How listening to an iPod shrinks your sense of personal space

There you stand on the daily commute, so close to the man in front that you can count each strand of his chin stubble. Behind you, the breath of another traveller gently warms your neck. For a species that likes its space, it's amazing how we cope with the claustrophobia of city life.

Anecdotally, one way we manage is by plugging ourselves into an iPod, creating an invisible, audio-fuelled layer of protection. Now Ana Tajadura-Jiménez and her team have tested this idea scientifically. They asked dozens of participants to walk towards an unfamiliar experimenter (a man or woman) until they got so close it felt uncomfortable. In another condition, the experimenter walked towards the participant, and again the participant indicated when it felt too close. Crucially, this procedure was followed in silence, listening to positive music or listening to negative music. The unfamiliar musical clips, composed for an earlier experiment, were in the style of instrumental movie music. Sometimes the music was played over headphones via an iPod, other times it was played over a speaker system in the room. After the experiment, the participants listened to the music clips again and rated how much they affected them emotionally.

Positive music played over headphones (but not speakers) had the effect of shrinking the participants' sense of personal space, so that the approaching experimenter could walk closer to them before they (the participant) felt uncomfortable. On the other hand, negative music played over speakers (but not headphones) expanded the participants' personal space, so they felt uncomfortable when the approaching experimenter was further away. These effects were most pronounced in the participants who afterwards reported that they'd been affected emotionally by the music to a greater degree. Music made no difference to the participants' sense of personal space when they were the ones walking towards the experimenter.

A possible weakness of the study is that the experimenters could hear the music that the participants were listening to, which may have had a subtle influence on their behaviour. The Digest put this to Dr Tajadura-Jiménez. She told us this was unlikely, since the experimenters were careful to maintain the same neutral expression throughout, and another researcher looked on to ensure consistency across conditions.

"Our study might help to understand the benefit that people find in using personal music players in crowded situations, such as when using the public transport in urban settings," the researchers concluded. "In situations in which there are little possibilities for personal mobility and personal space is constantly compromised, a portable device allowing for a change in the perceived space around would be highly desirable."

The findings chime with an earlier qualitative study in which a homeless man described how he used a personal radio to create his own sense of personal space - an "audio cave" - when out on the streets. The idea that music influences sense of personal space via its emotional effects also tallies with a recent study involving a brain-damaged patient. The woman S.M. had suffered damage to both her amygdala - deep brain nuclei involved in emotional processing - and appeared to have lost her sense of personal space as a result.
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Tajadura-Jiménez, A., Pantelidou, G., Rebacz, P., Västfjäll, D., and Tsakiris, M. (2011). I-Space: The Effects of Emotional Valence and Source of Music on Interpersonal Distance. PLoS ONE, 6 (10) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0026083

Post written by Christian Jarrett for the BPS Research Digest.

Four chances to win a free BPS-approved psychology textbook!

THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED AND THE WINNERS HAVE BEEN CONTACTED. Thanks for all your lovely comments!

We've got two copies of An Introduction to Developmental Psychology (edited by Alan Slater and Gavin Bremner) and two copies of Applied Psychology (edited by Graham Davey) to give away, kindly donated by Wiley-Blackwell.

How to enter
To have a chance to win, please say why you like the BPS Research Digest: either in a Tweet (mention @researchdigest) or by using the comments function beneath this post. Include the initials DP or AP in your comment, so we know which book you'd prefer, should you win. Also, if you use the comments function here, make sure you leave a way for us to contact you. Next Friday 4 Nov, we'll pick four different entries (two people from Twitter and two from here) at random as the winners. Good luck!

Have a Good Halloween Weekend

It's the weekend!

How was your Deepavali?

I spent mine with friend and home cooked bak kut teh dinner, with wine. ^^

Looking forward to partying Halloween style tomorrow night. *heart*


Enjoy your weekend!

Jack's been thinking...about the London Jazz Festival

Our regular Friday columnist Jack Davies previews the London Jazz Festival...

I'm looking forward to the London Jazz Festival . Among the higher profile gigs I have my eye on in particular are accordionist Richard Galliano's centenary tribute to film composer Nino Rota (Royal Festival Hall, Thursday 17th November) featuring American trumpeter Dave Douglas and expat British saxophonist John Surman.

Another treat in sttore is French saxophonist Michel Portal's international band (Queen Elzabeth Hall, Monday 14th November), which includes no less than Ambrose Akinmusire on trumpet, Bojan Z on piano and Nasheet Waits on drums.

But while big name acts such as these.... and McCoy Tyner and Bill Frisell... will carry away the headlines and 5-star reviews at this year’s festival, the backbone of the ten day programme will be the performances by homegrown bands in the capital’s smaller venues.

Saxophonist George Crowley is playing on Tuesday 15th November at The Oxford, a venue he tirelessly promotes all throughout the year. Everyone who knows George’s playing will agree that he is one of the finest saxophonists on the London scene – a real improviser, backed up with instrumental intensity and an absorbing sense of tradition. Crowley’s compositions are sometimes strikingly stark (Still Life) and sometimes full of a passionate, lyrical joy. His quartet is completed by three musicians who have made a name for themselves as the Kit Downes Trio – Downes himself on piano, and the fantastic Calum Gourlay on bass and James Maddren on drums.

The quartet recently recorded an album which will be a must-buy when it emerges, but until then do not miss the chance to see some of the lifeblood of London’s jazz scene in one of the venues that supports new bands and new music all throughout the year.

Loop Collective’s Rory Simmons presents his large ensemble Fringe Magnetic in the plush surroundings of Kings Place’s Hall One on Saturday 19th November at 3pm. Where better to see what is essentially a chamber jazz ensemble than in London’s newest chamber music hall?

