PSYCHOLOGICAL MECHANISM OF AUDIO-VISUAL SYNAESTHESIA IN THE TEACHING OF INSTRUMENTAL PERFORMANCE
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Revista Argentina de Clínica Psicológica
2020, Vol. XXIX, N°1, 1182-1188 1182
DOI: 10.24205/03276716.2020.169
PSYCHOLOGICAL MECHANISM OF AUDIO-VISUAL SYNAESTHESIA IN
THE TEACHING OF INSTRUMENTAL PERFORMANCE
Yanjie Li
Abstract
Instrumental performance is a basic course for music students. The teaching effect of this
course can be improved by utilizing the audio-visual synaesthesia. This paper probes into the
psychological mechanism of audio-visual synaesthesia in the teaching of instrumental
performance. First, the basic theories of music and synaesthesia were introduced in details. Next,
30 first-year music students were selected for a synaesthesia experiment of instrumental
performance, with piano as the main instrument. The experimental data were discussed to
reveal the effects of synaesthesia on visual height, visual shape, light and shade, and sense of
movement. The research shows that the psychological mechanism of synaesthesia and the
synesthetic psychological response both vary from person to person; rhythm had the most
significant influence on sense of movement, the pitch exerted a very prominent influence on
visual height, while pitch and intensity greatly affected light and shade, as well as visual shape.
The research results provide reference for improving the teaching practice of instrumental
performance.
Key words: Audio-Visual Synaesthesia, Psychology, Instrumental Performance, Teaching.
Received: 15-02-19 | Accepted: 11-08-19
INTRODUCTION 1986). The occurrence process of this
mechanism has also aroused the interest of
The instrumental performance is a very
important course in the study of music majors. many scholars. Some scholars believe that
synaesthesia is a memory that originated in
The psychological mechanism of synaesthesia
human childhood, as a manifestation of self-
triggered by instrumental performance is a
general phenomenon. It plays a certain role in imagination; other believe that synaesthesia,
improving the quality of instrumental originated from human fantasy, is a spontaneous
response of the human brain that occurs
performance teaching to conduct a more in-
unconsciously, or a reaction triggered in a
depth study on the connection between the
psychological mechanism of synaesthesia and particular situation. For this mechanism, there
still exist many controversies about whether it’s
the instrumental performance and also its
innate or acquired (Rentfrow, 2012; Van
application.
Campen, 1999; Packer & Ballantyne, 2011). The
The development of cognitive science has
promoted the study on the psychological existing research is insufficient to explain the
existence of the synaesthesia psychological
mechanism of synaesthesia to a certain extent
mechanisms among different individuals. At
(Hargreaves, 1986; Krumhansl, 1995; Deutsch,
present, it is commonly believed that the
synesthetic response results from an
Mudanjiang Normal College, Mudanjiang 157001, China.
E-Mail: yyxlyj99@163.com
abnormality in the brain region in charge of
emotions (Mcadams, 1996; Bore, 1929). Some
people in the crowd are aware of this response,
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2020, Vol. XXIX, N°1, 1182-1188 DE CLÍNICA PSICOLÓGICA
1183 YANJIE LI
while others have no way of realizing this (Evans,
Mcpherson, & Davidson, 2013; Appleton, Influence of pitch
Christenson, Kim et al., 2006). Pitch is the vibration frequency of the sound,
This paper analyses the psychological factors and the level of the vibration is that of the pitch.
for the psychological mechanism of synaesthesia Music with lower pitch gives a feeling of lowness,
in instrumental performance and also gives reliability, heaviness and roughness; music with
suggestions for its application. The research a higher pitch brings a clear, bright, high and
findings can provide some opinions and passionate feeling. The vibration frequency of
suggestions for instrumental performance the sound has a completely different effect on its
teaching. psychology. In the psychological mechanism of
synaesthesia, the influence of pitch is mainly
reflected in the visual sense. The concert with
THE BASIC THEORY OF MUSIC AND higher pitch is reminiscent of the brighter
SYNAESTHESIA picture, while the music with lower pitch is just
the opposite. Therefore, the combination of high
The relationship between music and
and low pitch is usually used to describe the
psychological mechanism of synaesthesia
opposition between light and darkness.
