loud, it can attract the attention of rivals and predators
(W.T. Fitch, 2006) and consumes an important amount of energy that can be used for more significant
activities. Yet, it could withstand natural selection, if music had no significant purpose, one might
expect strong selection against it.

In their work on the evolution of human speech, MacLarnon and Hewitt (1999) found similarities in
the thoracic vertebral size between early Homo erectus (=Homo ergaster) and chimpanzees or earlier
hominids, Nevertheless, Neanderthals seem to have a thoracic vertebral size similar to modern humans.
The data provided by this work indicates that increased breathing control did not coincide before late
H. erectus. Additionally, a discovered fossil indicator revealed a potential change in neural control of
vocalization in humans that indicated that modern humans have a larger thoracic vertebral canal than
other primates.

Gibbons vocalization is characterized by different musical aspects (tone, repetition, rhythm), they are
coordinated and produced in couples. Its functions also seem to be territorial, and might have served as
an alarming signaling purpose to detect predators and rivals. Merker found a correlation between
synchronized vocalizations and couple cohesion in gibbons which lead to infer that musical
vocalizations might also play a significant role in sexual attraction between potential mates (merker;
Miller, G. F. 2000). The characteristics of rhesus vocalizations seem to be similar to those of human
music conveying an emotion: joyful music has a high tone and a fast tempo just like the excitation
vocalizations of a primate having discovered a source of food. (Dunbar 1998; Mithen 2000).

Merker (2000) suggests that human musical basis might have been driven from behaviors transmitted
from other primates, for instance, chimpanzee “fruit festivity” where chimps produced loud but non
synchronized hooting signal the presence of abundant fruit resources. Merker suggests that
modifications might have occurred to such vocalizations and continued in the hominid lineage.

Mithen (2005) believed that some homo species, including Homo neanderalensis, were more musical
than us, he suggested that they were endowed by eminent sensitivity to their auditory environment and
emotional sensitivity to the vocal and physical actions of others which homo sapiens lost.

In his book «The singing Neanderthals», The mentioned author combined significant data from a wide
range of disciplines such as archaeology, neuroscience, psychology and musicology to highlight the
value of music’s contribution in cognitive fluidity, emotional and intellectual intelligence of homo
sapiens. He writes “Musicality has a significantly earlier appearance in human evolution and was
utilized by a wide range of hominin ancestors and relatives.” (pp.98)

1.1.2 Information driven from animals:

Recent findings driven from studies around musical behaviors in non human animals support the
theory of music universality. Although various data was driven from different studies made a
revolution in our understanding for animal world, this domain remains partially explored.

Recent studies found evidence for beat perception and production, pitch and tonal encoding
(Hoeschele et al., 2015; Hoeschele and Bowling, 2016), octave generalization (Crickmore, 2003), and
consonance (Cook and Fujisawa, 2006) in animals

Some comparative data can be cited in support of this respect, many powerful similarities have been
observed between animal communication systems and human music making, in terms of innate and
learned behaviors. Birds and whales are known to engage in elaborate phonocoding. Male birds
dispose a repertoire of songs on which they rely to attract their mate; it was suggested by Searcy (1992)
that female birds that are exposed the same song, start losing interest (habituation phenomenon).
Contrarily, if a male bird can come up with new songs, he will be promoting for a rich repertoire of
songs and have more chances of earning the female’s attention (dishabituation phenomenon) and
courtship. Additionally, High quality vocalizations and unique songs advertise the birds’ mental and
physical health, which are quite tempting characteristics for the female to transmit to her descendants.

As an answer for the question “why do birds sing?” Fitch (2006) writes “...Developmentally, the bird
sings because it was raised in an environment full of conspecific songs, which it learned (many birds
will not sing properly otherwise). Phylogenetically, all birds share a syrinx, indicating that this unique
vocal organ evolved near the beginning of bird evolution. Finally, functionally (adaptively), birds sing
because their ancestors who sang out-reproduced those that did not. This may have been because they
attracted more or better mates, defended better territories, or both” (pp. 174). In connection with
music-like behavior, a number of researchers have done comparative studies to study whale songs.
Humpback whales seem to communicate through systems that appear analogous to human music.
“These songs, sung only by males during the breeding season, are long (typically 8 to 16 min),
complex, and have a hierarchical organization consisting of notes, phrases, and themes. Males repeat
these songs without interruption, hour after hour.” (Katherine Payne's lucid discussion of humpback
whale song.)

