# Cognitive Functions & Music



## tinyheart (Jun 17, 2016)

I found this fascinating and wanted to see what others think. I like to analyze my music and so I wondered if others also took in music the same. I don't want to go into myself just yet, I'd rather see what yall have to say.


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## bremen (Apr 25, 2016)

The Si one is definitely true for me, my playlist is filled with soundtracks from shows I like.

Se: Can relate to this one too.

Fi: I don't really care about those, I mostly listen to instrumental music.

Ni: I don't really care about exploring the genre, I can keep listening to the same song as long as I like it.

Te: Yes to a certain degree.

Ti: Not at all.

Ne: No.

Fe: Definitely not.


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## Jaune (Jul 11, 2013)

Interesting picture.

Si: Yes, I definitely relate to this description. I love listening to the stuff I liked back in my childhood to remember the "good old days." I tie music to my experiences, good and bad, and love listening to certain songs to relive these memories from the past.

Se: I highly relate to this as well, I pay close attention to the sensory aspects of music. The way something _sounds_ rather than how it was created, or its lyrics, is most important to me in enjoying a song. And I do love to fill the silence with music, I am always running a song through my head if there is no music available.

Fi: Yes, I love songs with messages I can relate to. Most of my favorite songs have lyrics in which I can identify myself.

Ni: I have a few preferred genres, but I try to explore them in detail. I mainly stick to metal and rock, and their subgenres. I have my favorite bands and I listen to them more than I try to discover new artists.

Te: This relates to my Se. The way the instruments and composition react together to create a pleasant-sounding song highly intrigues me.

Ti: I like to analyze and deconstruct music sometimes, but only for my most favorite songs. This does not come naturally to me.

Ne: Admittedly, I have no desire to discover all types of different music.

Fe: I just don't relate to this description at all. I don't try to understand or connect with others through music. Not even its creators, really. For me, listening to music is a very self-oriented process.


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## The red spirit (Sep 29, 2015)

and what if I say, that music could be linked to IQ? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)


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## tinyheart (Jun 17, 2016)

The red spirit said:


> and what if I say, that music could be linked to IQ? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)


Then I'll ask you to explain. :0


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## tinyheart (Jun 17, 2016)

@ColdNobility @Rick Harrison

I find it curious that being ISTJs and having the same functions as I, we share many of the same "perceptions" according to the OP.

Fi: I'm guilty of this. There are songs I simply cannot listen to because they betray my values to a point that just listening to it turns my feelings sour. Of course, I take in the world through the filter which is Fi, so I'm bound to take music in personally and see how it applies to me.

Ne: I think for intuition, they left out the "trying to find meaning and ideas." I know for sure there's a huge chunk of people who perceive music that way. And that is definitely me 101%. As far as exploration, I do indeed like trying out new music (of course this is slightly hindered by the Fi filter).

Si: A lot of the music I listen to is what I've always listened to or has its roots in songs similar to what I've always listened to. I like music that tells a story, that recalls the past either lyrically or musically. I like music that has a bit of history behind it. (also ties in with Ne - ideas and Fi - personal values).

Te: As an artist one of the things I look for in completed work is whether or not the composition as a whole is strong and unified. If nothing is in harmony, if there is no strong base from which the composition is built, then I get cranky. Sometimes I think to myself "If only I was the producer...I'd tell these idiots how it's done."

Ti: This comes as secondary to the Te. I first see the whole picture, and then take the time to appreciate the finer details. I like breaking apart music in my mind and focusing on something singular, like percussion or bass. The tempo, the individual "voices", the feel of each note on my tongue and eyes (I have synesthesia).

Se: Like everyone else, I enjoy the sensory effect music has. I hear music I often must move. Snap, tap, drum...something. I want to feel and see the music. I feel it course through me sometimes.

Ni: This is definitely a trial for me, as I'm into too many things to just focus on one genre, though I wish I could.

Fe: This is the toughest for me. I guess the closest I can get is basically me deflecting my personal feelings and considering the feelings of the artist or something.


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## notsoserious (Aug 15, 2016)

Ti: Yes, in a way of focusing on a particular sound and then switching, deconstructing music, knowing what it really is made of.

Ne: Well, not really, kind of hard to deviate from my usual genres (few).

Si: True, some tracks you've discovered in the past, when you listen to them again, they kind of remind you of the times when you were first listening to them (what you were doing etc.).

Fe: Yes, trying to understand what the artist wants to tell us by producing the track.

Te: Not so much.

Ni: 100% true.

Se: Yes

Fi: Nope.


