Some Possible Universals in Music

Warning: There are many misconceptions people hold about the notion of a human "universal."
Readers with a serious interest in the topic are advised to read anthropologist Donald E. Brown's
book Human Universals (McGraw-Hill, 1991).

In common parlance a "universal" is a trait or phenomenon that is commonplace in human (or

animal) experience. The word "universal" should really be replaced by the phrase "nearly
universal." Not every human being has two arms, but nearly everyone does. Not every human
being learns to speak a language, but nearly everyone does. Not every human falls in love, finds
sugar sweet, or experiences thirst in the absence of fluid -- but nearly everyone does.

If a trait is "universal," it does not follow that the trait has a "genetic" origin. For example,
probably all cultures have the concept west or place where the sun sets. But this doesn't mean
that there is a "gene" for the concept "west." It simply means that all human cultures experience
an environment where the sun sets in a more-or-less stable location, and this provides a
convenient directional reference. In short, many "universals" may be the consequence of
learning, but a form of learning that is so pervasive that nearly all humans have the same
experience.

Note that learning is a biological phenomenon. Learning requires the operation of more genes
than any reflex or instinct.

Over the past few decades, auditory and music cognition researchers have identified a number of
phenomena that appear to be human universals. Some examples include the following:

1. Loudness. Loud sounds tend to increase physiological arousal. Loud sounds are less
likely to evoke subdued or restful mental states.
2. Scream Sensitivity. A special acuity for sounds whose spectral content falls in the region
between 2,000 and 4,000-5,000 Hz. (Known to be associated with a resonance in the ear
canal.)
3. Arousal Compatibility Preference. The tendency to prefer sounds/music that matches
our current arousal level. (E.g. We prefer more subdued music when we are drowsy; more
energetic music when we are alert. Also, the tendency for older people to prefer less
arousing music.)
4. Acoustic Intimacy. The experience of "cosyness" or "protective enclosure" evoked by
early lateral reflections.
5. Tactus. A tendency for beats or pulses to occur between 0.5 and 1.5 seconds. (Appears to
be related to duration of echoic memory.)
6. Pitch and Aggression. The tendency to hear lower pitches as more aggressive or
domineering, and high pitches as more timid or submissive. (Evident throughout the
animal kingdom.)
7. Smiling Voice. Smiling changes the vocal timbre in a manner which renders the voice
more friendly or approachable, and less threatening or domineering. (Flexing zygomatic
muscles reduces mouth size and shifts formant frequencies higher.)
8. Cuteness. Resonant cavities roughly 20 milliliters in volume activated by small amounts
of energy evokes a sense of cuteness. E.g. sopranino recorder, ocarina, music box.
(Appears to originate in protective/nurturing behaviors evoked by infant vocalizations.)
9. Sensory Dissonance. Tendency for spectral components within a critical band to evoke
negatively valenced responses. (Known to originate in interference on the basilar
membrane. Also evident in non-human animals.)
10. Bass Widening. For concurrently sounding pitches, the tendency to place larger intervals
between low-pitched voices. (A consequence of mechanics of the basilar membrane.)
11. Vibrato. Vibrato evokes a sense of strong emotion. (Appears related to epinephrine-
induced trembling.)
12. Voice-leading. The tendency to hear certain sound successions as forming a "line of
sound." (Appears to originate in auditory streaming which exists as a cognitive process
for defining "objecthood.")
13. Pseudo-polyphony. The tendency to hear rapid monophonic tone sequences containing
wide pitch alternations as two or more independent "lines of sound." E.g. the subjective
impression of yodelling. (Also appears to originate in auditory streaming.)
14. Central Pitch Tendency. Pitched tones are easier to generate in some middle region.
(Appears to originate from statistical learning.)
15. Post-skip Reversal. Tendency to expect that large pitch leaps will be followed by a
change of direction. (Known to be an artifact of regression to the mean, which is an
artifact of central tendency.)
16. Infant-Directed Song. Tendency to sing with a special vocal quality (higher pitch, more
repetitive) when addressing infants. (Done even by congenitally deaf parents.)
17. Cradle Songs. Tendency to pacify infants by singing quietly, with high pitch, and
descending pitch contours.
18. Infant Play Songs. Tendency to engage an infant's attention and interest by singing
moderately loudly, with ascending pitch contours.
19. Auditory Induction. The tendency to "hear" non-existent sounds when masking a
schema-induced spectral region.
20. Auditory Imagery. The ability to imagine music in the absence of sound.
21. Earworms. The tendency for some sound sequences to get "stuck in the brain" and be
mentally repeated ad nauseum. (Probably an artifact of short-term auditory memory.)
 22. Auditory Surprise. Tendency to evoke a startle response or surprise state when auditory
events are not expected.
23. Veridical vs Schematic Expectation. Tendency to form two different templates for
expectation: a "sense of how this work goes" and a "sense of how music in general goes."
(Artifacts of the physiological difference between episodic and semantic memories.)
24. Exposure Effect. A preference for familiar sounds and sound patterns, especially when
repetition is not part of conscious awareness.
25. Early Repetition. The tendency in musical works to have more successive repetition of
passages near the beginning of the work.
26. Frisson. The experience of "chills" or "shivers" running up-and-down a listener's spine.
27. Breath-holding. The occasional experience of "gasping" or holding one's breath -- with
an associated feeling of "awe."
28. Laughter. The tendency for highly unexpected or uncongruous sounds to evoke a
distinctive "ha, ha, ha ..." respiratory reflex.
29. Spectral Dominance and Pitch Preference. The preference for pure tones in the region
of 800 Hz, and a preference for complex tones in the region of 300 Hz.
30. Harmonic Spectra - Pitch Salience. The preference for harmonic as opposed to
inharmonic spectra.
31. Sounds and Social Identity. The tendency for some sounds to be associated with one's
own culture, and other sounds to be associated with some other culture or cultures. The
tendency to use some sounds as social or cultural markers.
32. Contrastive Valence. A sense of pleasure evoked when an initially fearful or unpleasant
stimulus is extinguished or reinterpreted as innocuous.
33. Limbic Association. The tendency to associate particular sounds with past events that
evoked a strong emotion.
34. Adolescent Significance. The tendency for musical experiences in adolescent to assume
life-long meaning and importance. (Thought to be the consequence of high levels of
oxytocin.)
35. Courting Display. The tendency to use music as a medium for courtship or flirting.
36. Synchronization of Bodily Movement. The tendency to synchronize body movements
with the temporal organization of the music.
37. Statistical Learning. The tendency to form mental schemas the directly echo the
frequency of stimulus exposure.

http://csml.som.ohio-state.edu/Music839B/Approaches/universals.html