The song cycles of humpback whales show geographical variation: the humpback song varies in
localization, between different populations, even within a specific population songs change rapidly and
witness a peak of change during the breeding season. Additionally, humpback whales are able to
effectuate the cultural transmission of their songs to other populations, so that all male whales sing the
same songs. (W.T. Fitch, 2006)

Even though bird and whales complex vocal communication systems were thought to be mainly used
for information transmission between individuals and populations, some authors, such as Marler
(2000), believed that the signal diversity in bird and whale song is generated for its own purpose (as in
music) rather than to convey a complex content of information (as it is the case for language). In
addition, bird and whale vocalizations comprise of phonocoding and no lexicoding. These arguments
prove that, despite their complexity, whale and bird songs are closer to music than language. (Marler
2000)

It is undeniable that natural selection played a major role in the persistence of musical behavior in
humans but equally in other species. Animals who have better chances of surviving and transmitting
their genes to their descendants are not only individuals who could influence their listeners by
expressing themselves efficiently, but also the ones who could decode and understand different signals
received by their environment (M Seyfarth, L. Cheney 2003).The findings mentioned previously have
the virtue of explaining musical behaviors in animals that are analogous to human musical behaviors,
which supports the theory of music’s adaptive function in evolution. “It was clear to Darwin, and has
remained unargued ever since, that bird song is analogous, not homologous, to human song (our
common ancestor, a Paleozoic reptile, did not sing), and the same can be said for whale and seal song”
(W.T. Fitch,2006). However the abundant data driven from mammals and birds behavior can only
intrigue researchers from various disciplines to extend the musical exploration in wildlife.

1.2 Production and comprehension of music in modern humans:

1.2.1 Human infants:

About twenty weeks after conception, the auditory system of the fetus becomes fully functional in his
mother’s womb, where the human infant is continuously exposed to diverse sounds, rhythms and beats.
Hanus and Mechthild Papousek (1996) explored several proto-musical behaviors expressed by infants
during their interaction with their caregivers. They revealed that the reaction of new born infants
towards music is not limited to listening but also includes interacting with sounds to which they are
exposed; new born babies produced different sounds and moved on the rhythm of perceived sounds,
Papousek believed that regular synchronization of vocal patterns and movement provides infants with
a rich visual, tactile, and kinesthetic information bank (1996, p100). Infants seem to show preference
for maternal song over speech (Trehub & Nakata, 2001; Shenfield et al., 2003), it was also shown that
children recognize and show preferences for music to which they were exposed in their mother’s
womb (Lamont 2001).

Cross (1999) identified music as a cognitive capacity emerging from the infant's curiosity and drive to
search for relevance in what surrounds in order to gain mastery over his world (1999, p4). He writes
“...it would appear more appropriate to understand the human predisposition to be musical, rather than
the expressions of that musicality shown by mature individuals in particular cultures, as being a
product of evolutionary forces” (1999, p4).

1.2.2 Music as a cultural heritage:

Music is an indubitably universal human activity, every human being has the physical and the mental
ability to comprehend and produce music vocally. Music, to which we’re exposed, depends on
different factors (geographical localization, age, population, contexts) and our musical preferences are
shaped by our experience and thus culturally transmitted. (W.T. Fitch, 2006)

Our brain’s reactions towards music is not limited to listening and decoding the sounds, Daniel J
Levitin illustrates the complexity of music processing in the human brain, he writes “Our ability to
make sense of music depends on experience, and on neural structures that can learn and modify
themselves with each new song we hear, and with each new listening to an old song. Our brains learn a
kind of musical grammar that is specific to the music of our culture, just as we learn to speak the
language of our culture” (p106).

Music is the companion of the human being all along his life, taking various forms: lullabies, playtime
songs, school songs, national hymn, marches and army, prayers, weddings, funerals...etc musical
behaviors contributed to group cohesion and social bonding in evolution, and its cultural aspect was
fostered as the human mind evolved. Although the persistent similarities found when establishing the
traits of music across cultures, there are different characteristics that make each musical product
unique to its culture. The embodied experience of music among a social group is a form expression of
their beliefs and convictions. Freeman proposed that music and dance are the result of neurobiological
evolution combined with the cultural evolution of behavior eventually led to the emergence of varies
states of consciousness (J. Freeman, 2000).

Some authors, suggested that music is the precursor of language, thus to cognitive abilities in humans.
It enables us to acquire the sense of predictability, trust and sharing among a social group, which are
primary characteristics of human interactions. According to Dylan Van Der Schyff, “Development of
shared intentionality in modern humans, which in turn permitted the rapid development of cultural
evolution and the emergence of human cognition, as mentioned previously, music is employed in
infancy and childhood to explore, create meaning, and develop competencies between different
domains of embodied experience; music is a play-space‖ for developing cognitive flexibility and social
understanding”. (Van Der Schyff 2013;cross 1999)

Music knows no socio-economic level, no race, and no intellect, making its accessibility universal. Its
function in social cohesion corresponds to the different cognitive and emotional states it elicits,
musical behaviors (vocal or/and instrumental) touch the core of the human drives, and opens a
powerful window into tolerance and unity.

