David Huron
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
November 20, 2000
What makes something sound "cute" or "intimate?" How precisely can a musical passage sound threatening or consoling? Why do people willing listen to music that makes them sad? Over the past decade, experimental research has helped to illuminate a number of aspects of audition and music. This talk presents a survey of the extant experimental research on how sounds evoke emotions. The presentation addresses both neurophysiological and cognitive aspects of emotions. Case studies from the medical literature are used to illustrate how the experience of music listening can be radically transformed by particular pathological conditions affecting the limbic system.