  Pitch and timing information work hand in hand to create a coherent piece of
music; but what happens when this information goes against the norm?
Relationships between musical expectancy and emotional responses were
investigated in a study conducted with 40 participants: 20 musicians and 20
non-musicians. Participants took part in one of two behavioural paradigms
measuring continuous expectancy or emotional responses (arousal and valence)
while listening to folk melodies that exhibited either high or low pitch
predictability and high or low onset predictability. The causal influence of
pitch predictability was investigated in an additional condition where pitch
was artificially manipulated and a comparison conducted between original and
manipulated forms; the dynamic correlative influence of pitch and timing
information and its perception on emotional change during listening was
evaluated using cross-sectional time series analysis. The results indicate that
pitch and onset predictability are consistent predictors of perceived
expectancy and emotional response, with onset carrying more weight than pitch.
In addition, musicians and non-musicians do not differ in their responses,
possibly due to shared cultural background and knowledge. The results
demonstrate in a controlled lab-based setting a precise, quantitative
relationship between the predictability of musical structure, expectation and
emotional response.
