Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Music Congruency'

En kombination av ljud och bild, audiovisuell media, har under en längre tidsperiod varit ett sätt att skapa uppmärksamhet kring en artist. Den teknologiska utvecklingen har förbättrat de audiovisuella verktygen och gjort de mer tillgängliga. Dock har denna utveckling även skapat fler digitala kommunikationskanaler och ett informationsbrus som kan vara svårt för en artist att nå igenom. Utifrån detta kan artister behöva nå sin publik på ett djupare plan, vilket eventuellt kan uppnås genom sinnesmarknadsföring. Denna uppsats har därför som syfte att undersöka hur och varför artister använder audiovisuell media i sin kommunikation via sociala medier samt vilken betydelse samspel mellan flera sinnen har för att förmedla artistens identitet. Undersökningen har tillämpat en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi med hermeneutik som kunskapsteoretisk utgångspunkt. Utifrån denna har studien antagit en abduktiv ansats. Datainsamling för studien utfördes genom semistrukturerade intervjuer, varav två genomfördes personligen, tre via telefon och två respondenter besvarade intervjufrågor via e-mail. Respondenter valdes genom ett målstyrt urval med kriterierna att respondenterna skulle inneha kunskap eller erfarenhet om ämnet genom sitt arbete och inkludera olika åldrar, könstillhörigheter och geografiska hemvister. Resultatet av denna undersökning är att artister kan använda audiovisuell media på ett mångfacetterat sätt som beror på artistens genre, sammanhang och målgrupp. Studien har identifierat tre typer av audiovisuell media: kortare videor, fullskaliga musikvideor samt livestreaming. Artister använder audiovisuell media utifrån olika syften som kan innefatta att kommunicera sin varumärkesidentitet, att addera till ett konstnärligt uttryck eller att etablera närmare relationer till sin målgrupp. Semantisk kongruens mellan flera sinnen är av betydelse för att förmedla en autentisk helhetsbild av artisten. I framtiden kan audiovisuell media få ökad betydelse genom en allt snabbare konsumtionskultur och mer tillgänglig teknik. Denna teknik kan även komma att möjliggöra inkludering av fler sinnen och därmed bidra till en starkare immersiv upplevelse för konsumenten.
A combination of sound and image, audio-visual media, has for a long time been a way to create attention around an artist. Technological developments have improved the audio-visual tools and made them more accessible. However, this development has also created more digital communication channels and an information noise that can be difficult for an artist to get through. Based on this, artists may need to reach their audience on a deeper level, which can possibly be achieved through sensory marketing. This study therefore aims to investigate how and why artists use audio-visual media in their communication via social media and the importance of interplay between several senses in conveying the artist's identity. The study has applied a qualitative research strategy with hermeneutics as the epistemic foundation. Based on this, the study has adopted an abductive approach. Data collection was performed through semi-structured interviews, of which two were conducted in person, three by telephone and two respondents answered interview questions via e-mail. Respondents were selected through a goal-directed selection with the criteria that the respondents would have knowledge or experience of the subject through their work and include different ages, genders and geographical residences. The result of this study is that artists may use audio-visual media in a multifaceted way that depends on the artist's genre, context and target group. The study has identified three types of audio-visual media: shorter videos, full-scale music videos and live streaming. Artists use audio-visual media for various purposes that may include communicating their brand identity, adding to an artistic expression or establishing closer relationships with their target audience. Semantic congruence between several senses is important for conveying an authentic holistic picture of the artist. In the future, audio-visual media may become more important through an ever-intensifying consumer culture and more accessible technology. This technology may also enable the inclusion of more senses and thus contribute to a stronger immersive experience for the consumer.

