Music & Emotion Flashcards
When Fritz et al. asked people in the Mafa tribe in North Cameroon to identify 3 basic emotions in Western music by rating them on facial emotion scales, what were the results?;
What does this suggest?
They correctly identified the correct emotion (happy, sad or scared) significantly more than chance;
Emotional expression of music is inherent in the music itself & is not only decodable through cultural imprinting
What are the top 6 reasons for why we listen to music according to Lonsdale & North’s study with 300 young people?
To learn about others & the world; personal identity; interpersonal relationships; negative mood management; diversion; positive mood management
What do cognitivists argue about music & emotion?
Music simply displays an emotion, but doesn’t allow for the personal experience of emotion in the listener; has no survival value so can’t induce emotion; we recognize rather than “feel” emotions in music; we appreciate aesthetics of music rather than emotion
What do emotivists argue about music & emotion?
Music elicits real emotional responses in the listener (objective evidence of this); can identify what is in music that’s responsible for inducing emotions; psychological mechanisms can explain how music does this
What is Konecni’s view on music & emotion?;
What’s Sloboda’s view?;
What’s the problem with this view?
Instrumental music cannot directly induce genuine emotions in listeners;
There’s a general consensus that music is capable of arousing deep & significant emotions;
Music doesn’t seem to have the capacity to seriously affect goals of a person (but emotion is considered to do this)
What key emotion processing brain structures have fMRI scans shown music to activate & stimulate?
Limbic & paralimbic system; primitive regions of the cerebellum & amygdala; prefrontal cortex (e.g. ventromedial hypothalamus)
Nikki Richard exposed 21 participants to relaxing music, arousing music, emotionally powerful film scene & emotional music piece selected by participants. Physiological & subjective measures of arousal were recorded. What were the results?;
What do these results support?
Emotional music topped charts in every category of emotional impact ratings; relaxing & arousing showed drop in GSR; emotional film & music showed increase in GSR; chills in emotional music, film, arousing, then relaxing (from most to least);
Emotivist theory
The Musical Instinct video says what about the relationships between our body, emotions & music?
Our body is a barometer of our emotional response; music plays a body like an instrument & the brain makes music
An experimental study measured self-reported feeling, facial muscle activity & autonomic activity in 32 subjects while they listened to pop music composed with either happy or sad expression. What were the results?
Clear & consistent response to music in all components; happy produced more smiling facial muscle activity, greater skin conductance, lower finger temperature, more “felt” happiness & less felt sadness than sad music
What are some psychological mechanisms underlying emotion induction by music according to Juslin et al.’s BRECVEM theory?
Brain stem reflex; rhythmic entrainment; evaluative conditioning; contagion; visual imagery; episodic memory; musical expectancy
Explain how the Brain Stem Reflex induces emotions through music;
When does this evolve?
Emotion is induced when fundamental properties of sound are taken in by brain stem for automated appraisal (significant?); arouses survival function; fast, loud, sudden, dissonant/complex induces unpleasant, danger, warning (too arousing);
Early in development; common across all cultures
Explain how Rhythmic Entrainment induces emotions through music
Coupling of body rhythm to external rhythm; music influences internal rhythm (heart rate); motor synchronisation (dancing); bodily change interpreted as change in arousal levels so changes feelings to be more in line with the music expression; fundamental mechanism
Explain how Conditioning & Contagion conjures emotions through music;
When does this develop?
Evaluative conditioning: through repetition with US, becomes CR (e.g. happy birthday); Emotional contagion: mimicry of perceived emotions in music; music structure (e.g. motion & rest, tension & release); performer/context cues; related to empathy, possibly via mirror neuron system/shared neural networks;
In the first year
Explain how Visual Imagery conjures emotions through music;
When does this develop?
Sounds evoke images which induces emotional experience; higher sounds evoke images of birds, small animals, spring; deep sounds evoke stormy sounds; fast tempo mimic running, skipping, excitement;
Around pre-school years
Describe the links between music, emotion & Episodic Memory
How does Expectation induce emotion in a music listener?;
By what age is this well developed?
Music is effective retrieval cue; brain hub linking familiar music with significant emotional autobiographical event;
A specific feature of the music violates, delays or fulfills expectations which increases arousal (stronger arousal, more intense emotion); includes predictions & schemas; visual/musical patterns; both bottom-up (hard-wired) & top-down (learned) expectations;
Primary school years
