Curiosity and Mind Wandering During Music Listening Are Negatively Correlated
Curiosity, a crucial trigger of exploration and learning, has been described as the antithesis of mind wandering, a state of non-engagement with the external environment or a given task. Findings have confirmed that music’s structure influences levels of curiosity in listeners as they listen and, as...
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MDPI AG
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Behavioral Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/15/3/393 |
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| author | Juan Felipe Pérez Ariza Diana Omigie |
| author_facet | Juan Felipe Pérez Ariza Diana Omigie |
| author_sort | Juan Felipe Pérez Ariza |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Curiosity, a crucial trigger of exploration and learning, has been described as the antithesis of mind wandering, a state of non-engagement with the external environment or a given task. Findings have confirmed that music’s structure influences levels of curiosity in listeners as they listen and, as such, suggests that this context could be useful in examining the relationship between curiosity and mind wandering. Here, participants were exposed to extended melodies twice, during which they carried out two counterbalanced tasks: one requiring them, whenever probed, to indicate whether they had been mind wandering at that moment and the other requiring them to indicate, when probed, how curious they were feeling about the music at that moment. Critically, participants were probed at the exact same moments in the music when completing the two tasks, allowing the relationship between curiosity and mind wandering to be examined. Results confirmed our prediction of a negative relationship between curiosity and mind wandering, while exploratory analysis further suggested an influence of expertise and the music’s information dynamics on patterns of mind wandering. We discuss the implications of our study for understanding music as an exploration-affording sound environment and outline directions for future work. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-13542b301ef0433498ec8c6ca5d3ed8c |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2076-328X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Behavioral Sciences |
| spelling | doaj-art-13542b301ef0433498ec8c6ca5d3ed8c2025-08-20T03:43:34ZengMDPI AGBehavioral Sciences2076-328X2025-03-0115339310.3390/bs15030393Curiosity and Mind Wandering During Music Listening Are Negatively CorrelatedJuan Felipe Pérez Ariza0Diana Omigie1Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, University of Vienna, 1010 Vienna, AustriaDepartment of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London, London SE14 6NW, UKCuriosity, a crucial trigger of exploration and learning, has been described as the antithesis of mind wandering, a state of non-engagement with the external environment or a given task. Findings have confirmed that music’s structure influences levels of curiosity in listeners as they listen and, as such, suggests that this context could be useful in examining the relationship between curiosity and mind wandering. Here, participants were exposed to extended melodies twice, during which they carried out two counterbalanced tasks: one requiring them, whenever probed, to indicate whether they had been mind wandering at that moment and the other requiring them to indicate, when probed, how curious they were feeling about the music at that moment. Critically, participants were probed at the exact same moments in the music when completing the two tasks, allowing the relationship between curiosity and mind wandering to be examined. Results confirmed our prediction of a negative relationship between curiosity and mind wandering, while exploratory analysis further suggested an influence of expertise and the music’s information dynamics on patterns of mind wandering. We discuss the implications of our study for understanding music as an exploration-affording sound environment and outline directions for future work.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/15/3/393musicmind wanderingcuriositymusical expertiseinformation theorylearning |
| spellingShingle | Juan Felipe Pérez Ariza Diana Omigie Curiosity and Mind Wandering During Music Listening Are Negatively Correlated Behavioral Sciences music mind wandering curiosity musical expertise information theory learning |
| title | Curiosity and Mind Wandering During Music Listening Are Negatively Correlated |
| title_full | Curiosity and Mind Wandering During Music Listening Are Negatively Correlated |
| title_fullStr | Curiosity and Mind Wandering During Music Listening Are Negatively Correlated |
| title_full_unstemmed | Curiosity and Mind Wandering During Music Listening Are Negatively Correlated |
| title_short | Curiosity and Mind Wandering During Music Listening Are Negatively Correlated |
| title_sort | curiosity and mind wandering during music listening are negatively correlated |
| topic | music mind wandering curiosity musical expertise information theory learning |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/15/3/393 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT juanfelipeperezariza curiosityandmindwanderingduringmusiclisteningarenegativelycorrelated AT dianaomigie curiosityandmindwanderingduringmusiclisteningarenegativelycorrelated |