  Western music is largely governed by tonality, a quasi syntactic system
regulating musical continuity and closure. Converging measures have established
the psychological reality of tonality as a cognitive schema raising distinct
expectancy for both adults and children. However, while tonal expectations were
associated with emotion in adults, little is known about the tonality emotional
effects in children. Here we examine whether children associate levels of tonal
closure with emotional valence, whether such associations are age dependent,
and how they interact with other musical dimensions. 52 children, aged 7, 11,
listened to chord progressions implying closure followed by a probe tone.
Probes could realize closure (tonic note), violate it mildly (unstable diatonic
note) or extremely (out of key note). Three timbres (piano, guitar, woodwinds)
and three pitch heights were used for each closure level. Stimuli were
described to participants as exchanges between two children (chords, probe).
Participants chose one of two emojis, suggesting positive or negative emotions,
as representing the 2nd child response. A significant effect of tonal closure
was found, with no interactions with age, instrument, or pitch height. Results
suggest that tonality, a non referential cognitive schema, affects children
perception of emotion in music early, robustly and independently of basic
musical dimensions.

Neurons and Cognition