Thesis advisor: Elizabeth A. Kensinger
Thesis advisor: Ellen Winner
Like it or not, music is everywhere. Our lives are accompanied by an omnipresent personal soundtrack—whether we are on our way to work, at the grocery store, at a movie, watching TV, or simply relaxing at home. It seems that the only way human beings have been able to tolerate this extraneous stimulus is, simply, by not consciously attending to it. Otherwise, we would most likely crash our cars, purchase the wrong items at the store, and never quite understand what happened in that movie we had just seen. Despite the technological advances in music recording and production (and, in turn, availability), very little psychological research has focused on the effects of music processing (especially at the unconscious level) on memory consolidation and storage. What previous memory research has shown is that human beings tend to exhibit an attentional enhancement for emotional stimuli when presented alongside non-emotional stimuli (Reisberg & Heuer 2004). Specifically, this finding has demonstrated that emotional events promote memory for "central" components of an event, while having a reverse effect for an event's "periphery." In the current study, I employed the medium of film in order to apply this hypothesis to our musical world. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: 1) a "no music" group, in which participants viewed a film clip in silence; 2) a "with music" group, in which participants viewed the same clip with the film's original, low-quality (and low arousal) recorded soundtrack; and 3) a "re-mastered music" group, in which participants viewed the film clip with a higher quality (and higher arousal) soundtrack. Three main results were found, all of which either aligned with or extended the findings of Reisberg & Heuer to include the domain of music as a modulatory force in the formation of emotional memories
Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2008
Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: Psychology
Discipline: College Honors Program
Discipline: Psychology Honors Program

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 2007.
Title from title screen (viewed 28 March 2008). Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Dept. of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts. Degree awarded 2007; thesis submitted 2006. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print form.

The overall aim of this study was to examine how the characteristics of two salient stimuli -music and message- of an audio advertisement influence the psychological state of consumers and how such a state subsequently determines their cognitive and affective responses to the advertisement. In achieving this aim, this study was guided by a combination of two cognitive resource utilisation theories, Limited Capacity Model of Motivated Mediated Message Processing (Lang, 2000) and Resource-Matching Hypothesis (Anand & Sternthal, 1989). In particular building upon inconsistency and load theories, this study proposed that certain stimulus characteristics prompted certain states of a consumer’s cognition. These two stimulus characteristics were the congruence of musical stimulus and the complexity of the message stimulus. The model then predicted the potential effect of these characteristics on certain psychological states (Psychological Discomfort and Cognitive Load) leading to affective (Attitude towards Advertisement) and cognitive (encoding, storage, and retention) responses. To empirically examine this model, an online experiment (using a 2 x 2 between-subject x 2 with-in subject mix design) was conducted, in which a mixed sample of 284 subjects was exposed to a set of audio advertisements especially designed for this study. Unfamiliar music in conjunction with a fictitious brand was used and the exposure level was maintained at low. ANCOVA, MANCOVA, two-stage hierarchical regression analysis, and Repeated-measures MANCOVA were administered to test the hypotheses presented in the conceptual model. Among major findings were that the multiple informational structures in a complex message positively influenced cognitive load, while congruent music was capable of attenuating the level of cognitive load. Incongruent music, on the other hand, was capable of generating a dissonance state experienced as psychological discomfort that in turn increased the level of cognitive load as a result of listener’s trying to resolve such a state. Both dissonance and cognitive load negatively influenced attitude towards advertisements, and the affect primacy of attitude formation appeared to be more applicable. Though high cognitive load clearly undermines encoding, storage, and retrieval processes, no evidence was found to support the Resource-matching Hypothesis. Furthermore, the findings suggested that the cognitive load offset by the congruent music would increase advertisement effectiveness by enabling its message to carry more information and by generating more favourable attitudes.

