Tuning the Inner Radio: The Mental Control of Musical Imagery in Everyday Environments

How easily can people tune their inner radio? Musical imagery—hearing music in your mind—is common and complex, but little is known about people’s ability to control their musical imagery in daily life. A recent model proposed by Cotter, Christensen, and Silvia distinguishes between initiation (starting musical imagery) vs. management (modifying, stopping, or sustaining musical imagery) as distinct facets of control, and the present research examined people’s ability to use the two forms of control in daily life. A sample of students (29 music students, 29 non-music students) participated in an experience-sampling study. For seven days, people were signaled 10 times a day and asked to initiate musical imagery and perform manipulations to initiated and ongoing imagery (e.g., increasing the tempo, changing the gender of a vocalist). When asked, people reported exerting control over the initiation and management of their musical imagery most of the time. As expected, music students reported controlling their musical imagery more often and more easily. This work suggests that people’s control over their musical imagery is stronger and more flexible than prior work implies.