%0 Journal Article
%T Emptying Rooms: When the Inverted
%A Anthony Chmiel
%A Emery Schubert
%J Empirical Studies of the Arts
%@ 1541-4493
%D 2018
%R 10.1177/0276237417732683
%X Daniel Berlyne's inverted-U model remains a simple, well-supported explanation of music preference as a function of collative variables. However, after reviewing the literature, we identified a gap in studies examining preference for music exhibiting collative variable levels that were classified as extreme. A small number of studies using examples of extreme music suggested a floor-effect for preference, where preference ratings remained at near the minimum for subsequent exposures. To further investigate this, we tracked preference ratings for two music stimuli over three weekly exposures: One stimulus deemed as an example of extreme music, and a second stimulus deemed as moderately unusual. The moderately unusual stimulus produced results compatible with the inverted-U model, whereas the extreme stimulus did not. In addition, a substantial percentage (32%) of individual preference trajectories for the extreme stimulus outlined a floor-effect. We conclude that the inverted-U might break down for extreme music
%K music
%K preference
%K extreme
%K inverted-U
%K Daniel Berlyne
%K collative variables
%K unusual
%K complexity
%K familiarity
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0276237417732683