Musical Expectation Bias

I tend to look at the brain as a "component" with the same issues concerning "wiring," "voltage," "interference" etc. Just because the brain is neurologically wired and runs "wetware" instead of software doesn't mean it is exempt from the same type of calculus we apply to "electronics." As is evident in the MIT study, the brain has its own set of built-in biases which naturally accrue in systems that have been constrained and guided by evolutionary pressures over millions of years. Practically speaking I thought the article's most salient implication was that we as human animals should always be aware of the biases that can accumulate inside our heads as we are conditioned by advertising expectations, peer pressure expectations, mantra conditioning, tribal conditioning and all the other exogenous "pressures" that become endogenous. Seasoned audiophiles already understand this and are constantly cross-examining their motives and second guessing their decisions. Something that became noticeable and sort of unexpected to me as I started out on this journey was how much impact factors like time of day, mood, fatigue and musical preferences can alter what we think of as "right" stereo system decisions and assessments. That these assessments can maddeningly vary from one hour to the next, one day to the next, and one week to the next doesn't mean that we should castigate ourselves for being fickle. We are fickle - even when we think we are being strictly logical and unbiased - and we need to get over it.

You are right about the expression " expectation bias"... It is used In a scientific test conditions environment...

But in ordinary life our "expectation biases" pertaining to our own gear can be dependant and vary in function of our hearing history and culture... The japanese audiophile dont favor exactly the same speakers design colors than some other cultures.

Then before conducting a scientific test we must sample the subjects used  to understand also who they are ...

Or we can use very varied  large samples in some studies etc ...

Expectation bias generally relates to experimental design flaws, not (in this example) to subjects’ perceptions in a study. If expectation bias were involved in that study, it would likely be a fundamental issue rendering the investigators’ discussion misleading, as they’d be premised on spurious results.

This is an example of why it can be hard to discuss such topics in audiophilia - there’s a “minimum height requirement” in background knowledge for stuff like this to make sense among back-n-forth discussion (i.e. > 1 person). 😉 I know that looks reeediculously pretentious in print (Eew!) - I’m sorry, and I mean no offense. It just is what it is.

Expectation bias

OK something about bias and national:

I really prone to pick-up tunes from Bossa Nova, Tango and Gypsy Jazz.

That brings me an idea that I could be mix of Brazilian and French origin and forget about where I was born LOL!!

And your musical origins could be from previous lives.