GLOBAL CONTEXT EFFECTS ON MUSICAL EXPECTANCY

The effects of global harmonic contexts on expectancy formation were s tudied in a set of three experiments. Eight-chord sequences were prese nted to subjects. Expectations for the last chord were varied by manip ulating the harmonic context created by the first six: in one context, the last chord was part of an authentic cadence (V-I), whereas in the other, it was a fourth harmonic degree following a full cadence (I-IV ). Given this change in harmonic function, the last chord was assumed to be more expected in the former context, all the other local paramet ers being held constant. The effect of global context on expectancy fo rmation was supported by the fact that subjects reported a lower degre e of completion for sequences ending on an unexpected chord (Experimen t 1), took longer to decide whether the last chord belonged to the seq uence when the last chord was unexpected (Experiment 2), and took long er to decide whether the last chord was consonant or dissonant when it was unexpected (Experiment 3). These results are discussed with refer ence to current models of tonal cognition.