Music is a very expressive art form that not
only provides an auditory enjoyment, but also Visually, changes in pitch will also change the
appreciator's association with height. The higher
indirectly offers an aesthetic experience of sight,
the pitch, the higher the height of the space in
smell and taste through vision. This
phenomenon of triggering other sensory the appreciator 's association; the lower the
pitch, the lower the height of the space that the
responses from a single sensation is called
viewer associates.
"synaesthesia", i.e., the concomitant sensation.
In addition, the pitch also has a certain
In fact, audio sense can trigger visual, olfactory,
and gustatory response, while the visual, impact on the inner mood of the appreciator.
Music with a higher pitch can stimulate the lister
olfactory, and auditory senses can also in turn
in better spirit, and low music usually makes the
trigger an auditory response.
viewer feel sad and restrained.
Music is one of the best art forms to cultivate
human sentiments and aesthetics. The concert
Influence of sound intensity
has a certain influence on the psychological and
The sound intensity mainly refers to the
cognitive behaviours of human beings. The
psychological mechanism of synaesthesia will intensity and loudness of the music, i.e., the
amplitude of the vibration. The influence of
bring high-level and rich aesthetic enjoyment,
sound intensity on the listener's synaesthesia is
making the multiple senses of human beings
also mainly reflected in the visual sense. The
simultaneously edified. Unlike pure sound
stimulation, the synesthetic response brought by sound intensity of different intensity can be used
to describe the shape, volume, position and
music deepens the connection between the
brightness of the imaginary objects. With the
senses more closely. Therefore, the concert
gives people a feeling different from the simple higher sound intensity in the music, the
sound. The non-auditory feeling and inner imaginary object shall be larger for the
appreciator, and on the contrary, it shall be
experience brought by music is rich and complex,
smaller; a music with a higher intensity is used
with a certain subjective colour. In the actual
music playback, humans do not necessarily to describe the bulky object, and that with a
lower music is used to describe a light object; a
resonate with the whole song, but are often
music with a weaker sound intensity describes a
inspired by certain segments and elements, and
farther object, and a music with a stronger sound
different changes will bring about different
synesthetic changes. intensity describes a closer object.
In music appreciation, human physiological
This paper mainly studies the psychological
indicators, such as heart rate and EEG, will
mechanism of audio-visual synaesthesia.
change with the sound intensity, which will lead
The influence of musical elements on to the changes of positive emotion, negative
emotion and positive and negative emotion.
synaesthesia
Pitch, intensity, rhythm and beats are the
basic constitutive elements of music.
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2020, Vol. XXIX, N°1, 1182-1188 DE CLÍNICA PSICOLÓGICA
PSYCHOLOGICAL MECHANISM OF AUDIO-VISUAL SYNAESTHESIA IN THE TEACHING OF INSTRUMENTAL PERFORMANCE 1184
Influence of rhythm specific experimental scheme is as follows:
The rhythm of music mainly refers to various
combination of the messy beats into different The effect of synaesthesia on visual height
forms and then the integration of paragraphs In terms of the effect of synaesthesia on
with different lengths but certain repeatability, visual height, the pitch factor was mainly
as the basis of one piece of music. The rhythm of considered in this study. Before the experiment,
music determines the changes in the music, the teacher guided the students to observe the
which will have an impact on human’s sense of differences between the left and right sides
movement. The rhythm exists in everything of graphics in Figure 1. It can be seen from Figure
nature, and the movement of everything has its 1, the left and right were very simple graphics,
own melody and rhythm. The rhythm is regular, and the main difference between the two was
and the use of rhythm in music can be that the height of the yellow bar was different:
reminiscent of the movement of things. A music the bar in the left was higher than that the right.
with slow rhythm will be reminiscent of a still After the students fully understood the
thing, and a music with fast rhythm will be graphics, the teacher played two pitches on the
reminiscent of moving things. piano. After the performance ended, the
In terms of emotions, the rhythm composed students need to select the graphics that match
of long sounds makes people feel sad and quiet, the different pitches.
while the rhythm composed of short sounds
causes people to be excited and happy. Figure 1. The effect of synesthesia on height
Influence of beats
The beat is to realize the different speeds of
music playback. The influence of beat on
synaesthesia is also mainly reflected in the sense
of movement. Faster music beats make people
think of faster things, and slower music beats are
reminiscent of slower things.
In terms of emotions, the fast-beat music
stimulates people's high spirit, the medium-beat
music makes people feel warm and comfortable,
and the slow-beat music leads to a sad and
peaceful feeling.
