Chapter Four
Our Evolutionary Functions For Emotion Recognition
An integral part of emotion, which is included in Juslin’s Definition of emotion, is our physiological responses such as heart rate, breath rate, and skin surface temperature, which do not respond so easily to demand characteristics as self report tests, when tested empirically. These changes in physiological symptoms in correlation with music have also been found to align with response patterns to other types of emotional stimuli(34). Another important characteristic component of emotion, is that it begins the process for response to a stimulus by preparing an “action readiness” in us whilst allowing for a “latency period” which allows us to adapt our instinctive response. For instance, before potentially laughing out loud in response to something funny, we usually first smile, and this build up and progression from neutral to more extreme response allows us time to change our course of behaviour if the situation also changes(35,36).
Beginning, it is interesting to see what physiological emotions have been linked to music listening, and at what points in musical structure and form this occurs.
Slobada in 1991 asked 83 participants to remember the physical and physiological reactions they experienced when hearing a piece of music which they found to be particularly emotionally moving. Notably, many pieces were pieces of classical music. The participants were requested to identify within the music where the specific physical reactions had taken place so as to analyse the musical functions at work. Firstly, often respondents pointed to entire movements of a work, or whole distinctive passages, signalling that general emotional and physiological response may be in response to the resulting quality of the music as a whole. However, some participants described more selectively the musical parts which elicited emotion in them. Upon analysis, musical features found to be a precursor to crying (having tears, a lump in their throat, feelings of sadness) were commonly experienced due to the presence of grace notes and appoggiaturas or had beautiful melodies and harmonies, experiencing chills was found to beassociated with hearing new harmonies, and musical features which resulted in “heart- stopping” moments, or their “hearts skipping a beat” were linked to unexpected events, or syncopated rhythm(37).
Additionally to suggesting connections between musical events or features and emotional responses, Slobada’s study begins to suggest the underlying mechanisms which allow for this connection. From this and studies like it, models have been suggested to account for our physiological responses due to music.
One such model is that forwarded by Juslin, which outlines mechanisms and functions which allow us to be receptive to musically induced emotions. This BRECVEM model contains seven of these functions: Brain stem reflexes, Rhythmic entrainment, Evaluative conditioning, musical Contagion, Visual imagery and Musical expectancy. These mechanisms each correlate to an area of our brains which developed individually over time during the process of evolution, and therefore as each function pertains to a correlating area of the brain, each mechanism has different triggers and subsequently different outcomes for emotion perception. Following, some of these mechanisms perform on conscious or sub- conscious levels; those processes which are processed at higher cortical levels are more accessible to our influence and we have an element of control over them. However, where we are more able to exercise control over a particular function, our consciousness and attention can become diverted from this to other stimuli, as our conscious processing is limited and space for processing is competitive. Similarly, during processing interaction between the mechanisms can occur which potentially leads to contradictory or paradoxical responses; mixed emotions(38).
Following is an in- depth account for each of the processes, and it can be noted that each of the functions can be identified as eliciting certain emotions more than others, however altogether, the mechanisms can be accountable for a broad spectrum of emotion.
Brain Stem Reflexes:
By the process of reflexes of the brain stem, an emotional response is triggered by music due to the acoustic characteristics being recognised by the brain stem as an event which is crucial, and requires a response from us. These events within music could be, for example: sounds which are unexpected or abrupt, rapid tempo or changing speed, loud, extremely high or low pitch, discordant harmonies, or unpleasant sounds generate arousal by alerting the central nervous system that change is occuring, and we will potentially be required to respond. As a consequence, uncomfortable feelings for the listener are evoked(39). Naturally, our brain’s response system which includes this part of the brain and is one of the oldest parts in evolutionary terms, is continually evaluating our environment to identify and potentially trigger response systems to protect us from perceived changes and dangers, and this processing and resulting responses are largely unconscious.
A stimulus from the flute repertoire which could evoke a brainstem reflex can be seen in the opening passage from Takemitsu’s “Voice”. The spoken words, and subsequent music which follows is surprising to a listener, unpredictable, and contains uncomfortable sounds using extended techniques within very high and low pitches. A piece such as this however could evoke arousal, and not necessarily emotions yet.
