Traffic jams
Music and traffic noise interact to influence the vividness, sentiment, and spatiotemporal properties of directed mental imagery
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 17832140 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ceren Ayyildiz (0000-0002-2530-5738, The University of Sydney, corresponding author), Jon B Prince (0000-0002-8267-9963, Murdoch University), Joanna Delalande (Murdoch University), Steffen A Herff (0000-0001-8396-1306, The University of Sydney) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-03-31 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2662-9992 • E-ISSN: 2662-9992 |
| Publisher | Palgrave Macmillan (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1057/s41599-026-07057-7 |
| OpenAlex | W7144301447 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 111 |
Music and traffic noise are pervasive elements of modern everyday auditory environments. However, their combined effects on higher-order cognitive processes like mental imagery remain unclear. In a directed mental imagery task, 107 participants continued imaginary journeys towards a landmark, responded to prompts about each journey, and provided written descriptions. Each trial had either silence, traffic noise, music, or combined music and noise. Bayesian Mixed-Effects models revealed that compared to silence, music enhanced imagery vividness and emotional sentiment; traffic noise enhanced vividness but not sentiment; and noise combined with music diminished music’s effect on emotional sentiment. The auditory context further shaped the physical properties of the imagined content: both music and traffic noise increased the imagined distances travelled, whereas only music extended the imagined time travelled. Furthermore, elevated traffic-related themes occurred in both conditions involving traffic noise. Overall, both music and noise can modulate aspects of mental imagery, influencing its vividness, emotional tone, spatiotemporal properties, and thematic content in complex ways. We discuss the practical implications of these findings for imagery-based therapies
Cognition · Mental image · Music and emotion · Music psychology · Traffic noise · Music Therapy and Health · Neuroscience and Music Perception · Noise Effects and Management
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| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |