The Experience of Music in Aphantasia: Emotion, Reward, and Everyday Functions
Hashim and colleaguesDecember 2023
Abstract
Visual imagery has been proposed to be one of eight mechanisms by which music induces emotion in listeners. Initial research into aphantasia, a condition referring to individuals who do not (or only minimally) form visual imagery in their mind's eye, suggests that aphantasics may experience reduced emotional experiences in response to imagined stimuli. In this two-part online investigation, we sought to explore the emotional experiences of aphantasics within the context of music listening. In Survey 1, we compared 51 aphantasics to 51 control individuals in terms of their experiences of visual imagery, liking, and felt emotional intensity when listening to three film music excerpts. We found significant group differences in terms of visual imagery and felt emotional intensity, but not liking. In Survey 2, we examined aphantasics’ ability to recognize emotions conveyed by music, and their patterns of experience of, and engagement with, music in everyday life by comparing the responses of 29 aphantasics with 29 matched controls. We found no differences in terms of emotion discrimination ability. However, aphantasics generally experienced less Reminiscence (dimension from the Adaptive Functions of Music Listening scale) to music, as well as fewer Episodic Memories (dimension from the MecScale). Aphantasics and control listeners did not exhibit differences in terms of sensitivity to musical reward (measured using the BMRQ) or in terms of musical sophistication (measured using the Gold-MSI). Finally, our findings suggest nuanced differences between controls and those with pure and minimal aphantasia. In all, we reveal the influence that aphantasia can have on emotional responses to music and thus provide further evidence for the relationship between visual imagery and music-induced emotion.
Our summary in plain words
What This Study Is About
How They Studied It
- Two online surveys compared people with aphantasia, recruited through Facebook groups, with people who have typical imagery (controls) of similar age and gender.
- Survey 1: 51 people with aphantasia and 51 controls listened to three 45-second film music clips (happy, tender and fearful) and rated how much imagery they had, how much they liked the music and how intense their emotions were.
- Survey 2: 29 people with aphantasia and 29 controls took a listening test of recognizing the emotion a melody conveys and filled in questionnaires on how music moves them, what they use it for, how rewarding they find it and their musical sophistication (engagement with and skill in music).
What They Found
What This Might Mean
One Interesting Detail
This summary was written with AI and may contain errors. Check the original paper.
Authors
Sarah Hashim
Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK
1 paper in the libraryClaudia Pulcini
Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK
1 paper in the libraryAshok Jansari
Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK
1 paper in the libraryMats B. Küssner
Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK; Department of Musicology and Media Studies, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
1 paper in the libraryDiana Omigie
Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK
1 paper in the library
Cite this paper
Hashim, S., Pulcini, C., Jansari, A., Küssner, M. B., & Omigie, D. (2024). The experience of music in aphantasia: emotion, reward, and everyday functions. Music & Science, 7. doi:10.1177/20592043231216259
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