(40)
Rhythmic Entrainment:
Rhythmic Entrainment describes a process by which emotion becomes aroused by music where an energetic or prominent rhythm is influential to our physiological rhythms, such as our breathing or heart rate. Over time, and through our attention to the music, we innately synchronise and align with the music. Emotion is triggered by this mechanism as a consequence of “proprioceptive feedback”, which is a neurological capacity of the body to sense motion and movement, which feeds back to other areas of the brain to induce emotional changes through this body awareness. It has been noted that tempos which begin close to the average natural human heart rate (60-80bpm), and which then increases, are more likely to also increase the heart rate or breathing rate of the listener, as the original musical and physiological tempos synchronise and the musical tempo then takes ours with it. This process does not happen directly however, and takes some time for the outlined results to occur. If this process does occur within us however, it has been noted that it can cultivate feelings of belonging and togetherness, as the conscious or subconscious awareness of the connection between ourselves and the music can extend to a feeling of connectedness with others, particularly if listening to music is a shared experience(41).
An example from the flute repertoire where it is possible for emotion to be induced due to rhythmic entrainment, is within Messiaen’s “Le Merle Noir”. The opening passage is marked : “Moderate,with fantasy”, and is usually played at around 70bpm. During the course of the piece, it asks for an increase in tempo many times, being marked from “almost slower, tender” to “with a little more movement” to “a bit lively” many times, until by the final passage we end up in a flurry of movement, at around 160 bpm.
200
Evaluative Conditioning:
Evaluative conditioning is a mechanism through which emotion is stimulated in us through association. This conditioning can have occurred even without the individuals’ knowledge of ithappening, and could happen over time and repeated exposure, or from one strongly emotional event. It is still an area for future research which distinct element of the music is most attended to by listeners, and which has the most potency for recreating emotions, however the aspects of melody and distinctive rhythm have been suggested to be the most effective components. Evaluative conditioning is an unconscious process, and requires no work on the part of the individual(42).
Emotional Contagion:
Emotional Contagion indicates a phenomenon where the listener is aware of the type of emotion which the music is holding and being expressive of, and subsequently this emotion becomes mirrored within themselves. Why this occurs, has been suggested to be part of structural evolutionary relics within our brains, which allow us to perceive, recognise and process musical patterns by the same neurological pathways as the patterns for speech are processed by. We are emotionally receptive to human voices, (or even those of animals as we can recognise by pitch and urgency of expression what they are trying to express) due to them carrying some information which we may also need to act on or respond to. This ability can also be carried over to musical instruments, and perhaps even more so in some cases, as those instruments which could be heard as being very voice like- such as the saxophone or cello, are hyper- expressive in terms of the range of pitch that is available to them, therefore could be even more expressive than a human voice(43). Also in our lessons, we are often asked to sing a melody or phrase line, as we will then play it on our instruments more naturally.
Visual Imagery:
The process of visual imagery is one where a listener either voluntarily or involuntarily envisions images or storylines in response to listening to music. This non- verbal process is based in physical experience whereby, for example, if the music in question contains sweeping upward motion, or a “floating” tessitura, the individual may respond to this and picture the visual in their mind from a higher or broader perspective. The musical architecture therefore becomes a figurative thing for these articular listeners, and their internal visual imagery a symbolic representation of this. Interestingly, listeners respond to their visual images in similar patterns of response to occurances in their actual lives, although here it is still possible for the listener to alter or have an influence over what they wish to see. Within this mechanism, musical elements such as repetitive rhythms, predictable melodies and harmonic structures, and preferably a slow tempo all assist in more easily creating visual images. Mimesis and iconicity may also come into this and influence visual images, such as horn calls within a piece, oboe solos to signal pastoral settings, ethnic sounds, music traditionally associated to a certain country like irish music, or to particular dances ; a waltz for example. It is notable that there will be obvious individual differences in experience of this mechanism, and some people may not experience it at all(44).
