To a certain extent, these themes reappear in the NM II conference 2005. The survey in appendix
3.05 permits comparison of musical material in NM I and NM II.
Ecological validity
Sources not indicated
In NM II, seven papers out of 53 do not indicate the sound sources of stimuli.
Sinus tones and acoustic tones
The use of sinus tones has decreased from eleven studies in NM I to three studies in NM II. This
may indicate awareness of the limited use of simple stimuli.
However, the use of acoustic tones as stimuli has not increased from NM I to NM II.
Three studies in NM I, and one study in NM II (no. 19) report the use of acoustic instrumental tones.
No studies in NM I, and only three studies in NM II apply singing voice (no. 7, 11, and 24).
Similiar to NM I, it appears that in a number of studies in NM II, ecological validity is sacrificed
in favor of experimental control.
Real music
Sloboda et al. (no. 25) demonstrate the relevance of live music recordings for the study of emotional
expression in music. Furthermore, the use of real music is essential in Janata’s fMRI study of listen-
ing to polyphonic music (no. 12), in the study of fast emotional response to music by Bigand et al.
(no. 46), and the study of strong emotional reactions by Grewe et al. (no. 49).
Cultural references
Appendix 3.07 reports a survey of cultural references NM II.
Western major-minor tonality
The survey shows that out of 53 studies, 28 refer to major-minor tonality, and 25 are culturally neu-
tral.
Popular music
Four papers include Western popular music. The study by Schellenberg & Hallam (no. 20) investi-
gates a cultural factor. They find that pop music appears to elicit a slight enhancement of mood and
cognitive abilities in schoolchildren, contrary to a Mozart string quintet. The authors name this finding
”The Blur Effect”.
Otherwise, studies of cultural differences are absent in the 2005 conference. A bias towards
Western music is evident.
Inclusion of aesthetic and social factors
The conference plan explicitly aims at including studies of music performance, neurological disor-
ders, music therapy, and the impact of music on education. The inclusion of music therapy in the
conference opens a dialogue with another community of researchers.
The discontinuation of a dialogue with composers involves a risk of engendering a cultural gap
between the concepts of music prevailing in neuroscience and contemporary concepts of music cre-
ation.
Localization of brain functions
A possible over-estimation of the importance of single locations in the brain is not pertinent in the
2005 brain imaging studies. Most of the papers describe networks which integrate several brain ar-
eas.