Internally and Externally Oriented Perception of Music

Subjective time is the time humans perceive within their internal experiences and is therefore described as "inner time" or "internal time" (Fuchs, 2001). Objective time is a way humans measure time independent of their subjective personal time, also known as "outer time" or "external time" (Northoff et al., 2018). These two forms of time interact with each other when we listen to music. The goal of this study is to investigate the difference between internally and externally oriented perception of music. Using two different music data sets, we measure internal and external time perception through specifically developed visual analogue scales (VAS) with ten questions for each dimension. Results show differences in internally oriented and externally oriented perception during different music pieces. Together our results show the importance of distinguishing externally oriented and internally oriented perception during music listening.