About musical time – effect of age, enjoyment, and practical musical experience on retrospective estimate of elapsed duration During music listening

Michelle Phillips

Ian Cross

pp. 125-136

in: Argiro Vatakis, Anna Esposito, Maria Giagkou, Fred Cummins (eds), Multidisciplinary aspects of time and time perception, Berlin, Springer, 2011

Abstract

237 participants listened to a 37 second extract of original music for solo piano, and were asked to retrospectively verbally estimate elapsed duration. Differences were found for age (mean estimate for ages 5-8: 76.11 seconds, ages 9-10: 66.38, 11-13: 54.88 seconds, ages 14 to adult: 65.17 seconds) and a correlation found between adult age and estimate. Estimates were found to be significantly longer for those who enjoyed the music, compared to those who disliked it. Elapsed duration was also judged significantly more accurately by experienced musicians and also marginally significantly more accurately by school teachers. Results are discussed in terms of memory, attention, and emotion.