Music: A Link between Cognition and Emotion Author(s): Carol L. Krumhans Source: Current Directions in Psychological Science, Vol.

11, No. 2 (Apr., 2002), pp. 45-50 Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. on behalf of Association for Psychological Science Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20182764 . Accessed: 06/10/2011 16:38
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CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE

Music: A Link Between and Emotion

Carol L. Krumhansl1
Department of Psychology, Cornell University,

Cognition

Ithaca, New York

to the words, and, decisively, much of the world's without is instrumental, music is that Another words. possibility of ob imitates the sounds music con or events with emotional jects use of Yet such iconic notations. tend closely most the is rather limited when is surveyed. of music great variety in sounds may Thus, musical have emotional meaning. herently from the for this comes Support sounds who classic study by Hevner had listeners choose (1936), emotion

Abstract are and emotion Cognition inmusic. The in closely linked expectations terplay between is hy events and the sounded to play a central pothesized tension role in creating musical The research and relaxation. here is part of an summarized investigating ongoing program of this dynamic how aspect emotion relates to the musical structure. of musical cognition over Musical emotions change and quality, time in intensity and these emotional covary with changes changes in psycho measures. Per

effect. is its emotional ing to music a great listen to music And people is it deal, often hours a day. How that patterns of sound in time can effect? What have such a profound the that causes it in the music is emotions Are musical emotion? of emotion Antecedents in real life are generally that have real, or per conditions for an indi ceived, consequences like other emotions? Emotions may well-being. to act on the the individual to attain or conditions

selec for instrumental adjectives fell on a circle tions. The adjectives to that proposed for non similar musical with underly emotions, of positive-nega ing dimensions For of activity. tive and degree both happy and example, although are serene emotions, positive has a high level of activity, happy serene has a low level of whereas de characteristics activity. Musical in choices the adjective termining cluded major versus minor mode, and firm versus flowing rhythm, versus sim and dissonant complex harmonies. ple and consonant as this one have dem Studies such onstrated associations between structure global aspects of musical of the music. and the overall mood to describe more pre Is it possible that structures the musical cisely which emotions, produce musical in intensity and qual may change di time? The research ity over rected at this goal, reviewed here, uses the concept of musical tension to link the cognition of musical structures with musical emotions.

vidual's prepare prevailing maintain

physiological ceptual studies support music of musical theoretic descriptions listen structures that underlie Cross-cultural that cer suggest comparisons of tain psychological principles are quite general, expectation em cultures but that musical ers' expectations. A these differentially. phasize schema of temporal organiza of tion that relates episodes
tension and relaxation to musi

a state of well-being. In music does not obviously contrast, an individual's material change nor does it necessarily elicit state, these differ any action. Despite indi evidence ences, psychological are at least emotions cates musical to some degree like other emotions.

EXPLAINING MUSICAL EMOTIONS

One
music

commonly
acquires

held view
its emotional

is that
mean

cal form and expressive aspects is de of musical performance some results scribed. Finally, of that the expression suggest in music shares prop emotion of the expression erties with in speech and dance. emotion Keywords music cognition;

ing by association with consequen of Particular tial events. pieces are often connected to signif music If this memories. icant personal were all, then emotional responses from to music would vary greatly to individual individual depend past experi ing on their unique ences. But listeners agree remark in one another with well ably emotions. Some musical labeling must produce thing in the music Words of songs this agreement.
may carry emotion. However, we

TENSION, EXPECTATION, AND MUSICAL EMOTION

The theoretical starting point for this research is the seminal work of Leonard Meyer the musicologist "Music is who wrote: (1956, 1967), a process. Understanding dynamic the and enjoyment upon depend

music

emotion

effect of music The emotional raises a number of basic psycholog ical questions. report that People for listen their primary motivation

respond
do not

to songs
understand,

in
we

languages
may not

we
at

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Psychological

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45

46 VOLUME 11,NUMBER 2, APRIL 2002

to at of and response perception tributes such as tension and repose, and stability, and ambi instability guity and clarity" (Meyer, 1967, p. that expecta 43). Meyer proposed tions play the central psychological role points ating in musical in the music emotions. Some strong engender cre for continuation, of tension and insta points in the music and units are