Diverging explanations of local multiparametric schemata are found in music of the common practice period (c. 1600–c. 1900). Associative statistical theories describe schemata as situated structures in particular times and places, whereas generative theories present these constructions as features formed through stability in universal and general rule systems. Associative-statistical theories of schemata elucidate the culturally conditioned relationships between features (distinctive attributes commonly used in grammars and schemata), but do not show the influence of universal psychological constraints; generative theories reveal the implicit structure of music, but do not formalise particular grammatical features and contexts. A synthesis of generative and associative-statistical approaches is necessary to model the interaction between universal and particular constraints of grammars and schemata. This dissertation focuses on a novel localised schema formed in the Classical instrumental grammar, termed the butterfly schema. It is posited that the butterfly schema is generated by a tendency for congruence that is manifest in and between the particular features of this grammar. Computational musicology and psychology provide interdisciplinary insight on the formal possibilities and limitations of grammatical structure. Computational models of schemata and grammars show how the congruent features of musical structure can be represented and formalised. However, they also highlight the difficulties found in the automatic analyses of multiparametric relationships, and may be limited on account of their inductive frameworks. Psychological approaches are important for establishing universal laws of cognition, but are limited in their potential to account for the diversity of musical structuring in grammars. The synthesis of associative-statistical and generative approaches in the present dissertation permits modelling the combination of the universal and particular attributes of butterfly schemata. Butterfly schemata are dependent on the particular grammars of periods of history, but are constrained by the tendency for congruence, which is proposed to be a cognitive universal. The features of the butterfly schema and the Classical instrumental grammar are examined and compared against the features of the Baroque and Romantic grammars, showing how they are formed from diverse types of congruent structuring. The butterfly schema is a congruent grammatical category of the Classical instrumental grammar that comprises: chords that are close to the tonic in pitch space (with a chiastic tension curve starting and ending on the tonic); a textural and metrical structure that is regular and forms a regular duple hierarchy at the level of regular functional harmonic change and at two immediately higher levels; and simple harmonic-rhythm ratios (1:1 and 3:1). A survey conducted using arbitrary corpora in European instrumental music, c. 1750–c.1850, shows the distribution of butterfly schemata. Butterfly schemata are more common in the Classical-period sample (c. 1750–c. 1800) than in the Romantic-period sample (c. 1800–c.1850), suggesting that the tendency for congruence manifest in and between the features common in the Classical grammar generates butterfly schemata. A second component to the statistical analysis concerns the type of schemata observed, since the tendency for congruence is presumed to also apply to the type of features that form in butterfly schemata. Maximally congruent features are generated more commonly than minimally congruent features, indicating the influence of the tendency for congruence. This dissertation presents a formulation of the Classical instrumental grammar as a multiparametrically congruent system, and a novel explanation and integration of the concepts of grammars and schemata. A final component to the dissertation poses that the features of the Classical instrumental grammar and butterfly schema follow a distinct order of dependency, governed by the mechanism of selection in culture. Although the tendency for congruence governs all features of a grammar, features are also formed by the top-down action of culture which selects those features. Thus, a top-down hierarchical selection model is presented which describes how the butterfly schema is formed through the order of selection of features in the Classical instrumental grammar.

This explanatory study investigated the possible causal relationship between congruent background music and consumer behavior. We studied empirically whether sales of tex-mex products was affected when congruent music was played in conjunction to the tex-mex section of a Swedish grocery store. A field experiment was conducted where stereotypical Mexican music was played in conjunction to the tex-mex section. Previous experiments have tested, and confirmed, the notion that music stereotypically related to a country can prime related knowledge and the selection of certain products if the products fit with that knowledge. Earlier research has also been able to support the notion that consumers tend to spend more money and time in store when congruent music is played. Mexican, Pop, and no music was played during three weekends and sales data on tex-mex products was gathered and analyzed. The results indicate that fewer consumers purchased tex-mex products when Mexican music was played, but those who did spent more money and/or purchased a slightly larger number of tex-mex products. However, the small differences between the music conditions were not statistically significant. The potential reasons for this is discussed in the analysis and lastly, implications for future research as well as managerial implications are discussed.

