Master's Theses

Document Type

Thesis

Date of Award

Summer 2022

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Psychology

Advisor

Dr. Carol Patrick

Abstract

ABSTRACT Studies of misophonia have not assessed the impact of music and sound complexity on intelligence in individuals with misophonia. Edelstein et al. (2013) have provided work which pools trigger sound characteristics including sound repetitiveness yet does not include a substantial music subcategory. Utilizing the Cattell–Horn–Carroll model of intelligence, the current study explores the nature of music and music complexity on fluid intelligence, as described by Sternberg (2012). The hypotheses for this study focused on the relationship that complexity and music might have with misophonia. The rate of misophonia in the Mechanical Turk population was hypothesized to be 20%. The group with misophonia was predicted to perform worse when exposed to repetitive music and better when exposed to no music or complex music. Fluid intelligence was measured with a reaction speed score from the n-back task of working memory (Jaeggi et al.,2010). Disposition for misophonia was measured with the MisoQuest survey (Siepsiak et al., 2020a). A sample of Mechanical Turk workers participated in an n-back activity while exposed to no music, complex music, or repetitive music. The outcome of the study showed that rates of misophonia in the Mechanical Turk population were lower than hypothesized at under 5%. In supplementary analysis, the participants, categorized as having more misophonia traits, were worse at the n-back task in every condition including no music, complex music, and repetitive music. The outcome of this study can inform the work and educational environment setup.

Keywords: Misophonia, MisoQuest, Mechanical Turk, Fluid intelligence, Music

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Rights

© 2022 Leslie Watson-DiVittore


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