<p><a href="http://www.marcocosta.it/icmpc2006/pdfs/330.pdf">Vitouch et. al (2006)</a> observed that <em>"visual tempo significantly influenced 
the retrieved music tempo."</em>.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Music is known to potentially affect the perception of visual  scenes
  (e. g., Vitouch, 2001), as proficiently demonstrated  in the movies.
  But do films also influence the perception of  music? This study
  investigates cross-modal influences in  perception, taking influences
  of “visual tempo” on  perceived/retrieved music tempo as a model.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>They conclude:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Both studies demonstrate clear crossover effects: There is  not just
  “musical driving” of film scenes, but also “visual  driving” of music
  perception. Results hint to holistic memory representations of
  audio-visual material.</p>
</blockquote>

<hr>

<p>On the other hand, an older paper by <a href="http://cogprints.org/644/1/tempo.htm">Levitin and Cook (1996)</a> observes that long term memory for music <em>can</em> preserve the absolute tempo, even by non-trained musicians. They do not investigate the influence of visual stimuli as in the previous paper.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>We report evidence that long term memory retains  absolute (accurate)
  features of perceptual events. Specifically, we  show that memory for
  music seems to preserve the absolute tempo  of the musical
  performance. In Experiment 1, 46 subjects sang  popular songs from
  memory, and their tempos were compared to  recorded versions of the
  songs. Seventy-two of the subjects came within  8% of the actual tempo
  on two consecutive trials (using different  songs), demonstrating
  accuracy near the perceptual threshold (JND)  for tempo. In Experiment
  2, a control experiment, we found that  folk songs lacking a tempo
  standard generally have a large variability in tempo; this counters
  arguments that memory for the  tempo of remembered songs is driven by
  articulatory constraints.  The relevance of the current findings to
  theories of perceptual  memory and memory for music are discussed.</p>
</blockquote>

<p><sub>
Oliver Vitouch, Sandra Sovdat, Norman Höller (2006) <a href="http://www.marcocosta.it/icmpc2006/pdfs/330.pdf">Audio-vision: Visual input drives perceived music tempo.</a> 9th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition<br>
Levitin, D. J. &amp; Cook, Perry R.(1996) <a href="http://cogprints.org/644/1/tempo.htm">Memory for musical tempo: Additional evidence that auditory memory is absolute.</a> Perception &amp; Psychophysics, 58, pp. 927-935.
</sub></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-05-13T17:13:58.720Z
Also an interesting paper: Sabine Strauß & Oliver Vitouch (2009) [Adaptive memory representations of musical tempo and pitch](https://jyx.jyu.fi/dspace/bitstream/handle/123456789/20932/urn_nbn_fi_jyu-2009411324.pdf?sequence=1)
Steven Jeuris
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-05-13T16:49:17.847Z
2012-05-13T17:06:20.290Z
2012-05-13T17:06:20.290Z
Steven Jeuris
<p>Something I've noticed now and then is that I'll be listening to a song off my music player and it sounds like it's being played in a tempo faster or slower than I remember the song being. Is this a defined/known phenomenon, and if so what is it's name and cause/reason for happening?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-05-13T16:29:40.710Z
_"Is this a defined/known phenomenon"_ A broken mp3 player? :) P.s.: This is on-topic here, but the question will be received better if you try googling for a bit and incorporate those findings in it.
Steven Jeuris
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-05-13T16:33:23.670Z
@Steven: Heh, pretty sure it isn't that :P I've observed it over the years with several different ones. I tried googling some but the only thing I could find that was remotely related was something on music, memory, and how the brain stores absolute features of experienced events.
RCIX
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-05-13T16:42:34.063Z
[_"music tempo perception memory"_](https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&biw=1366&bih=667&q=music+temp+perception&btnG=Google+Search&oq=comining+flex+and+flash&aq=f&aqi=g-jl1&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=417l5113l0l5278l27l21l3l0l0l0l255l2226l8.8.1l17#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=music+tempo+perception+memory&oq=music+tempo+perception+memory&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_l=serp.3...12614.13297.1.13493.7.7.0.0.0.0.64.414.7.7.0...0.0.dLLQTuVtdU8&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=356e729b7a15c7f0&biw=1366&bih=667) is turning up some interesting links for me.
Steven Jeuris
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-05-13T18:35:42.957Z
It is always better to explain what you know about the process already in your question, and if you don't know anything about it then do a little bit of [initial research](http://meta.cogsci.stackexchange.com/q/66/29) to better frame your question.
Artem Kaznatcheev
<terminology><memory><perception><music>
Phenomenon that causes music to sound like it's being played at a different tempo than remembered?
RCIX
# Phenomenon that causes music to sound like it's being played at a different tempo than remembered?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2012-05-13)

Something I've noticed now and then is that I'll be listening to a song off my music player and it sounds like it's being played in a tempo faster or slower than I remember the song being. Is this a defined/known phenomenon, and if so what is it's name and cause/reason for happening?