Alors que l'univers bancaire va connaître ces prochaines années, de profonds changements liés à une restructuration de son modèle, il nous semble pertinent de comprendre si le marketing sensoriel peut créer de la valeur ajoutée pour le client et les entreprises dans ce contexte. Le fait de diffuser un parfum et/ou une musique doit néanmoins faire l'objet de certaines recommandations. En effet, un parfum, ou une musique, fortement congruent avec l'image d'une entreprise aura-t'il des effets différents (et plus ou moins forts) qu'un parfum (ou qu'une musique) faiblement congruent avec l'image de l'entreprise, sur la satisfaction et les réponses comportementales des individus ? Cette thèse a pour objectif d'étudier cette thématique. Deux phases de recherches ont été mises en oeuvre. Tout d'abord, une phase qualitative qui a permis de faire ressortir les marqueurs de l'identité de la marque, permettant la création de deux types de parfums (fortement congruent vs. faiblement congruent) et de deux types de musiques (fortement congruente vs. faiblement congruente). La deuxième phase, quantitative a été réalisée in situ. Les résultats montrent qu'une diffusion de parfum faiblement congruent avec l'image de l'entreprise conduit à des réponses plus favorables de l'individu sur la perception des éléments physiques et in fine sur sa satisfaction et ses réponses comportementales. A contrario, une diffusion de musique produit globalement des effets négatifs
While the bank sector will be the center of huge changes, during next years, due to a restructuration of its model. It seems relevant to understand whether the sensory marketing can create added value for the customer and companies in this context A scent and/or a music diffusion must nevertheless be the object of recommandations. Indeed, will a scent or/a music with high level of congruency with brand image have differents effects(and stronger or lower) than a scent (or a music) with a low level of congruency on the satisfaction and behavioral responses of consumer ? This doctoral research aims to investigate this issue. Two diffents stages have been realised. First of all, a qualitative study allowed to show brand's identity markers allowing the creation of two types of scents (high congruency vs.low congruency) and two types of musics (high congruency vs. low congruency). The second stage, quantitative, has been realised in situ. Results showed that diffusion of a perfume with low congruency with the brand image leads to more favorable responses of physical elements and in fine on the satisfaction and on the behavioral responses. Conversely,a music's diffusion overall leads to negatives effects

碩士
國立臺灣科技大學
管理學院MBA
107
Several experimental studies have demonstrated that background music affects consumer behavior in service environments. This study reports research on the effect of music congruency and music tempo on consumer behavior in a restaurant. The research examines the effect of these two variables on the amount of money spent and the time spent in a restaurant. For music congruency, three levels (congruent, no-congruent and no music) were established. For music tempo, songs were rated as slow and fast. Familiarity was used as a moderator variable. The results indicated that music congruency and music tempo affected the amount of money spent and the time spent. People spent more money on the congruent level and under slow songs. Music congruency made people stayed more time at the restaurant, but slow and fast songs did not have a statistically significant effect on the time spent. Familiarity did not have a significant effect on the dependent variables, but post-hoc analyses on amount spent revealed that it was marginal significant under the no music level.

Specific music genres (classical, country/rock) are known to have a premium pricing effect on consumer’s purchase decisions. The induction of a temporal psychological distance variable in a purchasing process alters music congruity semantic priming effects on consumer behavior, since more psychologically distant objects are said to reduce priming effects. In harmony with these concepts, a quantitative method shows how psychological distance influences background music affects through social identity, utilitarian, and ambiguous (displaying both attributes) products exposure on consumer’s overall pricing and hedonic perception; and if a contextual consumer conditioning can possibly force the perception framing of a product, when a background music is congruent with it.
Específicos géneros musicais (clássica, country/rock) são conhecidos por terem um efeito de preço premium no que diz respeito às decisões de compra dos consumidores. A indução de uma variável de distancia psicológica temporal no processo de compra altera os priming effects da coerência musical, uma vez que quanto maior a distancia psicológica dos objetos menor serão os priming effects. Quando ambos conceitos se encontram em harmonia, o estudo mostra como a distancia psicológica influencia o efeito que a música de fundo tem na identidade social, no utilitarismo, e por fim, a ambiguidade (quando ambos atributos estão presentes) que a exibição do produto tem na disponibilidade para pagar e na experiência hedónica do consumidor. Este estudo também procura compreender se o condicionamento contextual do consumidor pode forçar a percepção de enquadramento do produto, quando a música de fundo é coerente com efeito de distancia psicológica.

