Music Alters Mood Alters Visual Perception
May 4, 2018 7:09 AM   Subscribe

Music Alters Visual Perception "As illusory percepts are believed to reflect the content of internal representations that are employed by the brain during top-down processing of visual input, we conclude that top-down modulation of visual processing is not purely predictive in nature: mood, in this case manipulated by music, may also directly alter the way we perceive the world."
posted by OmieWise (13 comments total) 25 users marked this as a favorite
 
(slow heavy metal music playing)
posted by Fizz at 7:10 AM on May 4, 2018 [12 favorites]


mood, in this case manipulated by music, may also directly alter the way we perceive the world.

I listened to a lot of Pink Floyd and Jackson Browne in high school.

Which explains a lot.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 7:47 AM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]


It is certainly true of birdsongs.

Andrew Weil, health and wellness author, once studied psychedelics, doing the only legal research on marijuana in the 60s, (takeaway: You don't get high unless you are in the company of an experienced user. Then you are set for life.)

Later he wrote a book called The Marriage of Sun and Moon he discusses various non-drug induced states of transcendence, such as Solar Eclipses, eating hot peppers and eating mangos off the tree and good luck with that last one.

He also describes hunting for psilocybin mushrooms with friends when he couldn't see one two feet away. After they took their mushrooms, Weil could see them at 100 feet the day after.

Likewise birdsongs.

Hummingbirds sing year round with a soft and quiet Jzzt! Jzzt! Jzzt! Once I learned that song, I could spot a hummingbird on perch or in flight. In fact, I can see them in flight a block away.
Made me realize I had less floaters in my eyes than I thought.

So, kids, learn your birdsongs.
posted by y2karl at 7:59 AM on May 4, 2018 [11 favorites]


The observation, that mood manipulated by music directly alters the way we perceive the world, reflects the individual's fundamental inability to grasp what reality is all about.
posted by laodan at 8:23 AM on May 4, 2018 [3 favorites]


Robert Anton Wilson said that if you visualize a quarter in your mind and hold it there, and do this frequently, you'll start finding quarters everywhere you go. On the back cover of his book, Cosmic Trigger, there was a blurb where the reviewer said that just this trick paid for the book.
posted by njohnson23 at 9:03 AM on May 4, 2018 [4 favorites]


The observation, that mood manipulated by music directly alters the way we perceive the world, reflects the individual's fundamental inability to grasp what reality is all about.

All of us, you mean ? Because none of us can directly observe quantum particles.
posted by y2karl at 9:04 AM on May 4, 2018


I manipulate my mood and perception with music on a regular basis, especially walking around in nature, or even biking with my speaker strapped to my bike. It's glorious.

And more than a few times I've had birds (finches, mainly) show up and start jamming and mimicking in key and tempo with melodic bits of house music. This has happened to me a bunch of times at desert raves, especially during sunrise deep house DJ sets when I'm sitting somewhere a ways off from the speakers where the sound is mellow and I'm watching the sun rise.

The first couple of times I couldn't believe it, but, no, that bird was totally happily chirping away in tempo, rhythm and even some phrasing along with the music and mimicking melodies and tones.

Music is strangely powerful magic. It may be the most fundamental yet mysterious art and science known to humanity.
posted by loquacious at 9:19 AM on May 4, 2018 [11 favorites]


KMFA: Since retirement, the first thing in the morning (after making coffee, of course) and the last thing off at night. Certainly alters my little world...
posted by jim in austin at 10:02 AM on May 4, 2018


It seems pretty obvious to me (while Iā€™m laying in bed crying, listening to Helpless by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young).
posted by gucci mane at 10:04 AM on May 4, 2018


"Helplessly Hoping" is the tune my three friends harmonized in jail in 1969 when they got busted for pot. We were all in high school then. It helped their mood, I'm sure. They survived. It was suburbia.
posted by kozad at 10:29 AM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]


Robert Anton Wilson said that if you visualize a quarter in your mind and hold it there, and do this frequently, you'll start finding quarters everywhere you go...

*y2karl visualizes senior superhottie*

*Julie Newmar friends him on Facebook*

Oh, I wish...
posted by y2karl at 5:54 PM on May 4, 2018


Music Alters Mood Alters Visual Perception...

Alex and his droog Beethoven, in A Clockwork Orange, come to mind. ā€œOh bliss. Bliss and heaven. Oh, it was gorgeousness and gorgeousity made flesh... As I slooshied, I knew such lovely pictures!ā€ [video link NSFW]

p.s. ... if you visualize a quarter in your mind and hold it there, and do this frequently...

You'll probably walk out into traffic and get hit by a car or a bus.
posted by LeLiLo at 12:21 AM on May 5, 2018


Visualize Benjamins then. Not many of them fluttering between the traffic.
posted by y2karl at 4:12 AM on May 5, 2018


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