Effects of underscoring on semantic appraisal and interpretation of ambivalent film scenes

The relationship between film and music provides a domain for the investigation of the effects of background music on emotional and cognitive processing of film scenes. This paper presents the results of an experiment on the role of music in the semantic appraisal and interpretation of ambiguous film clips. Psycho-musicological studies on film music show that subjects are able to match a scene to its intended underscoring, and that there seems to be a “congruency” variable in play between a piece of music and a film scene. Some research also suggests that two independent factors, namely mood and arousal, underlie the appraisal of complex stimuli like musical tracks and film scenes. However, few studies specifically address the role of music in modulating the “cognitive” interpretation of a scene, so we set out to investigate the effect of underscoring music on ambiguous film clips in which the portrayed events could be explained in different ways. First, mood and arousal scores were obtained via semantic differential ratings for 22 music tracks (n=107) and 12 scenes (n=92) and those stimuli receiving the most consistent ratings among subjects were used to create different parings. Then, all combinations were rated for congruency (i.e. how well the music and the scene fit together). Changing underscoring music had a significant effect on the overall ratings for mood and arousal in most film/music pairings (n=92). The perceived congruency between visuals and music seems related to the distance of each stimulus on the mood dimension. When subjects were asked what they thought was happening in the scene, the soundtrack previously rated as congruent led the majority of participants to one same interpretation of the film scene. However, when underscoring music was in a contrasting relation with the film scene, responses were more spread out.