碩士
國立臺灣師範大學
大眾傳播研究所
107
The change of the digital age has affected public's habit of listening to music. This has caused the music industry to decline rapidly and transformation to the industry is needed. Today, the innovation of virtual reality technology has become a new trend in the marketing field, especially augmented reality advertising. It brings a new interaction experience to consumers through virtual reality. Thus, ''How to exert to the features and advantages of the CD album'' has become an industrial topic. By implying the current technology, will it be able to attract consumers' attention again if music album uses augmented reality advertising in promoting an album? Will the combination of digital and traditional way works? A 2 (Advertisement type: augmented reality advertising vs. non-augmented reality advertising) x 2 (Experience type: single experience vs. co-experience) x 2 (Music-Content congruency: congruence vs. non-congruence) between-subject design was conducted to see if the compatibility among advertisement type, experience type and music-content congruency could affect the advertising effects (brand recall, brand attitude, advertising attitude and purchase intention) of music album, and tested to see if the flow experience mediate the relationship between advertisement type and advertising effects, experience type and advertising effects, and music-content congruency and advertising effects. The experiment results show that (1) compared to the non-augmented reality advertising, augmented reality advertising leads to better advertising effects; (2) under augmented reality advertising condition, co-experience and music-content congruence results in better advertising effects; (3) under non-augmented reality advertising condition, non-congruence music-content has better advertising effects; (4) the flow experience was a significant factor mediating the relationship between the advertisement type and the advertising effect, so did the experience type and the advertising effect. However, it wasn’t a significant factor mediating the relationship between the music-content congruency and the advertising effect.

碩士
國立臺灣師範大學
全球經營與策略研究所
103
Nowadays, music are used to express oneself, satisfy the need of emotion and communicate with others, just like what Brand personality works on people. Former researches showed that people like to use different brands to show their unique characteristics and achieve their ideal selves. Based on the same idea, this study proposed a new concept—Music Personality. The definition of Music Personality in this study is that different adjectives of personality can be used to describe different music genres. Reacting to the growth of mobile video, this study focused on the influence of congruence between Music Personality and Brand Personality on AD effect. Because previous congruency researches limited on retailer industry, this study aimed to fill the lack of congruency researches. This study attempted to discover the effect of congruence of Music Personality and Brand Personality to help brand companies choose the advertisement background music that fits their brands images best. This study adopted online survey and received 301 effective questionnaires. The main subjects were undergraduate and graduate students. This study examined the data by MANOVA and the control variables were Brand Preference, Music Preference and Personality. The result revealed the congruence of Music Personality and Brand Personality had significant effect on AD effect when Music Personality and Brand Personality had high congruence. According to the result, we can infer that the existence of Music Personality is meaningful. Music Personality can assist brand companies to enhance consumers’ awareness of the Brand Personality by choosing the adequate background music for advertisements and marketing events.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
This thesis aims to demonstrate the congruence between music and philosophy. The demonstration has three aspects: a discussion of philosophical and ontological aspects of music, a discussion of the importance of music in the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle and a discussion of philosophy itself. The starting point for the demonstration is a discussion of the philosophy of music in relation to the ontology of the musical work, the relationship of performance to notation and the musical work, the nature of improvisation and the temporality of music. I discuss the contextualisation of the musical work concept, the aporetic character of music and consider phenomenological accounts of music and time consciousness. Following this discussion I propose an ontological concept of the musical work as a topos of musical activity. The second section discusses music in the context of Platonic and Aristotelian philosophy. It develops characteristics of music which are also relevant to theoria and philosophy. Most notable among these are the characterisations of music as play and energeia. I consider music in the context of the Aristotelian distinction between praxis and poiesis and argue for a qualified conception of music as energeia. The concluding section of the thesis deals with philosophy itself. I discuss the requirements of philosophy to maintain the energeia of thinking in the living and breathing word in the context of Plato’s Phaedrus. I attempt to demonstrate that the active conceptions of philosophy as a journey, examination of life, way of life (Hadot) and Lebensphilosophie align philosophy with a conception of music as meditatio mortis and form of temporality.

