Comparison of Novice Listeners' Similarity Judgements and Style Categorisation of Classic and Romantic Piano Examplars

Abstract

Cognitive psychologists have recently questioned the role of similarity in categorisation. Results inferred from classification errors in a previous study (Thorisson, 1995) indicated that novices base their categorisation of Classic and Romantic piano exemplars primarily on texture and to less extent chord progression. The study examined (a) the relationship between similarity and style categorisation, (b) whether multidimensional scaling (MDS) of subjects' similarity ratings support the salience of texture and chord progression, (c) whether similarity clustering better reflects classification errors of subjects given explicit or implicit style training and (d) subjects' open-ended written comparisons concur with dimensions identified by a priori attribute scales in previous MDS studies. Results indicated (a) a fairly stable relationship between similarity judgements and style categorisation for implicitly trained subjects, (b) confirmed the significance of texture, mingled, however, with other potency attributes, (c) supported the perceptual dominance of potency and activity as found in earlier MDS studies.