The relationship between synaesthesia and
music has brought a lot of inspiration to music
teaching. If the inner feelings caused by the
synesthetic psychological mechanism and the
It’s assumed that：
common feelings of human beings can be fully
If the student matches the left graphic with
applied in music teaching, then music teaching
the treble, it’s recorded as T1;
will get twice the result with half the effort.
If the student matches the right graphic with
the treble, it’s recorded as F1;
If the student matches the left graphic with
EXPERIMENTS ABOUT THE PSYCHOLOGICAL
the bass, it’s recorded as F2;
MECHANISM OF SYNAESTHESIA IN
If the student matches the right graphic with
INSTRUMENTAL PERFORMANCE TEACHING
the bass, it’s recorded as T2.
Experimental design The specific matching types are shown in
With a wide range of sounds, the piano is Table 1.
capable of playing a variety of music. It has a high
popularity. Thus, this paper chooses the piano as Table 1. Height experiment results matching
the main instrument in the synaesthesia table
experiment of instrumental performance.
30 freshmen were selected from the Left side Right side
Conservatory of Music as experimental subjects, Treble T1 F1
of which the ratio of boys to girls was 16:14. The Bass F2 T2
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2020, Vol. XXIX, N°1, 1182-1188 DE CLÍNICA PSICOLÓGICA
1185 YANJIE LI
right sides in Figure 1. It can be seen from Figure
The effect of synaesthesia on visual shape 1, the left and right were both rectangles. The
In terms of the effect of synaesthesia on main difference between the two was that the
visual height, this paper mainly considers the colours of the two were different: the left
influence of sound intensity. Before the graphic was white and the right was black. White
experiment, the teacher guided the students to is a bright colour that brings a bright feeling,
observe the differences between the left and while black is a dim colour that gives a deep
right sides in Figure 2. It can be seen from Figure feeling.
2 that the left was a yellow rectangle with a black
border; the right was a yellow triangle with a Figure 3. The effect of synaesthesia on light
black border. The main difference between the and shade
two was that the shape of the rectangle gives a
heavy, reliable feeling, and the triangle gives a
light feeling.
After the students fully understood the
graphics, the teacher played the same piano
piece with different sound volumes. When the
playback ended, the student needed to select
the graphic that matches the two playbacks.
Figure 2. The effect of synaesthesia on
shape
When the experimental results are
statistically analysed, the classification method
of the test results was still similar to that in Table
1.
The effect of synaesthesia on sense of
movement
In terms of the effect of synaesthesia on
sense of movement, this paper mainly considers
the rhythm factor. Before the experiment, the
teacher guided the students to observe the
When statistically analysing the experimental difference between the upper side and the lower
results, the classification method of the test side graphic in Figure 4. It can be seen that the
results was similar to that for the effect of upper graph showed water in a stationary state,
synaesthesia on the visual height, as shown in and the lower graph indicated water in a flowing
Table 2. state.
Table 2. Height experiment results matching Figure 4. The effect of synaesthesia on the
table sense of movement
Left side Right side
High intensity T1 F1
Low intensity F2 T2
The effect of synaesthesia on light and shade
In terms of the effect of synaesthesia on
visual light and shade, this paper mainly
considers the pitch factor. Before the
experiment, the teacher guided the students to
observe the differences between the left and
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2020, Vol. XXIX, N°1, 1182-1188 DE CLÍNICA PSICOLÓGICAPSYCHOLOGICAL MECHANISM OF AUDIO-VISUAL SYNAESTHESIA IN THE TEACHING OF INSTRUMENTAL PERFORMANCE 1186
When the experimental results are
statistically analysed, the classification method According to statistics, in the experiment
of the test results was still similar to that above, about the effect of synaesthesia on visual light
as shown in Table 3. and shade, there were 23 students belonging to
T1, 24 belonging to T2, 7 belonging to F1, and 6
Table 3. Height experiment results matching belonging to F2.
table
Figure 7. Results of the visual light and
Upper side Lower side shade experiment
Slow-paced T1 F1
Fast-paced F2 T2
Analysis and application of experimental
results
The experimental results of the four
experiments were analysed statistically
according to Tables 1-3, as shown in Figures 5-8.
