Music: A link between Cognition and Emotion

Krumhans, C.L. Music: A Link Between Cognition and Emotion Association for Psychological Science. (2002)

Summary:

Carol L. Krumhans is a professor in the department of Psychology at Cornell University. In “Music: A Link Between Cognition and Emotion,” she conducts a study in which she attempts to establish the connections between music and emotions. She has conducted various studies which have measured the emotions caused by music, and gathered results taken from the participants based on how they felt, and also measured their physiological reactions. She poses several questions which function as the foundation of the study, such as “How is it that patterns of sound in time can have such a profound effect?”, “What is it in the music that causes the emotion?”, and “Are musical emotions like other emotions?” Krumhansl argues that, in music, cognition and music are very closely linked. Furthermore, she suggests that emotion caused by music is due, in great part to the expectation the listener has of the music, and the actual sounded events that occur. This interplay between the listener’s tension and relaxation as carried out through the fulfillment of expectation, or lack thereof, is evidence for the hypothesis that the emotion derived from music is in large part very closely related to cognition. Krumhans references Meyer, who also argues that expectation is the most crucial aspect of musical emotion.

In terms of these musical expectations, Krumhans also examines the differences cross culturally. She suggests that certain musical expectations and assumptions are carried through various cultures, and therefore many of the emotional connotations carry through as well.

Krumhans goes on to explain certain assumptions that are commonly held. For instance, the assumption that musical emotion is caused by personal memories. However, Krumhans disagrees with this assumption. She accepts that personal memories also cause emotional responses, but they are not the sole reason for them, or even the primary source. Krumhans’ hypothesis is that “musical sounds may inherently have emotional meaning.”

To further this argument, she goes on to examine different aspects of music, such as theory, which provides a technical explanation as to why we have the expectations and reactions we do. Different musical and theoretical techniques inherently cause certain expectations-for instance certain harmonic progressions lead naturally to a V-I cadence, but if the music instead lands on a diminished chord for instance, the listener may be jarred and will likely have some sort of emotional reaction.

Krumhans goes on to examine these theories by comparing emotion in music to emotion in speech and dance, and conducting further studies of her own which measure the participants’ physiological reactions. She concludes by stating that this is a field which is currently undergoing psychological research, but suggests that her hypotheses offer new insights into the psychological effects of music.

Reflection:

I feel that I have mixed reactions to some of Krumhans’ suggestions. I feel that the study is well organized, well conducted and thorough, but I feel she is too quick to discount certain aspects of music. She makes her case based on the assumption that theoretical, harmonic and melodic aspects of music are the most important reasons for musical emotion. However, while making this case it seems that she discounts many other options. For instance, she mentions only briefly that lyrics of songs may carry emotional significance. However, I argue that many songs are most powerful because of their prose. I agree that musical expectation has great significance as to how a listener feels during the performance, either live or recorded of a specific work. The ear is accustomed to hearing repeating patterns, predictable chord progressions and familiar tunes. Often, when the listener is taken out of their comfort zone anxiety, excitement or any number of emotions may arise. However, to suggest that musical expectation takes priority over something like personal memory, in terms of emotional significance I find hard to completely accept. There are many songs that, for many people can be associated with similar memories. Songs typically heard at weddings, songs learned in childhood, or songs associated with festivals or holidays will often evoke a very similar personal reaction amongst many people. And is this due to the theory or technical makeup of the piece? I don’t believe that this is always the case.

That is not to say that I disagree with Krumhans’ findings. I found it very interesting that she compared the emotional reactions in music to the reactions in speech and dance. And the study she conducted wherein she measured the subject’s physiological responses is of great interest. She found that when she measured the responses physiologically, and gathered responses from the participants based on how they felt, often the results differed. This type of observation and data acquisition allowed for her to gather information that the subjects were not even aware of. Overall, I found her findings to be interesting but a little biased, and not always presented with enough flexibility to allow for other explanations.