1.2.3 Music and neuroscience:

Neuroscience has been playing a substantial role in unveiling layers around our understanding for
music. Brain deficits and advanced brain imaging techniques allow us to examine brain networks
underlying music processing and behaviors related to it.

Music has no dedicated neural circuit localized in specific brain areas, (cf. Peretz, 2006)when you’re
playing music or singing, the whole brain seem to be activated: the auditory highways, motor centers
responsible for movements (singing, playing an instrument, dancing..) brain areas responsible for
language (speech understanding).

More specifically, although the different regions involved in music processing are responsible for
different musical aspects such as pitch, tempo, timbre, etc... Several neural processes operate in
parallel to analyze the elementary aspects then synchronize them and form a coherent representation of
what we’re listening to. Some music processing summons additional neural regions such as those
responsible for syntax and semantics related to speech understanding (Daniel J. Levitin 2006).

Panskepp (2009) proposed that the human neocortex might not have contained evolutionary specific
modules dedicated for music or language, the large subcortical areas related to music and language
may originally be the result of proto-musical communications that eventually allowed the development
of both music as well as language

The different emotional states animated by music can be explained by the implication of the whole
limbic system (Jäncke L. 2008) that constitutes a part of the circuit of exchanges occurring between
association cortices in the newer brain and the older parts of the forebrain. The limbic systems evoke
feelings that will be associated with songs and will eventually mark the perceptual experience of music.

In connection with this, the limbic system is known for being the center of pleasure and reward system.
Music (among other things), stimulates the rewarding system and reinforces the behavior of listening
to music and other behaviors related to it (such as dancing), by releasing increased dopamine levels in
the nucleus accumbens, in addition to the cerebellum’s contribution to emotion regulation, as it’s
connected to the frontal lobe and the limbic system (Daniel J. Levitin 2006).

A recent study explored dopamine activity in the mesolimbic system related to music listening.

While subjects listened to their favorite songs from different genres, fMRI and PET techniques were
used to examine the variation and the time course of dopamine release. Findings revealed the
importance of dopamine release in the mesolimbic reward system (including both dorsal and ventral
striatum) related to intense pleasure experienced when listening to music. The striatal system is known
for its interconnection with sensory, motor and associative regions of the brain. This system has been
known for its implication in the reinforcing qualities of pleasurable stimuli. Moreover, the important
activation in the dopaminergic system was observed in the caudate preceeding the climax of emotional
responses whereas the nucleus accumbens was specifically involved during the phase of emotional
peak in response to music (N Salimpoor, Benovoy, Larcher, Dagher, J Zatorre, 2011).
As we mentioned previously, playing an instrument mobilizes various regions in the brain. Aside from
the planning centers in the frontal lobe, the motor cortex and other higher cognitive systems, music
processing involves the reptilian brain. It’s the oldest part of our brain which we share with birds and
reptiles. The reptilian brain holds the cerebellum and the stem, its role is crucial in our response to
music as it’s connected to the cerebellar vermis and the amygdala thus the heart of emotional
processing in the cortex (Daniel J. Levitin 2006).

The functional distribution of music processing can only be a witness for music’s complexity, which is
accompanied by different psychological behaviors; on a neural, emotional, and cognitive level
(Figure1). The therapeutic use of music is proving success in relation to brain deficits (see Teppo
Särkämö, Antoni Rodríguez-Fornells and Isabelle Peretz 2016), movement disorders (see García-
Casares, Natalia et al. 2018), language disorders (Joost Hurkmans, Madeleen de Bruijn, Anne M.
Boonstra, Roel Jonkers, Roelien Bastiaanse, Hans Arendzen & Heleen A. Reinders-Messelink (2012).
Such discoveries this explains the continuous growth of music weight among research field and
encourages further exploration of potential therapeutic grounds related to music.

Figure 2: Locations of functional regions of the brain involved in processing musical information. 2

2
Illustration from Teppo Sarkamo, Mari Tervaniemi and Minna Huotilainen, ”Music Perception and
Cognition: Development, Neural Basis, and Rehabilitative use of Music,” Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews:
1.2.4 Music and cognition

Music and cognitive abilities:

Peretz (2001) concluded, “Music cognition is isolable both functionally and neuroanatomically from
the rest of the cognitive system” (p. 519).

