Psychological, physiological and psycho-acoustical correlates of strong emotion in music

Emotional reactions show dynamic relations between subjective feelings and physiological arousal. Music is an ideal stimulus to study the dynamics of emotion components because, like emotions it develops over time and can even elicit ecstatic affective “chill” reactions (goose bumps, shivers). Most people are able to identify basic emotions expressed in music and experience affective reactions to music. But does music generally induce emotion? Does it elicit subjective feelings, physiological arousal and motor reactions reliably in different individuals? It is still under debate whether these reactions are based on distinct evolutionary, and universal reaction patterns or are acquired during a process of individual acculturation. In this interdisciplinary study, measurement of physiological arousal (skin conductance, heart rate, breathing rate), motor responses (facial muscle activity), and self-monitoring were synchronized with musical stimuli. Two experiments were performed in order to investigate the emotional procession of aesthetic stimuli. In the first experiment, a heterogeneous group of 38 participants listened to classical, rock and pop music and reported their feelings in a two-dimensional emotion space. The first entrance of a solo voice or choir and the beginning of new sections were found to elicit inter-individual changes in subjective feelings and physiological arousal. Quincy Jones’ “Bossa Nova” motivated movement and laughing in more than half of the participants. Bodily reactions such as “goose bumps” and “shivers” (Chills) could be stimulated by the “Tuba Mirum” from Mozart’s Requiem in 7 out of 38 participants. Chills showed a relation to events in music. These were the entrance of a voice, a distinct motive or theme, changes in loudness and the contrast of two voices. Chill responders could be distinguished from non chill responders by two character items. Chill responders showed higher values on the reward dependence scale (TCI) and lower values on the thrill- and adventure seeking scale (SSS-V). Furthermore, chill responders reported to be more familiar with classical music, to identify more with the musical style they prefer, and to listen music in a context similar to the experiment. Additionally, we repeated the experiment seven times with one participant in order to examine the intra-individual stability of the observed effects. We found that chills were stable in response to events like entry of a voice or a distinct motive for up to six days. In the second experiment, we used the results from the first experiment to modify the selection of participants, stimuli, the self report and physiological measurement. The experimental setting could be designed according to distinct hypothesises in order to get more homogeneous data with the results of the first exploratory study. Participants belonged to two groups, one of which was highly familiar with the stimulus (five movements from the Requiem KV 626 of Mozart), the other of which was unfamiliar with the stimulus. Familiarity raised the frequency of chills and the reported intensity. The findings of the second experiment confirmed the results of the first study. Changes in felt intensity, chill frequency, and physiological arousal were elicited by, a raised physical intensity of the stimulus (loudness), the beginning of a melody or motive and the entry of a lead voice or choir. Components of emotions were found to be independent factors which were related on various levels. Based on the findings of both experiments a model of the relations between music perception, emotional processing and affective reactions is suggested. In this model we discuss the impact of physical intensity of the stimulus, orienting responses, and raised attention while listening on affective reactions. The emotion components (subjective feeling, physiological arousal) and chills were observed over time. Thus, the dynamic aspects of emotion were discussed. This exploratory combination of approaches throws a new light on the astonishing complexity of affective music listening.