**Tags:** terminology, memory, perception, music

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: _"Is this a defined/known phenomenon"_ A broken mp3 player? :) P.s.: This is on-topic here, but the question will be received better if you try googling for a bit and incorporate those findings in it.  
> **username_0**: @Steven: Heh, pretty sure it isn't that :P I've observed it over the years with several different ones. I tried googling some but the only thing I could find that was remotely related was something on music, memory, and how the brain stores absolute features of experienced events.  
> **username_1**: [_"music tempo perception memory"_](https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&biw=1366&bih=667&q=music+temp+perception&btnG=Google+Search&oq=comining+flex+and+flash&aq=f&aqi=g-jl1&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=417l5113l0l5278l27l21l3l0l0l0l255l2226l8.8.1l17#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=music+tempo+perception+memory&oq=music+tempo+perception+memory&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_l=serp.3...12614.13297.1.13493.7.7.0.0.0.0.64.414.7.7.0...0.0.dLLQTuVtdU8&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=356e729b7a15c7f0&biw=1366&bih=667) is turning up some interesting links for me.  
> **username_2**: It is always better to explain what you know about the process already in your question, and if you don't know anything about it then do a little bit of [initial research](http://meta.cogsci.stackexchange.com/q/66/29) to better frame your question.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2012-05-13. Score: 10

[Vitouch et. al (2006)](http://www.marcocosta.it/icmpc2006/pdfs/330.pdf) observed that *"visual tempo significantly influenced
the retrieved music tempo."*.

> Music is known to potentially affect the perception of visual scenes
> (e. g., Vitouch, 2001), as proficiently demonstrated in the movies.
> But do films also influence the perception of music? This study
> investigates cross-modal influences in perception, taking influences
> of “visual tempo” on perceived/retrieved music tempo as a model.

They conclude:

> Both studies demonstrate clear crossover effects: There is not just
> “musical driving” of film scenes, but also “visual driving” of music
> perception. Results hint to holistic memory representations of
> audio-visual material.

---

On the other hand, an older paper by [Levitin and Cook (1996)](http://cogprints.org/644/1/tempo.htm) observes that long term memory for music *can* preserve the absolute tempo, even by non-trained musicians. They do not investigate the influence of visual stimuli as in the previous paper.

> We report evidence that long term memory retains absolute (accurate)
> features of perceptual events. Specifically, we show that memory for
> music seems to preserve the absolute tempo of the musical
> performance. In Experiment 1, 46 subjects sang popular songs from
> memory, and their tempos were compared to recorded versions of the
> songs. Seventy-two of the subjects came within 8% of the actual tempo
> on two consecutive trials (using different songs), demonstrating
> accuracy near the perceptual threshold (JND) for tempo. In Experiment
> 2, a control experiment, we found that folk songs lacking a tempo
> standard generally have a large variability in tempo; this counters
> arguments that memory for the tempo of remembered songs is driven by
> articulatory constraints. The relevance of the current findings to
> theories of perceptual memory and memory for music are discussed.

Oliver Vitouch, Sandra Sovdat, Norman Höller (2006) [Audio-vision: Visual input drives perceived music tempo.](http://www.marcocosta.it/icmpc2006/pdfs/330.pdf) 9th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition  
Levitin, D. J. & Cook, Perry R.(1996) [Memory for musical tempo: Additional evidence that auditory memory is absolute.](http://cogprints.org/644/1/tempo.htm) Perception & Psychophysics, 58, pp. 927-935.

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Also an interesting paper: Sabine Strauß & Oliver Vitouch (2009) [Adaptive memory representations of musical tempo and pitch](https://jyx.jyu.fi/dspace/bitstream/handle/123456789/20932/urn_nbn_fi_jyu-2009411324.pdf?sequence=1)  

---

