Does This Ring a Bell? Music-cued Retrieval of Semantic Knowledge and Metamemory Judgments

Abstract

Failed knowledge recall attempts are sometimes accompanied by a strong feeling of imminent success, giving rise to a "tip-of-the-tongue" (TOT) experience. Similar to successful retrieval (i.e., the Know state, K), a TOT commences with strong cue familiarity but involves only partial retrieval of related information. We sought to characterize the cognitive processes and temporal dynamics of these retrieval states and to extend the applicability of previous findings about TOT to the auditory modality. Participants heard 3-sec initial segments of popular songs and were asked to recall their names. EEG was recorded while participants indicated their retrieval state via button press. Stimulus-locked analyses revealed a significant early left fronto-central difference between TOT and K, at 300-550 msec postcue onset. Post hoc analysis revealed that, in this time window, TOT also differed from DK (Don't Know) responses, which themselves were similar to the K responses. This finding indicates that neural processes, which may reflect strategy selection, ease of semantic processing, familiarity-related processes, or conflict monitoring, are indicative of the fate of our knowledge judgments long before we actually execute them.

Toward a Neural Chronometry for the Aesthetic Experience of Music

“…The proportion of studies focusing on classical instrumental music, though, is quickly decreasing as in the past few years researchers have been increasingly exploring brain responses to other musical genres as well (e.g., Limb and Braun, 2008; Janata, 2009; Berns et al, 2010; Brattico et al, 2011; Johnson et al, 2011; Montag et al, 2011; Pereira et al, 2011; Salimpoor et al, 2011; Zuckerman et al, 2012; Alluri et al, in press). Cognitive neuroscientists have typically considered music as a perceptual and cognitive phenomenon to be compared to language, memory, attention, and other human cognitive functions (e.g., Peretz and Zatorre, 2003; Koelsch and Siebel, 2005).…”

Global Sensory Qualities and Aesthetic Experience in Music

“…Musical pieces that resemble classical music styles, such as film soundtracks (Huckvale, 1990) or computer game music (Bridgett, 2013), are today composed and produced with computers. While historically musical aesthetics has concentrated on the classical music genre, more recently also pop/rock and jazz music has received attention by aesthetic (von Appen, 2007; Juslin et al, 2016) and neuroaesthetic scholars (Limb and Braun, 2008; Janata, 2009; Berns et al, 2010; Brattico et al, 2011, 2015; Johnson et al, 2011; Montag et al, 2011; Pereira et al, 2011; Salimpoor et al, 2011, 2013; Zuckerman et al, 2012; Istok et al, 2013; Bogert et al, 2016). Indeed, even though “rock musicians never ask if a composition is aesthetically valuable,” they are still keen in evaluation “if it sounds good ,” as observed by Račić (1981, p. 200, emphasis from the original).…”