Many cognitive faculties are mobilized while listening or performing music, such as memory, language,
attention, perception and so on. Music production wouldn’t be possible without these domains. Our
brain’s computational power is perfectly illustrated in music processing, as it requires an immense
flexibility to interconnect different elements such as pitch, tone, rhythm...and coordinate these different
types of information in a parallel processing operations, to eventually create a harmonized
representation of music that itself will be associated and shaped by our perception memory, emotions,
etc.

Steven Mithen (1996) suggested that the cognitive flexibility that homo sapiens sapiens gained is due
to, among others, our ability to transmit expertise between domains, to merge different skills for
different functions, and even develop an independent expertise, differentiates us from our ancient
hominid ancestors who had developed remarkable competences in discrete domains of life such as tool
manufacture. Tolbert adds that cognitive and social flexibility is an evolutionary engine that marked
the appearance of modern Homo sapiens sapiens, without which we could have never became humans.
(Cross, 1999; Tolbert 2001). Another argument supporting this view was proposed by Cross (music
mind and evolution) through inferences driven from infant behavior. He believed that music or proto-
musical activity might have contributed to the emergence of metaphorical domain in human mind, thus
to cognitive flexibility. Works around infants cognition linked to music prove that music is a sort of
play space, a consequence free gate for exploration that allows the infant to construct different
cognitive schemes and develop his cognitive flexibility.

Improvisation in music and dance were also regarded as significant hints on the cognitive flexibility of
the dancer, advertising his cleverness and his potential strategic skills for protection and hunt (J.Levitin
2006).

Cognitive Science 4, 4 (2013).

It’s undeniable that music taste and preferences are perceptual constructions, however, Aesthetic
displays of music are strongly related to various features that fulfill preexisting perceptual and
cognitive preferences. (F. Miller, 200). Aesthetic responses towards music involve a cognitive
appraisal that relies on several factors, such as past experience, cultural background, chronological age,
emotional state, etc.

Language

Researchers from multiple disciplines have joined forces to draw cognitive links between music and
language.

If music paved the road for the emergence of language, it is not surprising that they share similarities
in their functioning, whether it’s on the neural level or on the cognitive one. Music can tell us a lot
about how our mind and brain process language, and the opposite is equally correct, language can
provide us a better understanding of music’s functioning.

“from the analogy of other animals, I have been led to infer that the progenitors of man probably
uttered musical tones before they had acquired the power of articulate speech; and that consequently,
when the voice is used under any strong emotion, it tends to assume, through the principle of
association, a musical character ” (Darwin1872:92).

The characteristics of human communication systems knew several changes through evolution. Steven
Brown (2001) supports this theory and adds the term “musilanguage” that suggests a common ancestor
from which music and language evolved to be two distinct specializations that use sounds to convey
information. In analogy with our cousins on the evolutionary tree, it was proposed that from gibbon
vocalizations we can infer that music has been a distinct human cognitive faculty, from which
language has evolved (Masataka,2008 ) Mithen goes further to suggest that musical behaviors in
humans might have lost their adaptive advantages since the evolution of language.

In order to understand the links between music and language at the sensory and cognitive levels, it is
important to cast light on the important divergences as well as shared features, between music and
language.

Fitch (2006) believed that most of the differences stem from one major difference between music and
language which is “semanticity’’, defined as the use of arbitrary or non-arbitrary signals transmitting
meaningful messages. As he puts it “Language can be used to convey an unlimited set of discrete,
propositional meanings, and music cannot. While music is typically composed of a discrete set of
fundamental units (notes and beats), these do not map onto equally discrete meanings semantically”
(p.176). Moreover, it seems that the influence of music in terms of aesthetics and invoked emotions
derives from these differences

Another difference between music and language mentioned by Fitch (2006) is observed in terms of
pitch and time processing. In language production, pitch and time vary continuously, whereas music
processing rely on pitch and time discretization, which makes it more acoustically predictable than
language.

Aside from the shared brain areas and cognitive processing, music can play the role of conveying the
same emotions that vocal communication does, but in a nonreferential, and nonspecific way (Capers,
2009)

As we mentioned previously, language and music share several brain areas and neural networks. More
specifically, listening to musical tracks including lyrics, and the process of recalling lyrics, activates
language centers such as Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas, areas of the temporal and frontal lobes (J.
Levitin 2006).

Additionally, music like language holds cultural basis, on which it knows continuous evolution. Our
brains construct a form of musical repertoire specific to our culture, similar to the integration of
different language properties specific to our culture. Both music and language also share the feature of
being culturally transmitted and socially learned from the behavioral outputs of other individuals.
(Ravignani et al, 2018)

Memory

The musical experience is related to several factors that solicit memorizing capacities. Playing musical
notes, remembering lyrics, as well as the emotions provoked by listening to music imply different
stages and forms of memory process.