mental excerpts sent the emotions Albinoni's

chosen

to repre

(e.g., fear (e.g., Mus Adagio), on Bare Mountain), sorgsky's Night La and happiness (e.g., Vivaldi's Primavera from The Four Seasons). Previous research had shown mu at the level sic is reliably described of basic emotions. The sad excerpts had slow tempos, minor harmo nies, and fairly constant ranges of The fear ex pitch and dynamics. cerpts had rapid tempos, dissonant and large variations of harmonies, and pitch. The happy ex dynamics cerpts had relatively rapid tempos, dancelike rhythms, major harmo constant ranges nies, and relatively and dynamics. of pitch The ex 3min in cerpts were approximately and were not previously duration known by most of the participants. in one condition were Listeners to adjust the position instructed of a computer indicator to reflect how the amount of sadness they experi enced changed over time while lis to each of the excerpts. Lis tening teners in two other that conditions of fear similarly judged and happiness enced. Ratings emotion were the amount

of sadness

fairly wide of physiological spectrum measures of emotional responses, and included blood measures function, ductance flow, of the skin, and respira taken tory function. The measures the music differed during signifi levels. Most cantly from baseline measures at a either remained level or increased fairly constant the music. All the musical during the same direc excerpts produced of change with compared that levels, suggesting music has an overall effect on emo baseline tion physiology. In addition, the measures showed different on amounts of change depending of the ex quality The primary focus was on cerpt. the relationship between the physi and the dynamic ological measures of emotions, ratings following are that emotions Meyer's proposal the emotional time-locked to events in the music. strongly in heart and skin con The with Sad ratings were most associated with changes tion electrical of cardiac con

responses physiological corded. These covered

were a

re

expectations a sense Other

bility. fulfill

off and com and emo Musical meaning pleted. on how tion depend the actual events in the music play against this of expectations. background Music technical theory provides of how styles organize descriptions musical sounds and offers insights structures that might about musical expectations. science has recently influ Cognitive enced music theory. A major devel is Lerdahl and Jackendoff's opment (1983) generative theory of tonal music and its recent (2001) extension in Lerdahl's tonal-pitch-space repre cognitive event grouping, underlie listeners'

expectations, as closed perceived

theory. It proposes sentations of meter,

and harmonic tension. hierarchies, Another oriented theory cognitively is Narmour's (1990) implication realization model of melodic expec tations, which proposes principles rooted in psychological processes. some I describe Later empirical studies testing these theories. First, I summarize the results of however, a study that examined more directly emotions. the dynamics of musical

they experi for the intended

rate, blood pressure, ductance and temperature. fear ratings were associated

higher significantly emo than ratings for the unintended but still varied considerably tions, over the duration of the excerpts. For comparison with music-theoretic a fourth group accounts, judged the amount of tension. Tension cor the fear related most strongly with but also with the happy and ratings, when sad ratings, especially these were predominant. tension Thus, appears to be a multivalent quality, to some degree influenced by all three of the basic emotions repre sented by these excerpts.

in the rate and amplitude changes of blood flow. The happy ratings were in with associated changes
respiration measures. The correla

A fairly low, however. factor may have been char limiting acteristic times and lags response of physiological systems. The gen emo eral difficulty of identifying in these psy tion-specific changes measures should chophysiological also be noted. Nonetheless, this ex ploratory study found physiologi on the that depended cal changes emo amount and type of musical the physiological changes corre for musical emotions to those for nonmusical spond in other studies? emotions found found The degree of correspondence de on the pended emotion-eliciting Greatest manipulation. agreement was found when the experimental tion. Do

tions were

DYNAMIC RATINGS OF BASIC EMOTIONS AND TENSION

A recent trend in studies of mu sic is to collect listeners' responses continuously while the music is that retrospec played, recognizing are not sensitive to tive judgments In one study processes. unfolding (Krumhansl, 1997), I used instru

PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL MEASURES
Another heard of listeners group the same excerpts while their

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CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE

47

manipulation time, as were

was

extended

over

the musical

excerpts.

MUSICAL TENSION AND TONAL STRUCTURE

These have selections were chosen musical mea lis to

contrasting strongly characteristics. Physiological sures were also obtained while teners heard a

approximately first movement Sonata

single piece lasting 8 min. It was the of Mozart's Piano

in E-flat major, K. 282. An other group of listeners (Krum hansl, 1996) had made various per on the piece: ceptual judgments new it is segmented, how when musical ideas are introduced, and the degree of tension. The tension with heart rate ratings correlated and blood pressure despite the rel ative homogeneity of the piece Analyzing uncovered 2000). the Piano Sonata also a number of features that covaried with tension (Krum (Krumhansl,

low 90

hansl, 1996). Some of the surface features related to tension were the the melody, the of pitch height and of notes, dissonance, Other more dynamics. cognitive features were key changes, the ap of chromatic (nonscale) pearance of a harmonic tones, interruption and denial of stylistic ex process, density
pectations. However, Lerdahl's

l\f
1 2 3

1pit11 11 11 1
4 5
Measure

_
6 7 8

Fig 1. The main branches of Lerdahl's (2001) tree model for the first eight measures of Mozart's Piano Sonata in E-flat major, K. 282 (top panel) and the tension ratings made by listeners (Krumhansl, 1996; bottom panel). From "Music and Affect: Empirical and Theoretical Contributions From Experimental Psychology/' by C.L. Krumhansl, 2000. InD. Gr?er (Ed.),Musicology and Sister Disciplines: Past, Present, and Future, p. 91. Copyright 2000 by Oxford University Press. Reprinted with permission of Oxford
University Press.

