David Huron
Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics
Stanford University, August 16, 2001
As Leonard Meyer (1956) long ago pointed out, the flux of moment-to-moment expectations is a compelling aspect of musical experience. Meyer speculated that the thwarting or fulfilling of listeners' expectations is one of the principal sources of evoked emotion.
In this presentation, a broad overview is provided of the current state of knowledge concerning auditory and musical expectation. How and why do expectations form? What happens when reality conforms (or fails to conform) to our expectations? How do expectations differ for different listeners -- especially listeners from different cultures? What effect does thwarting expectations have? We will look at 12 empirical studies -- three of which have not yet appeared in print.