Music was found to have significant effect on enhancing verbal memory (Chan et al., 1998; Ho et al.,
2003) it was found that, after music training, adult participants showed a significantly higher
performance in verbal memory task than those without any music training. These findings support the
“idea” that music training has a significant effect on the improvement of verbal memory. It was also
proposed that music novelty attracts attention, and increase listener’s arousal, thus increase
memorability (S.Wagner, 2008).

In relation to this, a research conducted by... suggest that music has a significant negative influence or
memory. Results indicated that the group of students who took the tests without listening to music had
better performance (more correct lines) than participants who completed the same task while listening
to lyrical music.

The same study also suggested that regardless of the type/genre of music, it does not have a positive
effect on memory performance, contrarily, it influences short-term memory performance poorly
(Musliu, Berisha, Peci, Latifi, 2017)

The effect of music genres on memory was explored by Bugter and Carden (2012), Memory scores
resulted from playing the Concentration games were evaluated under three conditions (classical, rap,
and silence). Results indicated a significant difference between the three groups in terms of
performance in the memory task: participants in the classical group had significantly better
performance on the memory task than participants in the rap group. However, no other differences
between groups were found.

The decline of working memory is known to be related to aging. In a work examining the cognitive
effects of music in older adults, findings showed that, after listening positive valence music, healthy
older adults showed a significant increase in Digit Span scores. This led to suggest that positive
valence music can improve working memory performance in healthy older adults (Wang, Tranel,
Denburg, 2016).

Attention

A long debate has been going on whether music has a negative or a positive influence on attentional
abilities. Lesiuk (2005) investigated the impact of music listening in the work place. Leisuk drew the
difference between exposure to music and engaging in it. He proposed that exposure to music and
listening with focused attention solicits different attentional investment. Being exposed to music does
not require an attentional investment as engaging in another task while listening to music nor as
focusing on listening to music (D. Jones, 2006).
In contrast, Hockey’s compensatory control model (1997), suggests a facilitative effect of music on
task performance, which can take place via a shift in cognitive strategy to an active control mechanism
and result a temporary increase in working memory resources to the detriment of increased autonomic
and physiological distress. ( Chettiar 2014), music listening that preceded aversive stimuli was found
to reduce the influence of the aversive stimuli (Standley 1991).

Selective attention (also called controlled attention, directed attention, executive attention) is defined
as the ability to pay attention to a certain stimuli in the environment and not on others, or to a specific
feature of a compound stimulus, enabling important stimuli to be distinguished from peripheral or
incidental ones. 3

Attention, in relation to music processing has been extensively researched. In a comparison made
between the performance of two groups, music majors and non music majors, attentional performances
indicated that music majors outperformed non-music majors in divided attention task, while non-music
majors showed better performance under selective attention to music. (D. Jones,2006)

In another study based on comparison between music and non music majors on terms of attentional
performance, participants completed the d2 test under two conditions; they took the half of the test
with background music and the other half of the test without music. Results showed that under music
condition, music and non music majors obtained higher scores than the ones obtained under non music
condition. These data leads to infer that music might have a facilitative rather than distracting effect on
selective attention performance ( Darrow, Jhonson, Agnew, Fuller, Uchisaka, 2006).

A recent study has investigated brain networks underlying music influence on attention, using an
event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging. Participants took an attention test while being
exposed to four emotional music categories (joy, tenderness, tension and sadness). The obtained
findings indicated a significant impact of emotional music on visuo-spatial processing. Furthermore, a
facilitator effect of music was observed under the pleasant and joyful music condition, which was
expressed in a faster response time compared to the response time under the rest of the conditions.

On the neural aspect, sad and low-valence music was associated with slower responses and a
remarkable activation in the occipital area. The improved attentional functioning observed during the
exposure to happy and high-arousing music was associated with notable fronto-parietal activation.

3
APA Dictionary of Psychology
Furthermore, the attentional control network seem to witness greater activation under with the same
condition (B. Fernandez, J. Trost, Vulleumier, 2019).

2 Method
2.1 Population

44 participants chose to volunteer for the study through social media posts. The selection criteria were
that participants were aged from 20 to 28, with no history of visual or auditory dysfunction. In
addition, none of the participants was music major. The testing period coincided with Ramadan, the
holy month in the Islamic culture during which Muslims fast from dusk till down. Therefore, another
criteria was added in order to eliminate the potential influence of hunger or thirst on the attentional
performance, which led to the elimination of 10 participants prior to the experiment, leaving the final
number of participants 34 divided into17 men and 17 women.