(2001) provided
analysis.

tonal-pitch-space the most precise

model musical to the first. subsection subordinate As predicted, the tension values were for the sec generally higher ond subsection than the first. A closer look shows that tension at events most judgments dropped to the root of the directly tree. For example, tension drops at the beginning of measure 4, when events that link quite directly to the root are sounded. A quantitative linked reformulation of the tree fit the tension ratings well. This result en of music courages the development theoretic structure descriptions relating tonal to its emotional effect.

that ten of surface dissonance and the position of each event in a tree structure. The top of the major branch Figure 1 shows This model proposes sion is a combination ings of the tree for the first eight measures of this sonata. The tree is such that the root is at the inverted, that are more directly top. Events linked to the root have less tension than those that are less directly linked divides to the root. The into two, with section sub the second

MUSICAL TENSION, MUSICAL FORM, AND PERFORMANCE

Piano study of the Mozart that varia also suggested tions in tension are related tomusi structure of (the overall and performance expr?s The

Sonata

cal form the piece)

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48 VOLUME 11,NUMBER 2, APRIL 2002

sion. The tempo and dynamics of the performance of this work by a renowned pianist, together with the perceptual fol judgments, lowed a pattern, shown in Figure 2, that recurred throughout the piece. The beginnings of segments were associated with new musical ideas, a neutral tempo, and low tension levels. The tension levels tended to increase within segments, with ac companying ics and note density. curves usually had an asymmetric toward the end (see Fig. 1 as peak an example). The section ends were marked namics by slow tempos, lower dy and note density, and rap levels of tension. idly decreasing This pattern of temporal organi zation in music may be analogous to patterns units in of intonational In discourse, discourse. topics are and developed, and introduced then closed off with of slowing in pitch and dy speech rate, drops and pauses. A tradition of namics, identifies music topics in analysis classical music, each with distinc tive rhythmic, melodic, dynamic, and affective Agawu qualities. increases in dynam The tension

movements

from Mozart's String in C major, K. 515, and Quintet in A Beethoven's String Quartet 132. Listeners minor, (Krum op. real-time hansl, 1998) made judg ments of memorability, of degree there is a sense (whether openness or must that the music continue whether the section has ended), and amount of emotion. All three could be accounted for judgments the music The topics in by analysis. the Mozart piece functioned prima the musical form; rily to establish that is, they coincided with the sec In contrast, tions of the piece. the were in the Beethoven topics piece more strongly associated with con trasts in the amount of emotion. different Thus, composers may use topics to variously highlight tural and emotional aspects
music.

in music and dance. It used the Diverti Minuetto from Mozart's no. 15 mento by choreographed Balanchine. One group of George participants only heard the music. saw the A second group only dance. A the music third group both heard and saw the dance. All

real-time groups made judgments of when sections ended, when new and the amount of ideas occurred, and emotion tension expressed. in all three stimulus The judgments to the gen conditions conformed eral pattern of Figure 2. This result that this temporal organi suggests in both music zation operates and and that the two artistic dance, forms are closely coordinated. In addition, the participants of the emotional quality judged the stimulus. As can be seen in Fig were re ure 3, these judgments similar across the condi markably true even though tions. This was the stimuli were completely differ ent in the music-only and the conditions. of Analysis dance-only a the music and dance suggested con number that may of features emotional vey the shared quali ties. These include the tempo of and dance, melodic and the music and the gestures, choreographic and reg high degree of symmetry in both music and dance. ularity Additional factors may be the pac and new of segment ing endings con and the experienced ideas, tours of tension and emotion. The that music and dance can finding emotional such similar express re nonaccidental suggests qualities music and between lationships bodily movement.

struc of the

EMOTION INMUSIC AND DANCE

Another Schenck, & (Krumhansl study the 1997) investigated of emotional expression

(1991) identified

the topics

in

similarity

Temporal

Organization

Section Beginning

Section End

New Ideas Neutral Tempo Low Tension

Increased Increased

Dynamics Tension

and Density

Decreased Dynamics and Density Slow Tempo

Decreased Tension

MELODIC EXPECTATION
The theoretical starting point for was that musical this research on the interplay emotions depend and the between expectations in the music. Nar events sounded

