Department of Music Research Seminar, Miguel Mera

New Directions in the Study of Audiovisual Attention
Dr Miguel Mera

This presentation will explore two possible new directions in the study of audiovisual attention. The first examines the ability of music to focus visual attention in narrative film, the second examines how visual editing and framing might impact on the way audiences hear concert music.

Film music scholars, composers, directors and audiences have always implicitly believed that music can sometimes determine the focus of an audience's visual attention, but researchers have not as yet been able to prove this empirically. I will report on an empirical eye-tracking study that examined the effects of music on visual attention, emotion and user experience during visual exploration tasks in afilm sequence.

The results show that music is able to direct how we see by switching attention to target foci more quickly but also that music can also encourage greater exploration of visual scenes outside targets.

As yet, there is scant research on the influence of the strategies used in the visual representation of musical performance. Using televised concert performances of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, I will consider the potential impact of visual 'scene' construction on musical attention, as well as some of the issues and challenges that this kind of research presents.