Table 1: Average age and number of participants:

Average age N
(ET)
22,35
F 17
(2,29)
23,06
M 17
(2,46)

2.2 Material

The selective attention test was created and conducted on OpenSesame, a graphical experiment builder
software. The test is composed of 20 slides, 4 trial slides were presented in the beginning of the
experiment to assure that the subject fully understood the task to do, followed by 16 slides presenting
the actual experience.
Each slide comprised four rectangular forms appearing on the corners of the screen.
The subject is called to fix the «+» appearing in the middle of the screen, and then indicate for each
trial, the location of the square.
If the square appears on the inferior left corner, the subject should press on 1 in the keyboard.
The square appears on the inferior right corner of the screen, the subject should press on 3 in the
keyboard.
If the square appears on the upper left corner of the screen, the subject should press on 7 in the
keyboard.
If the square appears on the upper right corner of the screen, the subject should press 9 in the
keyboard.
The sort order of all the slides was randomized, to delete the learning effect of the test.
A sample of the trial slides is shown down below:

2.3 Procedure:

Each participant was sent the software as well as the test virtually. Once the software was installed,
each participant was contacted individually through a video call in which he or she was guided on how
to take the test. The practice test procedure was identical for all participants. After completing the
practice test, the participants were asked if there were any questions or comments.
Participants were also informed that they needed to take the same test twice within the following
conditions:
Condition 1: The participant takes the test while listening to their favorite song.
Condition 2: The participant takes the test while listening to their least favorite song.
Note that the two tests were taken within 24h of separation and that all participants took the test
between 5pm and 7 pm.
The experiment was conducted with a counterbalanced measures design. Within each group of males
(n=17) and females (n=17); 9 participants started by taking the test under Condition 1, Meanwhile the
other 8 participants started by taking the test under Condition 2.
Few instructions were communicated to all participants concerning, the appropriate testing conditions
such as room lightening, and the distance to be kept between the screen and the eyes.
After completing the test (for day 1 and day 2), participants sent the necessary files containing the
performance data related to each condition. After all files were collected, participants were given the
opportunity to provide feedback on the methods and procedures of the research.

2.4 Variables and hypothesis

General hypothesis:
This research seeks to evaluate selective attentional performance linked to listening to the most
preferred song and the least preferred one. Based on response time in groups of female and males, We
predict that there is a significant difference between selective attentional performance related to the
degree of preference in music.

Operational hypothesis:
H0: There is no significant difference in selective attention performance between the condition of
listening to the most preferred musical track and the least preferred one, among both genders.
H1: There is a significant difference in selective attentional performance between the condition of
listening to the most preferred song the least preferred one, among both groups of males and females.

3 Data Presentation and Analysis

The following table presents the average performances in terms of reaction time recorded by females
and males, under the two conditions of musical listening:
Condition 1: Favorite music (Fav)
Condition 2: Lest preferred music (Least Fav)

Table 2: Average reaction time related to the two music listening conditions
RT fav RT Least fav
1234.77 1526,67
F
(377.36) (719.51)
2410.42 2479.61
M
(3699.14) (3836.18)

*Note that all the results communicated are expressed in milliseconds (Msec).

Chart 1 illustrates the previous results:

Figure 3: Interaction of average response time among male and female subjects under condition 1
"listening to the favorite song" referred as RT fav and condition 2 "listening to the least favorite song"
referred as RT Least fav.
Descriptive analysis:

Comparison between condition 1 and condition 2 among both genders:

RT fav Males Vs Females:
Results showed that the average of performance in terms of response time in males group is higher
than the one recorded in females group. 2410.42 > 1234.77
RT Least fav Males Vs Females:
Average response time in females group is less than the one observed in males group. 1526.67<
2479.61

Comparison between condition 1 and condition 2 within both genders:

-in Females group: Average response time showed that female participants recorded longer time under
condition 2 (Least favorite song) compared to their performance under condition 1 (favorite song).
1526.67 > 1234.77

-in Males group: Average response time under least favorite song listening condition observed in males
seems to surpass their average response time under favorite song listening condition. 2479.61 >
2410.42
Data collected showed differences between both groups of males and females, average response time
provides evidence that male participants took longer time to respond to the stimuli presented during
both music conditions 1 and 2, which suggests that male participants might have allocated attention
differently from female participants.
In addition, the observed data shows that, while listening to their least favorite songs, both groups of
males and females elicited longer response time compared to their performance under favorite song
condition.

Inferential statistics
Gender effects on response time

In order to investigate the effects of gender on response time performance, Mann-Whitney U- test was
carried out based on the interaction between Genre and Condition 1 (RT fav). Results showed that
there were no significant effect of genre on condition 1 response time performance [Z=1,22; p=0,22].
Student’s t-test was conducted based on the variables Genre and Condition 2 (RT least favorite).
Results determined that the differences found were not statistically significant between genre and
participants response time under condition 2, [t(32)= -1,006; p= 0,32].