2. The Fig. temporal K. 282, the showing note density.

organization relationship

found between

for Mozart's tension

Piano

Sonata tempo,

in E-flat dynamics,

judgments,

major, and

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7t-r 5. O

Music Dance

Only Only Q

investigation how standing of musical fl jfl^

directed

at under aspect to the

Both Music and Dance

the dynamic emotion relates

structure. A of musical cognition number of other approaches pro vide complementary results. De in studies indicate velopmental to fants are surprisingly sensitive various Brain musical properties. reveal areas of imaging techniques activation with music associated Studies of patients with listening.

in
2 3 2 _ -o <u V3

Fig. 3. The dance only,

emotion-quality and both music

judgments and dance. A No. with

made From

for "Can

the

three

conditions: Reflect and

music

Dance

the Structural D.L.

only, and

of Music? Qualities Expressive Divertimento of Mozart's phy

Experiment Perceptual 15," by C.L. Krumhansl permission.

on Balanchine's

Choreogra Schenck, 1997,

Musicae
Sciences

Scientiae, 1, p. 75. Copyright

of Music. Reprinted

1997 by the European

Society for the Cognitive

find they may react damage to the emotional content of music even their song recognition though on musical is poor. Research per formance that musicians suggests as tempo, vary such attributes dy and attack to express dif namics, ferent emotions. Finally, surveys of in which the contexts people make and listen to music demonstrate that it serves highly significant, but diverse functions. remarkably brain various approaches new insights into the psy The effects of music. chological methods of cognitive neuroscience can reveal the extent to which neu These promise ral substrates those for emotion, overlap and memory, across Comparisons for music

mour's

(1990) implication-realiza tion model that melodic proposes are expectations governed by gen eral principles of perceptual orga to be universal. nization, presumed I used excerpts To test the model, folk songs, atonal and Chinese folk songs songs, Listeners (Krumhansl, 1995). tones (presented different judged as possible continuations of the songs)
their

cerpts

hymns. from vocal the Sami

from Finnish The second music, in northern

folk spiritual used excerpts called y oiks, of Scandinavia.

from

British

Both studies listeners compared who were active in the musical cul mu ture in question with Western sicians unfamiliar with the music. results generally supported the implication-realization model. the relative However, importance across varied of the principles
styles, and even listeners unfamil

The

language. cultural ori stages of development, and level of musical gin, training tools to examine how mu provide sic cognition and emotion shaped by experience. Finally, emo closer examination of musical
tions can reveal whether humans

are

as to how well
expectations. In

they fit with

the cases of

the Western

judgments musicians case of the Chinese excerpts, judg ments of native Chinese and Amer ican listeners were compared. The results supported the principles the model, consistent with and, claims

excerpts, and non of musicians were In the compared.

musical

iarwith the music showed sensitiv to this variation. In sum, these ity results support the idea that music draws on common psychological principles musical
unique

have

an aesthetic response distinct from the currently

basic emotions.

that is more

well-understood

of expectation, cultures shape

but these

that in

Recommended
Blood, P.,

Reading

of its

ways.

R.A., Bermudez, A.J., Zatorre, & Evans, A.C. Emo (1999).

the universality, concerning the groups differences between were small. relatively Two cross-cultural studies Toivi Louhivuori, (Krumhansl, & Eerola, ainen, 1999; J?rvinen, et al, 2000) tested the Krumhansl model further. The first used ex

tional responses
unpleasant music

to pleasant
correlate

and
with

CONCLUDING COMMENTS
an emotion is currently Musical area of re active psychological sum search. The series of studies marized here represents one line of

activity in paralimbic brain regions.

Nature Neuroscience, 2,382-387.

Juslin, P.N. (2000). Cue utilization

communication of emotion Relating in mu perfor sic performance:

in

mance

to perception. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Per

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Psychological

Society

50 VOLUME 11,NUMBER 2, APRIL 2002

ception

and

Performance,

26,1797

References
Agawu, V.K. (1991). Playing with signs. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. studies of the ele Hevner, K. (1936). Experimental ments of expression inmusic. American journal of Psychologi/, 48,246-268. C.L. (1995). Music psychology and Krumhansl, music theory: Problems and prospects. Music Theory Spectrum, 17,53-80. Krumhansl, C.L. (1996). A perceptual analysis of Mozart's Piano Sonata K. 282: Segmentation, ideas. Music Perception, tension, and musical 13,401^32. Krumhansl, C.L. (1997). An exploratory study of mu sical emotions and psychophysiology. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 51,336-352. Krumhansl, C.L. (1998). Topic inmusic: An empir and ical study of memorability, openness, emotion inMozart's String Quintet in C major and Beethoven's String Quartet in A minor. Music Perception, 16,119-134. Krumhansl, C.L. (2000). Music and affect: Empiri cal and theoretical contributions from experi In D. Gr?er mental (Ed.), psychology. and sister disciplines: Past, present, Musicology and future (pp. 88-99). New York: Oxford Uni versity Press.

