How long does it take before you change the station or hit “skip” if you don’t like a song? Only seconds. That’s according to a new study from New York University. The findings give scientists more insight into how our brains process music.
Researchers surveyed more than 600 people and chose nearly 300 songs, including both popular and obscure music dating to the 1940s, says Pascal Wallisch, data scientist and the senior author of the study.
It took about five seconds for participants to decide whether or not they liked a song, regardless of its popularity. Wallisch theorizes that some people like a song based on how it resonates.
“It seems to be the case that your psychological response to music has surprisingly little to do with the music itself, and more of A) the vibes, for lack of a better word, that that evokes in your own head. … And B) what do you associate with that? So it’s more like an arbitrary texture, like a crackling fire, or a howling window, lapping waves … because the acoustic properties … often change dramatically during a song.”