Condition effects on response time

Wilcoxon’s non parametric test was used among females group to assess the significance of the
influence of condition 1 (favorite song) and condition 2 (least favorite song) on response time
performance. Results showed a significant difference between response time performance under
condition 1 and 2 (Z=1,96; p=0,049).
In regards to the male group, Student’s t-test Results did not show significant difference between
response time performance under condition 1 and condition 2 (t(32)= -0,05 ; p= 0,95).

4 Discussion

In the light of the previous findings several interesting directions can be further explored, we will treat
the possible factors that might have played a significant role in the findings observed in the present
study.

Emotional valence:

There has been a long debate on whether emotional stimuli are processed automatically through a
bottom up mechanism independent of attentional processing, or are susceptible to be modulated by
attention. ( see T. Shafer et al. 2012)

Various works have been presented concerning the automaticity of emotional processing. Works in
which we find a variety of rigorous evidence some support to this view while others stand against it.

Recent findings have suggested that emotion has no influence on attentional abilities. In a visual
attention test, participants were evaluated in a change detection task after being induced into positive,
neutral, and negative mood states. Results did not show a significant effect of the positive mood state
on detection flicker task performance ( C. A. Bendall , Thompson, 2015).

This view has been challenged by several works supporting the dependence of emotion processing on
attentional resources, suggesting that emotional valence plays a major role in attentional processing.
Shulan Hsieh & Siang Jyun Lin (2019) investigated the impact of emotional valences on cognitive
flexibility on different time scales of cognitive flexibility, based on a task-switching paradigm. Results
showed that under incongruent trials, the negative mood did not only elicit a more reduced response
time than neutral moods in switching from one task to another , but it also increased preparedness in
task switching.Whereas, positive moods, compared to the neutral emotional state, showed no
significant effect of modulatio on short and long time scales mentioned previously ( Hsieh & Jyun Lin,
2019)

In a review around attentional processing of emotional information, Yiend (2010) suggested that
stimuli with negative emotional valence require additional attentional resources than non-emotional
stimuli.

A recent study (Song, S., Zilverstand, A., Song, H. et al, 2017 ) explored the influence of emotional
interference on cognitive control. Based on neuroimaging studies using an emotional Stroop task,
results indicated a significant emotion/cognitive conflit interaction. The presence of common
activation patterns in cognitive and emotional processing support the theory of their integrated and
interdependent systems. This work also revealed shared neurophysiological mechanisms between both
systems. During the cognitive control task performance implying an emotional interference, an
important increase was observed in some regions that were believed to be involved in cognitive control.
The remarkable increased activations led to highlight the interdependence of emotional and cognitive
processing.

A particular study conducted by Shafer, Andrea T et al. (2015 ) studied the interactions between
emotion and cognition under a perceptual discrimination task involving an emotional distraction. This
study revealed the existence of both automatic emotional processing and the dependence of emotional
processing on attentional resources. the obtained results showed that emotional information can both
be processed automatically and can also be dependent to attentional modulations

The attentional modulations elicited by emotional stimuli could possibly be explained by the
competition of emotional stimuli processing resources with other stimuli « ..It therefore appears that
emotional (especially negative) stimuli can bias the competition for processing resources, such that
they are at a competitive advantage compared to neutral stimuli. » (Visual Attention and Emotional
Perception Luiz Pessoa ) In this line of reasoning, Future studies examining the allocated resources of
attention under a wide range of emotional valence seem warranted.
Sex differences

Several works examining sex differences in music cognition, supported by brain imaging techniques,
allowed a clearer understanding of brain areas. This supports the theory of sex differences on the
neural level of music processing.

Attention has been drawn to the differences of functional organization of the brain in music processing
among males and females. Data extracted from event-related brain potential experiences showed that a
non adequate and unexpected harmony within a musical sequence evokes a bilateral distribution of a
relatively early electric brain activity expressed on the female scalp, whereas it’s lateralized in the right
hemisphere in males ( Kolesh, Grossmann, Maess, D. Friederici 2003).

The same study also revealed that gender differences found in processing auditory information is not
limited to processing linguistic aspects related to music such as syntax phonology and semantics

it has been suggested that Several sex differences exist on the anatomical level, females have larger
volume in the left superior temporal gyrus and parts of frontal gyrus, and larger caudal nucleus.
However, males have an increased volume in fronto-medial cortex and amygdala (Harvey, 2017).