碩士
國立成功大學
企業管理學系碩博士班
98
Because of the rapid growth of the Internet, advertisers frequently use online advertising to entice potential consumers. Interest in online media is usually affected by website context factors such as website content relevance, web page background complexity, and banner advertising styles that influence attitudes toward banner advertising. This study investigates the main effects of website context factors and music congruence on attitudes toward banner advertising as well as the moderating effects of music congruence. We manipulated website content relevance, web page background complexity, banner advertising style, and music congruence factors and conducted a 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects design. 236 valid samples were collected. The results indicated that (1) website content relevance, web page background complexity, banner advertising style, and music congruence directly influence attitudes toward banner advertising; and (2) music congruence moderates the relationship between website content relevance and attitudes toward banner advertising and mitigates negative attitudes toward banner advertising in content-nonrelevant websites. In the case of managerial implications, we suggest that online advertisers can utilize website context effects and music congruence to improve attitudes toward banner advertising.

碩士
國立聯合大學
資訊管理學系碩士班
100
With the increasing popularity of eBook, many companies, such as Amazon, Google and Yahoo are starting to enter eBook advertising market. Accordingly, eBook advertising is expected to be a new booming advertising method. However, there has been little research on the effectiveness of eBook advertising. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore the potential effects of different placement strategies on the effectiveness of eBook advertising. The study used a field experiment to examined the effects of background music (induced happy mood vs. induced sad mood), ad location (top vs. right), and the thematic congruence between advertised product and eBook (congruent vs. incongruent) on reader's ads memory and ads attitude. The results showed that background music that induced sad mood prompt better attitudes toward the ad than those which induced happy mood. It was also found that thematically congruent eBook ads generated higher ad memory and yielded a more favorable attitude toward the ads. This finding is consistent with the principle of consistency. In the aspect of ad location, top-side ads are more effective than the right-side ads.

This study examines the effects of music styles, which are congruent and incongruent with brand image, on attitude towards the advertisement (A$\sb{\rm Ad}$) and attitude towards the brand (A$\sb{\rm Brand}$). The intervening effects of high and low cognition processing situations are also examined. The experimental manipulation was accomplished using twelve radio ad treatments. The two brands, Rolex and Swatch, each had two voice-over versions (high cognition and low cognition). Each voice-over was produced in three versions: Classical music, Rock music, and no-music background. The 2 x 2 x 3 between subjects research design had twelve testing conditions (high/low cognition; Rolex/Swatch brands; Classical, Rock, and no-music conditions). For the analysis, the Rolex/Classical and Swatch/Rock music cells were collapsed to form the "congruent" condition, while the Rolex/Rock and Swatch/Classical music cells were collapsed to form the "incongruent" condition. Subjects (n = 381) were asked to listen to an advertisement/music combination and complete a questionnaire. In general, results indicated that the presence of music in ads did not affect A$\sb{\rm Ad}$ and A$\sb{\rm Brand}.$ Ads with brands paired with incongruent music style were perceived as more original. Ads with brands paired with congruent music style were considered to be the most interesting and elicited the happiest feelings. Moreover, high cognition ads were considered more interesting, original, and elicited positive feelings when music, congruent or incongruent, was present.

