Emotional ratings and skin conductance response to visual, auditory and haptic stimuli

The human emotional reactions to stimuli delivered by different sensory modalities is a topic of interest for many disciplines, from Human-Computer-Interaction to cognitive sciences. Different databases of stimuli eliciting emotional reaction are available, tested on a high number of participants. Interestingly, stimuli within one database are always of the same type. In other words, to date, no data was obtained and compared from distinct types of emotion-eliciting stimuli from the same participant. This makes it difficult to use different databases within the same experiment, limiting the complexity of experiments investigating emotional reactions. Moreover, whereas the stimuli and the participants’ rating to the stimuli are available, physiological reactions of participants to the emotional stimuli are often recorded but not shared. Here, we test stimuli delivered either through a visual, auditory, or haptic modality in a within participant experimental design. We provide the results of our study in the form of a MATLAB structure including basic demographics on the participants, the participant’s self-assessment of his/her emotional state, and his/her physiological reactions (i.e., skin conductance)

Locus of emotion influences psychophysiological reactions to music

It is now widely accepted that the perception of emotional expression in music can be vastly different from the feelings evoked by it. However, less understood is how the locus of emotion affects the experience of music, that is how the act of perceiving the emotion in music compares with the act of assessing the emotion induced in the listener by the music. In the current study, we compared these two emotion loci based on the psychophysiological response of 40 participants listening to 32 musical excerpts taken from movie soundtracks. Facial electromyography, skin conductance, respiration and heart rate were continuously measured while participants were required to assess either the emotion expressed by, or the emotion they felt in response to the music. Using linear mixed effects models, we found a higher mean response in psychophysiological measures for the “perceived” than the “felt” task. This result suggested that the focus on one’s self distracts from the music, leading to weaker bodily reactions during the “felt” task. In contrast, paying attention to the expression of the music and consequently to changes in timbre, loudness and harmonic progression enhances bodily reactions. This study has methodological implications for emotion induction research using psychophysiology and the conceptualization of emotion loci. Firstly, different tasks can elicit different psychophysiological responses to the same stimulus and secondly, both tasks elicit bodily responses to music. The latter finding questions the possibility of a listener taking on a purely cognitive mode when evaluating emotion expression

The Musicality of Non-Musicians: An Index for Assessing Musical Sophistication in the General Population

Musical skills and expertise vary greatly in Western societies. Individuals can differ in their repertoire of musical behaviours as well as in the level of skill they display for any single musical behaviour. The types of musical behaviours we refer to here are broad, ranging from performance on an instrument and listening expertise, to the ability to employ music in functional settings or to communicate about music. In this paper, we first describe the concept of ‘musical sophistication’ which can be used to describe the multi-faceted nature of musical expertise. Next, we develop a novel measurement instrument, the Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index (Gold-MSI) to assess self-reported musical skills and behaviours on multiple dimensions in the general population using a large Internet sample (n = 147,636). Thirdly, we report results from several lab studies, demonstrating that the Gold-MSI possesses good psychometric properties, and that self-reported musical sophistication is associated with performance on two listening tasks. Finally, we identify occupation, occupational status, age, gender, and wealth as the main socio-demographic factors associated with musical sophistication. Results are discussed in terms of theoretical accounts of implicit and statistical music learning and with regard to social conditions of sophisticated musical engagement

Music listening evokes implicit affiliation

Recent empirical evidence suggests that – like other synchronized, collective actions – making music together with others fosters affiliation and prosocial behaviour. However, it is not yet known whether these effects are limited to active, interpersonal musical participation, or whether solitary music listening can also produce similar effects. This study examines the hypothesis that listening to music from a specific culture can evoke implicit affiliation towards members of that culture more generally. Furthermore, we hypothesized that listeners with high trait empathy would be more susceptible to the effects. Sixty-one participants listened to a track of either Indian or West African popular music, and subsequently completed an Implicit Association Test measuring implicit preference for Indian vs. West African people. A significant interaction effect revealed that listeners with high trait empathy were more likely to display an implicit preference for the ethnic group to whose music they were exposed. We argue that music has particular attributes that may foster affective and motor resonance in listeners