Remarks

Some participants expressed their discomfort after taking the test under condition 2 and reported that
listening to their least favorite song was highly distracting and it had poorly affected their performance,
while no specific remarks were given about condition 1.

Females’ response time was significantly longer while listening to their least favorite song. The
observed results led us to infer that negative emotional valence provoked by music alters the selective
attention performance. This significant influence might as well be observed in other forms of
attentional abilities.

The role of strategy

The response time difference under condition 2 presents in females group and absent within males can
be explained by a number of potential factors. Females might have adopted a different response
strategy than males. It is possible that they made slower decisions during the tasks in which they were
less confident and cautious. Furthermore, other aspects of music cognitive processing could be
influenced by the negative emotional valence and lead to the observed findings (see Bosco, M.
Longoni, Vechhi, 2004; Pletzer, 2014).

Biological role

The variability of sex hormones in women throughout the menstrual cycle might play a significant
role in altering the attentional performance in female participants under condition 2. The perception
of negative emotional valence might be influenced by sex hormones, which could cause a significant
different attentional performance during different points of menstrual cycle. A future study evoking the
link between sexual hormones and attentional performance can be highly enlightening (Marrs,
Chandler & Ferraro, Douglas & Cross, Chad & McMurray, Janic, 2013; F. Halpern p.203)

Music association with language

Since most of the songs chosen by participants are associated with lyrics, it might have been the case
that the male advantage held for some language aspects which are also shared with musical processing
lead to the observed findings. Several studies revealed the difference between lyrical and instrumental
music processing related to attention (Shih, Yi-Nuo & Huang, Rong-Hwa & Chiang, Hsin-Yu, 2012).

Degree of familiarity

One possibility is that male participants might have greater familiarity with the songs chosen for
condition 2. The degree of exposure to the unpleasant song might have made it less unpleasant as a
result of habituation.

Music genre

The possibility that music genre chosen by participants under condition 2 could have a significant
influence among both groups also warrant further investigation. Several studies focused on the effect
of different music genre on executive tasks, attention ( Lesiuk, T. (2005). one genre was included in
this research that hasn’t been well investigated by music cognition works which is oriental music.
Since there are some music genres that require a more complicated cognitive and auditory processing,
Female participants might have chosen songs that have a more significantly distracting effect than
boys leading to the sex based difference in performance observed among both groups.
5 Conclusion

To conclude, the purpose of the present study is to determine the effect of music under the emotional
valence (expressed in favorite and least favorite song) on attentional performance. Based on response
time, we tested 37 participants in a selective attention test.

Prior to the experiment it was presumed that taking the test under condition 2 (to the least favorite song)
would elicit longer response time than under condition 1 (the favorite song) in both groups.

Results showed that within the group of males there was no significant difference between
performance under condition 1 and 2. In the female group however, it was shown that participants took
significantly longer time responding to the stimuli presented in the test while listening to their least
favorite song. The advantage held in female group in terms of response time in both conditions, was
not proved to be significant. However it seems important to propose some explanation behind the
observed sex difference. It might be due to sub groups’ effect, such as tobacco consumption, stress,
lack of sleep, eating habits, etc.

This study has various limitations. Since the testing period coincided with the covid-19 pandemic, the
selective attention test was taken individually, with no physical presence of the researcher. Despite the
clear instructions, it wasn’t possible to control the environment in which the test was taken, Such as the
music volume, the room lightening, and the screen size. Moreover music type (instrumental, lyrical
music) and their effects on attention were not taken into consideration. Several studies showed that
lyrical music requires more complicated cognitive processing than instrumental one (Miller, 2014).
Further studies might examine the influence of emotional valence on attention abilities with a better
control over the music type variable.

Furthermore, further studies examining the observed results in association with sex differences in
language processing seem warranted. As it allows an in-depth understanding of the sex difference
observed in the present work.

The biological factor was not taken into consideration in this study. Nevertheless, it seems to have an
important implication in modulating cognitive abilities, further investigation is needed to clarify the
specific role of sex hormones changes in relation to selective attention performance.
Future studies might as well extend the study of selective attention abilities to other forms of attention,
An in depth study on the anatomical and functional level of neurocognition of music would offers us a
better understanding of the results obtained in this work. More specifically, a future study can examine
the neural networks and brain areas underlying the findings obtained here based on brain imagery
techniques such as fMRI scans, Pet scan, ERPs….

The exploration of the link existing between music and attention requires the understanding of the
different aspect underlying their functioning on the cognitive, neural, and emotional level. The study of
the underlying shared patterns of these domains may lead to outstanding findings. It opens the door for
a wide range of research grounds, enriching the research field of neurocognition of music, and
allowing us to get closer to revealing the enigma of the musical human mind.
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