When it comes to music, what we see may be even more important than what we hear.
In a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Chia-Jung Tsay had participants predict the winners of musical competitions based on recordings — some audio-only, some videos with audio, and some silent videos. The results were surprising: Participants who saw videos, even without sound, were able to identify the winners at a significantly higher rate than those who only listened to the music.
Tsay, who holds Ph.D.s in both organizational behavior and music, was inspired to conduct the study based on her own experiences at elite musical competitions. “I found that depending on what type of evaluations were used — whether it was live rounds or audio recordings that had to be submitted — the results might vary widely,” Tsay reported. “My intuition was that there was a much more sophisticated role for visual information.”
via Wired
Image: Image: Horia Varlan/Flickr/CC