1813. Juslin, P.N., & Sloboda,

Music search. and New emotion: York:

J.A. (2001).
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and Theory Univer Oxford

sity Press.
Peretz, I., Gagnon, L., & Bouchard, B.

(1998). Music and emotion: Per immediacy, ceptual determinants,

and isolation after brain damage.

Krumhansl, CL., Louhivuori, P., ]., Toiviainen, ex J?rvinen, T., & Eerola, T. (1999). Melodic in Finnish spiritual folk hymns: Con pectation of statistical, and behavioral, vergence computational approaches. Music Perception, 17,151-195. Krumhansl, C.L., & Schenck, D.L. (1997). Can dance reflect the structural and expressive qualities of music? A perceptual experiment on Balanchine's of Mozart's Di choreography vertimento No. 15.Musicae Scientiae, 1,63-85. Krumhansl, C.L., Toivanen, P., Eerola, T., Toivi ainen, P., J?rvinen, T., & Louhivuori, J. (2000). music Cross-cultural cognition: Cognitive to North Sami yoiks. methodology applied Cognition, 76,13-58. Lerdahl, F. (2001). Tonal pitch space. New ford University Press. Lerdahl, York: Ox

Cognition, 68,111-141. Sloboda, J. (1999). Music?where cognition and emotion meet. The Psychologist, 12,450-455.

F., & Jackendoff, R. (1983). A generative MA: MIT theory of tonal music. Cambridge, Press.

Note
1. Address correspondence to Carol L.

Krumhansl, Department of Psychology, Uris Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

14853; e-mail: clk4@cornell.edu.

Meyer, L.B. (1956). Emotion and meaning in music. of Chicago Press. Chicago: University the arts, and ideas. Chi Meyer, L.B. (1967). Music, of Chicago Press. cago: University Narmour, E. (1990). The analysis and cognition of ba sic melodic structures: The implication-realization model. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Situation-Behavior

Profiles
Shoda,
University,

as a Locus

of

acteristics remain and situations.

of invariant

the person that across contexts

Consistency
Walter Mischel,1
Psychology Department,

in Personality
Yuichi
Columbia

and Rodolfo Mendoza-Dent?n

New York, New York (W.M., R.M.-D.),

Further, it has been that the manifestations assumed of in personality invariance should be seen in consistent be differences tween across individuals many in their behavior situations. who different a person

and Psychology

Department,

University

ofWashington,

Seattle, Washington

(Y.S.)

Abstract have Traditional approaches as situations long considered

"noise" or "error" that ob

of situation-behavior (e.g., she does X when

when B). These //.

relations A but Y
. . then . . .

For example, in conscientiousness more conscientious

the consistency of per and its invariance. sonality it has been custom Therefore, the individual's ary to average on any given dimen behavior sion (e.g., conscientiousness) across situations. different Contradicting and practice, have this assumption recent studies

scures

behavioral profiles constitute that provide po "signatures" tential windows into the indi vidual's dynamics. underlying models that can ac Processing count for such signatures pro vide a new route for studying types in terms of personality their shared dynamics defining and profiles. characteristic

is high be should than most peo ple inmany different kinds of situ a at school, with ations (at home, The data over boss, with friends).
the course of a century, however,

it increasingly made that evident on any the individual's behavior varies dimension considerably across different types of situations, thus greatly the ability to limiting make situation-specific predic and raising deep questions about the nature and locus of con tions

that by in into the situation corporating a for consistency, the search new locus of is found. stability are character Namely, people demonstrated ized not only by stable individ in their overall ual differences but also by levels of behavior, and stable patterns distinctive

Keywords personality;
tionism; if...

consistency;
then . ..

interac
profiles

in personality (Mischel, sistency Mischel & Peake, 1982). 1968; By the 1970s, the discrepancy between the data and the field's fundamental assumptions precipi tated a paradigm crisis (Bern & Allen, 1974). The crux of this crisis was captured in the so-called per sonality paradox: How can our in

chology

Traditionally, personality has been devoted the dispositional

psy to un char

derstanding

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