Alongside the contrasting sounds of Elisabeth Nygaard’s Nordic purity and the darkly gruff tone of Andrew Plummer, Fringe Magnetic comprises an impressive lineup of Loop regulars: Robin Fincker (clarinet), Tori Freestone (flute), James Allsopp (bass clarinet), Kit Massey (violin), Natalie Rosario (cello), Jasper Hoiby (bass), Ivo Neame (piano) and Ben Reynolds (drums). This is a thoughtful ensemble, encompassing delicate and aggressive moments, but always with a sense of optimism.

Simmons mainly uses this band as a vehicle for composition, but there will also be moments where he, as one of the country’s finest trumpet players, is showcased too.

The London Jazz Festival in association with Radio 3 runs from November 11th to November 20th

CD Review: Ben Crosland Brass Group - An Open Place

Ben Crosland Brass Group - An Open Place
(Jazz Cat JCCD 114. CD Review by Chris Parker)

A glance at the titles of bassist/composer Ben Crosland's previous recordings demonstrate just how well suited he is to provide, as he has done on this sextet album, a 'soundtrack' for visitors to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park: The Northern Run (featuring Alan Skidmore), A Dales Day (for quintet), Echoes in the Valley (octet).

Thus experienced in capturing a 'spirit of place', Crosland has taken particular sculptures – by Henry Moore, Sophie Ryder, Barbara Hepworth, Elisabeth Frink, David Nash and Anthony Caro – as inspirations for an eight-piece suite for a supremely accomplished band, completed by trumpeters Martin Shaw and Steve Waterman, trombonists Mark Nightingale and Barnaby Dickinson, and pianist Steve Lodder. Lodder and Waterman, of course, form the elegant trio Threeway with Crosland, and their rapport lies at the heart of the cohesiveness and poise demonstrated throughout this satisfying set of Crosland compositions, Lodder particularly adept at ensuring the whole band sound gels in the absence of a drummer.

Solos on Crosland's richly varied but consistently approachable pieces are shared pretty democratically between the bandmembers, but if this feature of the suite showcases its roots in jazz, the softly crooned chorales and more forceful ensemble passages also nod towards a suitably northern tradition: brass band music.

Appropriately airy, spacious and bright, An Open Place is at once striking and memorable, even in the absence of the open-air sculpture park that inspired it.


Jazz Cat Records

Rich Toward God

"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse ...
and I will rebuke the devourer for your sake." (Malachi 3:10-11)

Most of us have a concept of the word "whole." For example, if I owe you money, you most likely want me to pay you the entire sum. I know that when I receive a bill from the electric or phone company they certainly want the entire amount. And what if I were to offer you a piece of candy? Would you want the entire piece or is it okay if I take a bite first? Do you suppose when God said to bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that He had our good in mind? I know I want Him to rebuke the devourer for my sake, the "whole" devourer, not just a partial rebuking. Just pondering "being rich toward God" this morning.

whole - comprising the full quantity, amount, extent, number, etc., without diminution or exception; entire, full, or total

Feast

Our round-up of the latest juicy tit-bits in the world of psychology:

"All through the night I'll save you from the terror on the screen
I'll make you see
That this is thriller, thriller night" Michael Jackson.

Why do we like scaring ourselves? The latest issue of The Psychologist magazine is online and has a cover feature on the lure of horror (free pdf), by Digest editor Christian Jarrett. Free digital preview of November issue. Full contents.

The Royal Society has made all journal articles in its archive over 70-years-old free-to-access.

Nobel laureate and psychologist Daniel Kahneman has a new book out "Thinking fast and slow" (excerpts). Review by Jonah Lehrer.

Video gives advice on getting published in academic journals.

Do you never forget a face? New mass-experiment at London's Science Museum on the notion of super-recognisers.

Teach yourself charisma - new post over at our off-spring title The BPS Occupational Digest.

Can I borrow Mo's keyboard? Guardian blogger and Digest contributor Mo Costandi with a lovely report on new research showing how golfers' performance improves when they think they're using an expert's equipment (their perception of the size of the hole is affected too!).

Book claims Sybil faked her multiple personalities.

Digest friend and contributor Vaughan Bell with a balanced and illuminating review of Steve Pinker's new book on the decline of violence.

There's still time to hear BBC Radio 4 get inside the mind of Steve Pinker on Life Scientific (on iPlayer). Pinker also says how he'd run the world in Prospect magazine. He was also on the Colbert Report (US viewers only).

The Sound of Fear, on BBC iPlayer, explores scary sounds.

Digest friend and contributor Wray Herbert with an intriguing report on new research showing that some decisions are made more effectively by older people relative to younger folk.

Test Your Brain - TV series - continues on National Geographic Channel UK. Check the website for clips.

Brace yourselves for a feast of Mind and Brain programming next month on BBC Radio Four.

Inaugural podcast from the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

Nearly forgot to say: The Memory Network has launched. "The Memory Network brings together researchers, authors and artists, and organisations to provoke and fuel original ways of thinking about memory."

Do you ever miss your phone? Maybe you have Misophonia. Sorry, my mistake, it's a condition that has to do with being troubled by subtle sounds.

The latest episode of the ever-popular Psychfiles podcast.

Cartoon animation of fascinating lecture by psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist on our divided brain.

Last, but not least, there's hope for us all: Scott Barry Kaufman debunks overly simplistic media reports that greatness depends more on working memory skill than practice. In fact, as his analysis shows, high working memory isn't necessary for greatness. "So next time you see a study that says some ability is necessary for some form of greatness," Kaufman says, "remember that this isn’t necessarily the case. You can personally get there, regardless of the group trend. After all, working memory is common, but greatness is rare."

PS. Feast is the new name for our new regular round-up of psychology on the web (previously known as Morsels).

--Post compiled by Christian Jarrett for the BPS Research Digest.