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## pwowq (Aug 7, 2016)

Ti: Yes. Easily hooked specifics. I can end up counting the number of instruments used.
Te: Yes. Ofc, no harmony = no enjoyment.
Fi: No. 
Fe: No.
Ni: No. Not going to happen. I like songs, not genres.
Ne: Yes. There's always things I've never heard. Music is a global deal. Why be...
Si: ... stuck in the past? Songs get dull... "this is our song!", "nope, that's your song"
Se: Yes.


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## The red spirit (Sep 29, 2015)

mytinyheart said:


> Then I'll ask you to explain. :0


I got your attention fast, da bum ttsss

What, do you think, I'm gonna explain something, that I don't really care much? No

Here are some links to satisfy your interest:
https://www.labnol.org/internet/music-taste-linked-to-intelligence/7489/
https://www.quora.com/What-kind-of-music-do-the-most-intelligent-people-listen-to
https://www.indy100.com/article/can-the-music-you-listen-to-determine-how-clever-you-are--eJOTQnJ6Ig
Music and intelligence
Music & IQ - Science Updates - Science NetLinks
https://www.quora.com/Is-there-a-correlation-to-intelligence-and-listening-to-certain-musical-genres
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychology_of_music_preference

Music could affect your behaviour. Do you know levander town syndrome, if yes you already have good introduction to binaural beats. It's legend, that is fake, but has scientic base.:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binaural_beats
Can Listening to Binaural Beats Make You Feel Better?
Listening to These Beats Supposedly Gets You High. We Try Them | L.A. Weekly

I hope you didn't fell, while reading shit ton of links.

And what if I said, that incandescent bulbs are the best, because they have high coloer rendering index? Interested?


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## The red spirit (Sep 29, 2015)

Now I'm just gonna do the same thing, that everyone does and I have no idea, why they do that

Ti: true to me, especially in techno, dance bass and drum music, but I'm strange

Te: technically deffinition for music is harmony of sounds, if there's no harmony, then it's noise and nothing more. Science tells me, that I should relate to this description

Fi: not really, I enjoy sounds and their beauty. Well, sometimes.

Fe: relatable, but again not really, songs can introduce person to spirit of other people. You basically can't change me, I'm Red Spirit(my beloved FF0000roud

Ni: yep, it's true, I even tried to remaster some songs and kinda succeeded with one (EAZY-E 8-ball it was, I have it, but in youtube copyrighters removed it)

Ne: I want to discover more music, but I totally hate some genres

Si: yeah, that's true to me, but it's not always enjoyable

Se: *BEST FITTING SENTENCE TO ME*


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## DOGSOUP (Jan 29, 2016)

Heh, mostly just Fe and Fi... even while appreciating the auditory/sensory aspect of music, it's always more about how those things lead into something that is more in the area of feeling like mood and expression, perhaps the story as well.

There are bits in the Ti and Te section I sometimes think about (coherence, deconstruction, combination of elements that lead into the final composition) but those are very much secondary and I have to specifically focus on such analysis.

Explanations for Ne and Ni aren't intuition related as such, at least I don't see it that way... Se might equally be interested in broad variety, whereas Si would be more about exploring/mastering one genre that is their speciality.


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## Jakuri (Sep 7, 2015)

Interesting one. Here are my takes:

Ti: I do not relate to this at all, though I have not-so-derpy Ti myself, possibly because of my training (math).

Fe: yes and no. I consider anyone's musical tastes deeply personal, so naturally "understanding others" is off the radar. I do try to get the emotions behind the music, so I guess that is true. The remaining parts, not so much. However, I tend to choose music mirroring my feelings to "cathar-ize" my emotions if needed. I guess I use Fe as a tool for my needs if necessary?

Ni: Held true when I was particularly into classical music. But naturally, being an NP myself, singular focus on one thing doesn't come natural. Rather, as an Fi-dom myself, the "inspire/impress Fi greatly" switch should be pushed for me to do this. In my case, this was not particular genres but rather sources (anime, games, etc). Overall, not quite relating much.

Te: I can see myself doing this, but I think I do this unconsciously. I think I do this more often consciously when listening to orchestral classical music. Even then though, it's mostly limited to highly structured ones like Bach. I believe an NT colleague in my department does this more often. I find him preferring more structurally complex and patterned music whereas this is not something I actively go after. In any case, I don't relate to Ti deconstruction, but I relate more to Te coherence.

Se: I can relate to this one, especially since I listen to music whose lyrics (if present) cannot be understood until I look up translations. After all, listening to music is sensory experience, so it would be difficult to dismiss Se completely out of picture.

