Name:Erina Nakajima

School/Affiliation:Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Fujisawa, Japan

Co-Authors:Sotaro Kondoh, Hideaki Kawabata, Shinya Fujii

Virtual or In-person:In-person

Short Bio:

I’m a singer-songwriter and researcher passionate about scientifically exploring music, particularly the neural mechanisms underlying musical aesthetics and creativity. Currently, I’m pursuing my Master’s degree at Keio University, where I study the neural basis of artistic creativity and insight during musical composition using EEG. In parallel, as a Research Assistant in the Haptic Perception and Cognitive Physiology Team at the RIKEN Center for Brain Science, I investigate auditory cognition using ECoG recordings in marmosets.

Abstract:

Western music typically regards some tone combinations as pleasant (consonant) and others as unpleasant (dissonant). Whether this is universal or shaped by cultural exposure remains debated. Prior studies suggest that greater musical training increases preference for consonance, indicating that experience contributes to this preference. However, most research uses explicit measures, leaving implicit evaluations largely underexamined.

We examined explicit and implicit evaluations of consonant and dissonant chords and their associations with musical experience in 49 participants. Explicit evaluation was computed as the difference between ratings for consonant and dissonant chords on a 7-point Likert scale, whereas implicit evaluation used the Implicit Association Test (IAT), a computer-based classification task that infers associations between concepts based on reaction times. Musical experience was assessed using the five Gold-MSI subscales.

Explicit ratings were higher for consonant than dissonant chords (p < .001, d = 2.48). Stepwise regression for explicit ratings retained Perceptual Abilities (β = .37, p = .036) and Musical Training (β = .38, p = .009) as positive predictors, and Singing Abilities (β = −.57, p = .005) as a negative predictor (adj. R² = 0.18). Implicitly, participants showed a robust IAT effect (p < .001, d = 2.26), supportive of an implicit consonance preference; however, stepwise retained the intercept-only model, indicating that no Gold-MSI subscale predicted implicit evaluation. These findings suggest that musical experience exerts multifaceted influences on the aesthetic evaluation of chords, primarily in deliberate, explicit judgments, whereas rapid, automatic implicit evaluations remain stable across different musical backgrounds.