Introdução: A memória episódica é um sistema cognitivo que permite a contextualização espaciotemporal de acontecimentos. No envelhecimento normal e patológico, sofre alterações com consequências funcionais relevantes na qualidade de vida, reflectindo a importância de intervenções que facilitem a cognição mnésica. A influência do processamento emocional na cognição mnésica é feita através da ativação conjunta de redes neuronais subjacentes ao processamento mnésico e emocional, contribuindo para um aumento da intensidade da experiência vivida, influenciando a sua recordação. Pretendeu-se estudar a influência da combinação congruente e incongruente de estímulos emocionais, visuais e auditivos na memória episódica e a variação do desempenho em tarefas de recordação episódica em diferentes idades. Metodologia: Amostra de 60 sujeitos dividida em: Grupo 1 (18 - 35 anos) e Grupo 2 (55 - 70 anos). A combinação de estímulos incluiu imagens do IAPS e excertos musicais remetendo para alegria e medo. A condição de controlo continha apenas imagens neutras. Criaram-se três condições experimentais: congruente, estímulos combinados representam a mesma emoção; incongruente, estímulos combinados expressavam emoções diferentes; e sem som, imagens neutras sem acompanhamento musical. Resultados: Na evocação, a condição incongruente apresentou melhores resultados do que as condições congruente e neutra, já no reconhecimento, não houve diferenças nos desempenhos. Os resultados entre os grupos não demonstraram diferenças na evocação global. No reconhecimento global, o Grupo 2 obteve melhores resultados que o Grupo 1. Ambos os grupos recordaram mais imagens positivas do que negativas, excepto o Grupo 1 no reconhecimento, que recordou tantas imagens positivas como negativas. Conclusões: Os resultados contrariam a hipótese de que a condição congruente é mais facilitadora da memória visual episódica do que a condição incongruente. A vantagem da incongruência de estímulos emocionais sugere que, se tendencialmente, a atenção parece focar-se na resolução de conflitos, então deve estar mais direcionada para situações incongruentes, onde o indivíduo demora mais tempo a reagir ao estímulo. A diferença de desempenhos no reconhecimento global evidencia a facilitação visual na memória episódica dos adultos mais velhos. Em concordância com a literatura, adultos mais velhos demonstram uma maior vantagem na recordação de imagens emocionalmente positivas do que negativas.
Theoretical Background: Episodic memory is a cognitive system that enables the spatio-temporal contextualization of events. In normal and pathological aging, changes can be observed, with critical functional consequences on the quality of life, showing the importance of interventions that facilitate mnesic cognition. The influence of emotional process on mnesic cognition arise through the common activation of neuronal networks underlying mnesic and emotional processes, enhancing the intensity of the subjective experience, therefore influencing its recollection. The main goal of this study is to explore the influence of congruent or incongruent emotional stimuli combination, visual and auditory, on episodic memory, as well as the performance variation in episodic recollection tasks in different ages. Method: The 60 subjects sample was divided in: Group 1 (18 - 35 years old) and Group 2 (55 - 70 years old). The stimuli combination included IAPS pictures and musical excerpts with reference to happiness and fear. The control condition only included neutral pictures. Three experimental conditions were created: congruent, when combined stimuli refer to the same emotion; incongruent, when combined stimuli refer to different emotions; and withoutsound, when there was only neutral pictures with no music support. Results: The incongruent condition showed higher recall results compared to the congruent and without-sound conditions, while recognition performance showed no differences between the experimental conditions. Results between groups showed no differences on the overall recall task. On the overall recognition task, Group 2 performed significantly better than Group 1. Both groups recollected more positive pictures than negative ones, except Group 1 that recognized as many positive pictures as negative. Discussion: Results contradict the idea that the congruent condition is more enhancing of visual memory than the incongruent condition. The advantage of emotional stimuli incongruence suggests that, if as a tendency, attention seems to focus on conflict resolution, therefore it must be oriented to incongruent situations, where the individual takes more time to react to stimuli. The difference in the overall recognition results between the two groups demonstrate the visual advantage in episodic memory in older adults. In agreement with previous studies, older adults show greater memory recollection for positive emotional pictures than for negative emotional ones.

