On melodic contour and number preferences: The effects of musical melody on the processing of numerical information

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, we utilize three exploratory studies to examine the effects of musical melody on accompanying numerical information used in an advertisement. We find that when melody (i.e., in the form of melodic “contour”) corresponds to—or is congruent with—the numerical information in an ad, consumers will have greater recall and more favorable predispositions toward that information. These favorable predispositions, in turn, may impact such downstream variables such as purchase intentions. We posit that “contour” effects occur because individuals process the scalar steps between musical notes in a manner similar to the way they process the differences between numbers in common numerical stimuli such as customer service numbers, prices, purchase amounts, and so forth. This expectation implies that there is cognitive consistency in terms of the spatial representation of number and the spatial depiction of pitch. Thus the latter may impact the former by facilitating ease of processing, thereby leading to a number familiarity effect.

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