The Content and Experiential Qualities of Mental Imagery Evoked by Ambient Music Der Inhalt und die Erlebnisqualitäten mentaler Vorstellungen, die durch Ambient-Musik hervorgerufen werden

Abstract

This study explores how ambient music (i.e., a genre that emphasises timbre and atmosphere) affects the content and experiential qualities of mental imagery (MI). In an online survey, 65 participants listened to three ambient excerpts intended to convey happy, tender, or fearful emotions, and reported the amount, vividness, and content of their MI, along with emotional intensity and liking. Imagery content was analysed using the thematic framework developed by Hashim and colleagues (2023) for orchestral film music in the classical style. Storytelling emerged as the most frequent imagery theme, consistent with patterns previously found for classical music. However, compared with the classical music data reported by Hashim et al. (2023), ambient excerpts elicited a notably higher proportion of Associations, particularly imagery related to feelings and atmospheres, suggesting a potential tendency for ambient excerpts to evoke more associative imagery. The amount of imagery was positively associated with the intensity of emotional responses and music liking. By applying the imagery-coding framework established for classical music, this study offers the first systematic account of imagery content evoked by ambient excerpts and shows that different musical materials can emphasise different forms of MI, while Storytelling consistently remains the most prevalent theme.