Introdução: A memória episódica é um sistema cognitivo que contextualiza a informação no tempo e no espaço. É responsável pelos processos de codificação, armazenamento e recuperação dessa mesma informação, permitindo-nos retê-la e recordá-la. A capacidade de recuperar informação pode ser influenciada por vários fatores como a idade e as emoções. A recuperação da informação pode ser feita por evocação ou por reconhecimento sendo o efeito da idade mais notório na evocação. Através da apresentação de diferentes imagens associadas a sons musicais com carácter emocional, em situações de congruência e incongruência, pretende-se perceber o impacto das emoções na capacidade de memorização de imagens, em dois grupos de idades. Metodologia: Neste projeto participaram no total 30 sujeitos, divididos em dois grupos de idades: grupo 1 – 18 aos 30 anos e grupo 2 – dos 50 aos 65 anos. A cada indivíduo foram apresentadas na 1ª tarefa, em formato powerpoint, várias imagens (IAPS) associadas a excertos musicais (ambos os tipos de estímulos com carácter emocional de alegria e medo), nas diferentes condições (congruência, incongruência e unissensorial). Na 2ª tarefa – reconhecimento – foram adicionadas 60 novas imagens distratoras às 60 da tarefa anterior. Resultados: Na tarefa de reconhecimento, podemos afirmar que não existem diferenças entre os dois grupos de idade, tendo, ambos, igual desempenho. Analisando o efeito de congruência, observam-se diferenças significativas, sendo a condição incongruente superior à congruente e esta última menos influente que a condição sem som. Por último, não existe interação entre a idade e o carácter emocional dos estímulos no reconhecimento, sendo que ambos os grupos recordaram mais imagens com emoções positivas que negativas. Conclusões: Os resultados obtidos vão ao encontro da hipótese esperada para a influência da idade. Todavia, contrariam a hipótese de congruência, sendo justificado pelo aumento da atenção dada aos estímulos incongruentes. E a condição unissensorial é superior a bissensorial pela ausência da música (que interfere com a atenção). Não se verificou influência da idade e da emoção no reconhecimento, visto que o viés positivo é menos frequente acontecer no reconhecimento
Theoretical Background: Episodic memory is a cognitive system that contextualizes information in time and space. It’s responsible for encoding, storage and recognizing the information, allowing us to remember it. Recognition – can be influenced by several factors such as age and emotion. It is known that recall tasks become more difficult to elderly subjects, comparing to recognition, where older participants have equal results to young participants. Through the presentation of images associated with music both with underlying emotional character and under different conditions, I intend to understand the impact of emotional congruence on the ability to memorize images in two age groups. Method: A total of 30 subjects participated in this study, divided in two age groups: group 1 – 18 to 30 years – and group 2 – 50 to 65 years. Each subject was presented with several images (IAPS) associated to musical excerpts (both types of stimuli with an emotional character of happiness and fear) in different congruence conditions (congruence, incongruence and unisensory). In the second task – recognition – musical sounds were excluded and 60 new images were added to the 60 of the previous task. Results: In recognition task we can say that there are no differences between the two groups, having both equal performance. Analyzing the congruent effect, significant differences are observed, with the incongruent being superior to the congruent condition and the latter has less influence that de without-sound condition. Finally, the is no interaction between age and the emotional character of stimuli in recognition, with both groups remembering more positive than negative images. Discussion: The results obtained are in line with the expected hypothesis for the influence of age. However, they contradict the congruence hypothesis, being justified by the increased attention given to incongruent stimuli. And the unisensory condition is superior to the bisensory condition due to the absence of music (which interferes with attention). There was no influence of age and emotion on recognition, since the positive bias is less frequent in recognition.