Cue Abstraction as a Component of Categorisation Processes in Music Listening

Abstract

This research will attempt to apply the principles of categorisation set forth by Rosch in the area of semantic and conceptual representation to the processes of music listening. Results obtained in previous studies on segmentation of entire pieces have tended to suggest the existence of a cue abstraction process, that is, the identification of invariance between cues determining the high level groupings. Within the principle of verticality proposed by Rosch, cues can thus be regarded as operating at the basic level, while groups can be regarded as constituting a higher hierarchically level of structure or superordinal level. Altematively, all the variations of cue structures encountered in a musical composition could be conceived of as functioning at a subordinate level (taking into account Rosch's principle of horizontality). The research reported here is based on this latter alternative. Four different paradigms were used within the framework of one experiment in order to explore the viability of cue abstraction processes during listening. The four tasks required of the subjects were the evaluation of the frequency of occurrence of motifs, their classification into families on the basis of abstracted cues and on the basis of components of those cues, and evaluation of degrees of similarity between motifs.