According to statistics, in the experiment
about the effect of synaesthesia on visual height,
there were 28 students belonging to T1, 22
belonging to T2, 2 belonging to F1, and 8
belonging to F2. According to statistics, in the experiment on
the effect of synaesthesia on sense of
Figure 5. Results of the visual height movement, there were 25 students belonging to
experiment T1, 27 belonging to T2, 5 belonging to F1, and 3
belonging to F2.
Figure 8. Results of the sense of movement
According to statistics, in the experiment
about the effect of synaesthesia on visual shape,
there were 21 students belonging to T1, 25
belonging to T2, 9 belonging to F1, and 5 It can be seen from Figures 5-8 that factors
belonging to F2. such as pitch, intensity and rhythm have
different effects on students' visual height,
Figure 6. Results of the visual shape
shape, visual light and shade, and sense of
experiment movement. The sum of T1 and T2 can indicate
the difference in the degree of influence of
different factors on students' visual height,
shape, visual light and shade, and sense of
movement. The results are shown in Figure 9.
Figure 9 shows that the influence of rhythm
on the sense of movement was the most
significant, followed by the influence of the pitch
on the visual height, and the influence of the
sound intensity on the shape and the influence
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2020, Vol. XXIX, N°1, 1182-1188 DE CLÍNICA PSICOLÓGICA1187 YANJIE LI
of the pitch on the light and shade may be invalid (1) The psychological mechanism of
for some students. synaesthesia is a psychological reaction that
triggers other sensory associations by a single
Figure 9. Comparison of experimental sensory stimulus. Some people's psychological
results mechanisms are sensitive, while some are
relatively insensitive;
(2) In the experiment of the synaesthesia
psychological reaction triggered by the
instrumental performance, the pitch had a
significant influence on the visual height, i.e., the
higher the pitch, the higher the visual position
that the appreciator can imagine, and the
brighter the imaginary colour. In the experiment
about the effect of pitch on visual height, 83.3%
of the students showed the above
characteristics, which proved that the
psychological mechanism of synaesthesia had a
significant influence on the visual height; in the
experiment about the effect of pitch on visual
In the teaching of instrumental performance, light and shade, 78.3% students showed the
it plays a certain role in the improvement of above characteristics, proving that the effect of
teaching quality by fulling using the synesthetic psychological mechanism on visual
psychological mechanism of synaesthesia. Based light and shade is slightly worse than that on
on the above research results, the following visual height;
application recommendations are proposed: (3) In the experiment of the synaesthesia
(1) To mobilize students' visual imagination psychological reaction triggered by the
and change different visual positions or visual instrumental performance, the sound intensity
shading, the teachers need to alternately use had a significant influence on the visual shape;
different pitches for performance; the higher the sound intensity, the thicker the
(2) To mobilize students' visual imagination visual shape that the appreciator can imagine. In
and transform different visual shapes, the the experiment about the effect of sound
teachers need to alternately use different sound intensity on visual shape, 76.7% of the students
intensity; showed the above characteristics, which proved
(3) To mobilize the students' imagination in that the psychological mechanism of
sense of movement, the teachers need to synaesthesia had a significant influence on the
alternately use different rhythms for visual shape;
performance. (4) In the experiment of the synaesthesia
Teachers should make full use of the psychological reaction triggered by the
influence of pitch, intensity and rhythm on vision instrumental performance, the rhythm had a
and dynamic vision, and make rich changes significant influence on the sense of movement,
through different sound intensity, rhythm and and the faster the rhythm, the stronger the
pitch, so as to deepen the impression of students athleticism that the appreciator can feel. In the
in teaching. experiment about the effect of rhythm on sense
of movement, 86.7% showed the above
characteristics, which proved that the
CONCLUSIONS psychological mechanism of synaesthesia had a
significant impact on sense of movement.
This paper summarizes the basic theory of
synaesthesia psychological mechanism. Then, it
designs and implements experiments on the
Acknowledgement
effects of synaesthesia on visual height, shape,
light and shade, and sense of movement. Finally, 2018 Basic Scientific Research Project of
through analysis for the experimental data, the Heilongjiang Provincial advanced institution “A
following conclusions have been drawn: Study on the Musical Instrument Playing Techniques
of Transplantation and Adaptation Works on the
REVISTA ARGENTINA
2020, Vol. XXIX, N°1, 1182-1188 DE CLÍNICA PSICOLÓGICAPSYCHOLOGICAL MECHANISM OF AUDIO-VISUAL SYNAESTHESIA IN THE TEACHING OF INSTRUMENTAL PERFORMANCE 1188
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