Music listening evokes implicit affiliation

Recent empirical evidence suggests that – like other synchronized, collective actions – making music together with others fosters affiliation and prosocial behaviour. However, it is not yet known whether these effects are limited to active, interpersonal musical participation, or whether solitary music listening can also produce similar effects. This study examines the hypothesis that listening to music from a specific culture can evoke implicit affiliation towards members of that culture more generally. Furthermore, we hypothesized that listeners with high trait empathy would be more susceptible to the effects. Sixty-one participants listened to a track of either Indian or West African popular music, and subsequently completed an Implicit Association Test measuring implicit preference for Indian vs. West African people. A significant interaction effect revealed that listeners with high trait empathy were more likely to display an implicit preference for the ethnic group to whose music they were exposed. We argue that music has particular attributes that may foster affective and motor resonance in listeners

Do visual cues intensify the emotional responses evoked by musical performance? A psychophysiological investigation

Previous research has shown that—compared with audio-only presentations—the audiovisual presentation of a musical performance consistently enhances observers’ appreciation. Furthermore, it has been hypothesized that observation of a musical performance through multiple channels—auditory and visual—may result in a heightened emotional response due to the broader range of actions and cues available (Livingstone and Thompson, 2009). In this study, we set out to investigate how the mode of presentation—audio-only (AO), video-only (VO), and audiovisual (AV)—affects participants’ emotional responses to a musical performance. Nineteen adults took part in an experiment in which they were presented with AO, VO, and AV versions of a recorded piano performance. Their emotional responses to the stimuli were measured using self-report combined with psychophysiological indices of experienced emotions (skin conductance and heart rate). In contrast to the predictions arising from previous work, skin conductance responses indicated that emotional arousal was highest in the audio-only presentation mode, compared with both audiovisual and video-only presentation modes. Self-reports of felt emotions did not reveal any significant differences between the AV and AO presentation modes, although both were rated as eliciting more intense emotional responses than the VO mode, and the AO presentation mode elicited more pleasant emotional responses than the VO mode. These findings do not support the view that audiovisual presentations would increase the appreciation of a musical performance as compared with audio-only presentations. Potential explanations for these findings are discussed

Do visual cues intensify the emotional responses evoked by musical performance? A psychophysiological investigation

Previous research has shown that—compared with audio-only presentations—the audiovisual presentation of a musical performance consistently enhances observers’ appreciation. Furthermore, it has been hypothesized that observation of a musical performance through multiple channels—auditory and visual—may result in a heightened emotional response due to the broader range of actions and cues available (Livingstone & Thompson, 2009). In this study, we set out to investigate how the mode of presentation—audio-only (AO), video-only (VO), and audiovisual (AV)—affects participants’ emotional responses to a musical performance. Nineteen adults took part in an experiment in which they were presented with AO, VO, and AV versions of a recorded piano performance. Their emotional responses to the stimuli were measured using self-report combined with psychophysiological indices of experienced emotions (skin conductance and heart rate). In contrast to the predictions arising from previous work, skin conductance responses indicated that emotional arousal was highest in the audio-only presentation mode, compared with both audiovisual and video-only presentation modes. Self-reports of felt emotions did not reveal any significant differences between the AV and AO presentation modes, although both were rated as eliciting more intense emotional responses than the VO mode, and the AO presentation mode elicited more pleasant emotional responses than the VO mode. These findings do not support the view that audiovisual presentations would increase the appreciation of a musical performance as compared with audio-only presentations. Potential explanations for these findings are discussed

Crossmodal interactions in the perception of expressivity in musical performance.

In musical performance, bodily gestures play an important role in communicating expressive intentions to audiences. Although previous studies have demonstrated that visual information can have an effect on the perceived expressivity of musical performances, the investigation of audiovisual interactions has been held back by the technical difficulties associated with the generation of controlled, mismatching stimuli.With the present study, we aimed to address this issue by utilizing a novel method in order to generate controlled, balanced stimuli that comprised both matching and mismatching bimodal combinations of different expressive intentions. The aim of Experiment 1 was to investigate the relative contributions of auditory and visual kinematic cues in the perceived expressivity of piano performances, and in Experiment 2 we explored possible crossmodal interactions in the perception of auditory and visual expressivity. The results revealed that although both auditory and visual kinematic cues contribute significantly to the perception of overall expressivity, the effect of visual kinematic cues appears to be somewhat stronger. These results also provide preliminary evidence of crossmodal interactions in the perception of auditory and visual expressivity. In certain performance conditions, visual cues had an effect on the ratings of auditory expressivity, and auditory cues had a small effect on the ratings of visual expressivity