موسیقی برای گوش داخلی: بررسی تفاوت های فردی در تصویرسازی موسیقایی

In two studies, we explored the frequency and phenomenology of musical imagery. Study 1 used retrospective reports of musical imagery to assess the contribution of individual differences to imagery characteristics. Study 2 used an experience sampling design to assess the phenomenology of musical imagery over the course of one week in a sample of musicians and non-musicians. Both studies found episodes of musical imagery to be common and positive: people rarely wanted such experiences to end and often heard music that was personally meaningful. Several variables predicted musical imagery, including personality, musical preferences, and positive mood. Musicians tended to hear musical imagery more often, but they reported less frequent episodes of deliberately-generated imagery. Taken together, the present research provides new insights into individual differences in musical imagery, and it supports the emerging view that such experiences are common, positive, and more voluntary than previously recognized.

Musical imagery is widely experienced in daily life (Bailes, 2006, Bailes, 2007, Liikkanen, 2008 and Liikkanen, 2011). Although previously considered an aversive experience (e.g., Levitin, 2006), an emerging literature suggests that musical imagery is experienced positively in the minds of most people (Beaman and Williams, 2010, Halpern and Bartlett, 2011 and Hyman et al., 2013). These melodies of the mind can arise both involuntarily and voluntarily. Professional musicians, for example, can engage in voluntary musical imagery to enhance their own musical performance (Hodges & Sebald, 2011). Aside from such general differences between musicians and nonmusicians, little is known about how people differ more broadly in their imagery experiences. In the present research, we conducted two studies—using cross-sectional and experience sampling methods—to explore the role of personality and musical background in the phenomenology and emotional quality of musical imagery.