Running head : THE REPEATED RECORDING ILLUSION 1

The repeated recording illusion refers to the phenomenon in which listeners are under the impression that they hear different musical stimuli while they are in fact identical. This phenomenon has not yet been studied systematically. Thus, the present paper aims to construct an experimental paradigm to enable the systematic measurement of the repeated recording illusion, investigating individual difference factors that contribute to it as well as extrinsic factors responsible for differences in musical judgements when the acoustic input remains the same. Seventy-two participants were misled to think that they had heard three different musical performances of an original piece when in fact they were exposed to the same repeated recording. Each time, the recording was accompanied by a different text suggesting a low, medium or high prestige of the performer. Most participants (75 %) believed that they had heard different musical performances. High levels of neuroticism and openness made it significantly more likely that an individual would fall for the illusion. Musicians were not any more or any less susceptible to the illusion than nonmusicians. For participants who fell for the illusion, the explicit prestige texts influenced evaluations of the music significantly. The effect of repeated exposure was only significant in the more familiar music condition. These results suggest that musical judgements are sometimes not based on musical cues but are influenced by factors that do not depend on the music itself. The repeated recording illusion can constitute a paradigm for investigating psychological biases and individual differences in aesthetic and musical judgements because the illusion allows for the study of their effects while the music remains the same. Results are interpreted within Tversky and Kahneman’s framework of judgements and decision-making.