Ne: I don't consider myself interested in different genres for the sake of "discovering all music" or exploring all genres out there in the music. It is true that my musical tastes cannot be easily pigeonholed into certain genres because the kind of music I listen to is also affected a lot by sources (game, anime, etc). It can be game soundtrack, song I ran across in rhythm games as a big rhythm game player fan myself, and so forth. I am introduced to new artists thanks to games, and as a result I become a fan of artists/bands, etc. I don't think this is particularly Ne-related however.

Nowadays, I mostly listen to songs whose lyrics I cannot understand until I look up the translation (Japanese; further, many of the songs even have languages spoken in an in-game universe and nowhere else), so initially I would rely more Se and Ne.

Si: This is quite true, and I listen to lots of music I have listened to before. I listen to music from the game that impacted me quite significantly quite often (this and this, so naturally its two prequels as well though I have yet to play them), and some bands I got to know from my favourite games. I don't consider myself after breadth on this domain anyway.

Fi: This makes sense...I think my predilection toward certain type of music does say something about myself as a person. Also if lyrics are present I tend to prefer songs that reflect myself in some way (can be anything -- see myself in it, reflect my ideals, or just cute, for example). While I try many different types of music, I tend to be selective when it comes to re-listening them. And once I develop a strong attachment toward music in some way, I find that it lasts very very long (e.g., in a video game series where music plays a big role, I ran into a character in which I saw myself big time. So I have great attachment toward the game and all of their music. This happened 5 years ago, but this attachment is pretty strong.). So I guess while Se and Ne initially govern initial preferences, what I stick to/revisit many times seems to be ultimately defined by Fi reinforced with Si.


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## Littlewood (Jun 23, 2016)

Fi - Most definitely, I hate the more modern songs that are only about sex and body parts... :frustrating:
Ne - I love all musical genres, so that ties in well.
Si - I always thought that was my Fi who wanted to experience the sadness that is tied to my past.
Te - I love when things harmoniously come together, so yeah!


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## Candy Apple (Sep 10, 2015)

Ti - I do this.

Te - Yeah.

Fi - No, not intentionally. I prefer music without lyrics.

Fe - No. I don't take them on as my own but I do see how others may be feeling or what their situation may be like.

Ni - Nope.

Ne - No.

Si - I don't care for nostalgia and reliving memories but I don't mind listening to music that has meaning. xP Don't want/need to be transported to the past. 

Se - Hmm I don't think so.


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## AllyKat (Jan 24, 2014)

From those I'm probably most Fi, although I don't think any are _completely_ me. 

Ti - not really, I'm not focused on music in that way; I see it more as a sensory pleasure than something which should be logically deconstructed - though it has been known. 

Te - I usually latch onto Te-aspects in these sorts of lists easily, but I'm not sure this totally applies. I do initially listen to a song/piece of music as the whole but I much prefer the layers you get in music rather than just the top level, if that makes sense. I do need a 'good' harmony though; I guess this aspect is more my initial reaction to a piece of music rather than relating to deeper enjoyment if anything. 

Fi - I always enjoy relatable lyrics, but I also like unrelatable lyrics that provide an interesting image, perspective or new scenario. I enjoy autobiographical type songs in this way where they share their own experiences, which I may or may not relate to. 

Fe - Don't use music to understand others. But as I was saying above I'm quite interested in 'experiencing' other's experiences as expressed through music.

Ni - I'm not sure about specific genres, simply because I think the genres which are used tend to be wooly. I listen to some artists which could be categorised into 4 or 5 genres which I guess is interesting in itself. I'd be more interested in 'mastering' an artists back catalogue though. 

Ne - I probably do less of this than I like to think I do, but I tend to think of my tastes as eclectic, although the things I listen to regularly tend to end up falling towards a few particular genres. It doesn't really matter if they're mainstream or obscure or anything though. 

Si - I love soundtracks, but not typically for nostalgic reasons. While some of the soundtracks I do listen to have a nostalgic element to them (and I like to tie the soundtrack into the films/shows), some soundtracks I listen to I've never even seen the source material for. What I love most in the soundtrack genre is the expression of emotion/atmosphere from them. They're written specifically to evoke certain reactions, so I guess I'm pulling again on the sensory aspect here. I also love the kind of soundtracks that build up to crescendo or are 'epic' in nature. 

Se - I think we all enjoy the auditory aspect somewhat, and I don't deny there's some serious sensory element to my musical enjoyment. I like to immerse myself in music in order to really experience it. It's not about filling the silence though.


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## The red spirit (Sep 29, 2015)

@mytinyheart what do you think?


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## SpottedTurtle (Jul 18, 2013)

Whoops. Double post.


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## SpottedTurtle (Jul 18, 2013)

As an avid guitar player and songwriter, I think it might also be worthwhile to think about the roles the functions would play when _composing _music. Thoughts (since I have none at the moment)?

