The affective impact of music arises from a variety of factors, including
intensity, tempo, rhythm, and tonal relationships. The emotional
coloring evoked by intensity, tempo, and rhythm appears to arise
from association with the characteristics of human behavior in the
corresponding condition; however, how and why particular tonal relationships
in music convey distinct emotional effects are not clear. The hypothesis
examined here is that major and minor tone collections elicit different
affective reactions because their spectra are similar to the spectra
of voiced speech uttered in different emotional states. To evaluate
this possibility the spectra of the intervals that distinguish major
and minor music were compared to the spectra of voiced segments in
excited and subdued speech using fundamental frequency and frequency
ratios as measures. Consistent with the hypothesis, the spectra of
major intervals are more similar to spectra found in excited speech,
whereas the spectra of particular minor intervals are more similar
to the spectra of subdued speech. These results suggest that the
characteristic affective impact of major and minor tone collections
arises from associations routinely made between particular musical
intervals and voiced speech.
%0 Journal Article
%1 Bowling2010
%A Bowling, Daniel L
%A Gill, Kamraan
%A Choi, Jonathan D
%A Prinz, Joseph
%A Purves, Dale
%D 2010
%J The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
%K Acoustic Acoustics,Young Adult Aged,Music,Psychoacoustics,Sound Spectrography,Speech,Speech Stimulation,Acoustics,Adolescent,Adult,Aged,Databases Topic,Emotions,Female,Humans,Male,Middle as
%N 1
%P 491--503
%R 10.1121/1.3268504
%T Major and minor music compared to excited and subdued speech.
%U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20058994
%V 127
%X The affective impact of music arises from a variety of factors, including
intensity, tempo, rhythm, and tonal relationships. The emotional
coloring evoked by intensity, tempo, and rhythm appears to arise
from association with the characteristics of human behavior in the
corresponding condition; however, how and why particular tonal relationships
in music convey distinct emotional effects are not clear. The hypothesis
examined here is that major and minor tone collections elicit different
affective reactions because their spectra are similar to the spectra
of voiced speech uttered in different emotional states. To evaluate
this possibility the spectra of the intervals that distinguish major
and minor music were compared to the spectra of voiced segments in
excited and subdued speech using fundamental frequency and frequency
ratios as measures. Consistent with the hypothesis, the spectra of
major intervals are more similar to spectra found in excited speech,
whereas the spectra of particular minor intervals are more similar
to the spectra of subdued speech. These results suggest that the
characteristic affective impact of major and minor tone collections
arises from associations routinely made between particular musical
intervals and voiced speech.
@article{Bowling2010,
abstract = {The affective impact of music arises from a variety of factors, including
intensity, tempo, rhythm, and tonal relationships. The emotional
coloring evoked by intensity, tempo, and rhythm appears to arise
from association with the characteristics of human behavior in the
corresponding condition; however, how and why particular tonal relationships
in music convey distinct emotional effects are not clear. The hypothesis
examined here is that major and minor tone collections elicit different
affective reactions because their spectra are similar to the spectra
of voiced speech uttered in different emotional states. To evaluate
this possibility the spectra of the intervals that distinguish major
and minor music were compared to the spectra of voiced segments in
excited and subdued speech using fundamental frequency and frequency
ratios as measures. Consistent with the hypothesis, the spectra of
major intervals are more similar to spectra found in excited speech,
whereas the spectra of particular minor intervals are more similar
to the spectra of subdued speech. These results suggest that the
characteristic affective impact of major and minor tone collections
arises from associations routinely made between particular musical
intervals and voiced speech.},
added-at = {2011-03-27T17:20:41.000+0200},
author = {Bowling, Daniel L and Gill, Kamraan and Choi, Jonathan D and Prinz, Joseph and Purves, Dale},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2718a9cf0d3627a010ab98a9323f8d0f2/yevb0},
doi = {10.1121/1.3268504},
interhash = {fcc7c333a4489103ebca82d68d3a3476},
intrahash = {718a9cf0d3627a010ab98a9323f8d0f2},
issn = {1520-8524},
journal = {The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America},
keywords = {Acoustic Acoustics,Young Adult Aged,Music,Psychoacoustics,Sound Spectrography,Speech,Speech Stimulation,Acoustics,Adolescent,Adult,Aged,Databases Topic,Emotions,Female,Humans,Male,Middle as},
month = jan,
number = 1,
pages = {491--503},
pmid = {20058994},
timestamp = {2011-03-27T17:20:46.000+0200},
title = {Major and minor music compared to excited and subdued speech.},
url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20058994},
volume = 127,
year = 2010
}