In music education, understanding how music is cognitively processed is essential for interpreting learners’ experiences and designing diverse learning approaches. Previous research on music cognition has mainly focused on auditory perception and analytical listening skills. However, relatively little attention has been given to individual differences in cognitive processing that may shape how learners experience and interpret music. Cognitive psychology suggests that individuals differ in their representational styles—that is, preferred ways of processing information during thinking. Such differences may influence how musical experiences are structured cognitively and subsequently expressed in language. Examining the relationship between representational style and the verbalization of musical experience may therefore provide new insights into the diversity of music cognition. Paivio (1971) and Richardson (1977) proposed that representational styles can broadly be divided into linguistic types, which rely primarily on language processing, and visual types, which rely on imagery-based processing. Later studies further suggested that visual processing itself can be subdivided into object-visual processing, which concerns features such as shape and color, and spatial-visual processing, which concerns spatial relationships and structural relations. To measure these tendencies, Kawahara (2021) developed the Representation Style Inventory (RSI). Based on this framework, the present study conducted an online questionnaire survey with 100 adult participants (50 males and 50 females). Participants first completed the RSI and then listened to a musical excerpt, after which they freely described their impressions in writing. Following the cognitive linguistics perspective that cognition is reflected in linguistic expression, the collected data were analyzed using Jamovi for statistical analysis and KHCoder for text analysis. Participants were categorized into three groups according to their RSI scores. Co-occurrence network analysis, correspondence analysis, and coding of linguistic characteristics were conducted to examine differences across groups. The results suggest that differences in representational style are associated with distinct patterns in the verbalization of musical experience. Even when listening to the same music, learners may conceptualize and articulate their experiences in different ways depending on their cognitive tendencies. These findings contribute to a broader understanding of diversity in music cognition and suggest that varied verbal responses should be understood as reflections of different cognitive approaches. Recognizing such diversity may provide a useful framework for designing learning environments that value multiple ways of engaging with music.