But for now:
*Ti:* Yes, I can completely relate to this. I naturally break down every single song I listen to. The more complex, the more fun.

*Te:* Yep, I usually do this after I’ve broken things apart and put them back together to appreciate how all individual parts sound as a whole.

*Fi:* Meh, not really. Generally when I listen to songs, I use them to understand the feelings/thoughts of writer/composer.

*Fe:* ^^Absolutely. And yep, it’s very easy for me to get emotionally riled up over music.



DOGSOUP said:


> Explanations for Ne and Ni aren't intuition related as such, at least I don't see it that way... Se might equally be interested in broad variety, whereas Si would be more about exploring/mastering one genre that is their speciality.


Completely agree with you there.*

Ni:* I think when it comes to listening to one song in particular, Ni allows the listener to pay attention to the motives of the writer, the ultimate message of the song and how it fits into the bigger picture (of society, relationships, etc...) – at least, that’s what I think it does for me.

*Ne:* When it comes to listening to one song in particular, I think Ne gives the listener the ability to extrapolate on the music – that is, taking one riff and messing around with it to see what else it could turn into, or taking a few lyrics and coming up with alternate possibilities for them. Not sure if that makes any sense.

*Si:* Nope, not really.

*Se:* Yeah, kind of. Sometimes I listen to music to fill the silence, sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I listen to music just to _listen, _and sometimes it’s just a noise in the background -- I imagine a lot of people can probably relate to that.


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## umop 3pisdn (Apr 4, 2014)

I don't get how the description for Te has anything to do with Te. A significant part of musical appreciation seems like it would always be appreciating a whole resultant from an interplay of constituent parts.

I think Ni does evoke a kind of depth or intensity of interest but I wouldn't really relate it to genre. At least in my case I'd relate it to a sort of essential minimalism, and to some extent to impressionism in music. That is, I think Ni is more likely to appreciate music on a basis of everything that is there having some intentionality towards everything that is seemingly absent. Like impressionism can evoke a world or feeling that is on the fringes of what is even explorable through music as an art form, simply by the virtue of only saying as much as you need to, and leaving all the rest unsaid.

Ti I sort of relate to, but I'd also consider myself a naturalist in terms of my appreciation of music. I don't have that much use for musical theory or anything like that.

I don't really relate to Fe to be honest. I think Fe, like Fi, is similarly concerned with exploring feeling, but the way Fe approaches that may just involve more well-established motifs relative to Fi individualism. And have more of a vibe of theatricality or drama, maybe. Like I think Johann Johannsson, who does a lot of film scores, is xNFJ, and the vibe to me is more one where feeling is simply expressed or channeled through a kind of classical formalism. It doesn't necessarily need to relate to other people, but it needs to be relat_able_ (I think it's a significant distinction).


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## Cosmic Hobo (Feb 7, 2013)

I've been typed as a Ne dom, but my approach to music is, according to this list, Ni-Se.



> Ni: Seeks depth in a particular genre, exploring the various styles and sounds within it, is interested in mastering a genre.


Unquestionably. Initial curiosity soon becomes a desire to master the genre, and I end up with a knowledge as great as (sometimes greater than) that of many academic experts. This applies not only to music, but also to genres of fiction (e.g. detective stories). I've written articles and surveys of the development of genres or opera composers' works.

I'm a member of a few classical music fora, and I've noticed that many threads compare singers' high notes or different performances of the same (often canonical) work. I'd rather listen to something I haven't heard before, and understand its themes and influence.

I suppose that I take a holistic, top-down, almost encyclopaedic view; I need to understand both the historical context and what works musicians or authors wrote. I also don't trust received critical wisdom; I prefer to make up my own mind, and hunt down rare and obscure works. (Often, the rarer a work is, the more tantalizing.) 




> Se: Enjoys the auditory aspect of music, the sound of music and its various sensory elements, seeks to fill the silence with music.


Again, true. Music has a strongly sensory appeal; I like the texture and orchestral color of Mahler, Berlioz, Meyerbeer and Rimsky-K.


Whereas this doesn't really fit.


> Ne: Seeks a broad variety of music, always interested in different genres and sounds, wants to discover all music.


I enjoy different genres, but there are many of which I have neither knowledge nor interest - pop, metal, rap, hip-hop, country and western, etc.

As for Fi and Fe - Music seldom affects me emotionally, and I resist or am irritated by composers who try to make me _feel _something (e.g. Verdi, Puccini). I can, however, be brought to tears by German composers' depictions of the sublime or high-minded ideals (Beethoven, Wagner, Strauss), the operas of Massenet, and, of all things, Disney.


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