Episodic memory:
Episodic memory is a process where a piece of music from an individual’s past arouses emotions due to the personal memory of the event. For instance, a piece of music which was the soundtrack to the first dance at someone’s wedding will stir up positive emotions within that person upon hearing the music again, and music which was playing in the dentist during a person having a tooth extracted may elicit negative ones in the future, even though all other aspects of their environment are completely different. Interestingly, physiological reactions can be stored as part of the memory, so even if the piece of music is a relaxing one, a persons’ physiological reactions could be the opposite to what the music may normally induce, due to the emotional strength of the memory. Episodic memory is one of the largest factors in experiencing emotion in music, and anecdotal evidence suggests that people are aware of this, and use this to alter or exaggerate their present emotional state. Additionally, memories from adolescence are particularly potent, potentially due to the numerous self defining choices, or events which occur during this time, and add to a stronger sense of our personal identity(45).
Musical Expectancy:
Musical expectancy pertains to the experience of emotional production within an individual because of traits within the music itself which agrees with or opposes the listeners anticipations for the direction of it. The expectation for the direction of the music is usually based on prior experience of similar compositions, and an emotional reaction is instigated either by the music conforming to expectations, and the storyline of the musical direction is almost an instruction for the emotion we should respond with, or, it does not conform and as a consequence disturbs our expectations melodically, harmonically or temporally, and our resulting emotion is in response to this unrest. However, it is possible here to feel uneasiness, or even annoyance that the music hasn’t gone in the direction we were expecting, and our emotional response isn’t in response to the emotional portrayal of the music itself(46).
When a listener hears a piece of music, due to many different environmental factors and individual differences, one or a large number of these mechanisms can be initiated, and as a result, the physiological responses, neurological stimulation and consequential emotions can greatly differ. Additionally, Peretz suggests that there are certain parts of the brain which process or activate certain parts of our brains. There have been studies which show larger left- frontal activation to music conveying joy, and larger right- frontal activity to music that is expressive of fear or sadness(47).
From all of this information, we can begin to understand how today, our brains are adapted to recognise auditory signals from music, and programmed to emotionally respond to them. But, how did this become the case, through what processes did emotional communication through sound become part of our DNA?
As was first theorised by Darwin, expression of emotion holds the integral capacity to outwardly express an individual’s response to a stimulus, and by this, communicates their internal feelings to others(48). And just as emotion is, body language, facial expressions, and vocalisations concerned with communication of emotions are all passed genetically from generation to generation, and are encouraged through social learning and bonding.
Our primary emotions, for example such as those suggested by Ekman, have been agreed by many researchers to be those which our more elaborate emotions are based upon. These primary, basic emotions include happiness and joy, sadness or melancholy, anger, fear, disgust and surprise(49). A basis for this theory is formed from research Ekman conducted into emotional responses and their correlating facial expressions. He concluded that regardless of culture and other differentiating factors, there was an agreeance in facial expressions towards stimuli which represented each of these 'basic' emotions(50).
This study conducted by Ekman is in accordance with conclusions made by Darwin in his study of expression of the emotions. He viewed emotions and the expression of them as adaptations developed through evolution, and the corresponding facial expressions as separate from learnt behaviours(51). Following, basic emotions are part of our responses to our environment, which our autonomic nervous system differentiates between and responds to physiologically, producing our reflexive response through expression, and we utilise these as tools for increasing greater social bonds(52).
Following, animal communication has prompted much research, as it can tell us much of ourselves. Findings from many different studies suggest that changes in physiological state are connected to vocalisations which in turn serve as communication to convey certain emotions, or other necessary information(53,54,55). Interestingly, these vocal patterns connected to specific emotional states are much alike throughout species, and subsequently, much of our vocalisations and non- linguistic acoustic communication can be paralleled to these animalistic ones. Also notable, is that our expressive sounds which are non- linguistic, for example: ow, ah, oh!, ew, which are used reflexively to express sudden emotions, sound very similar cross- culturally(56). It has been suggested by Wundt, that these “cries' can be paralelled and their roots found in the cries or calls in animals which express fear, anger, or excitement. Additionally, Wundt differentiated between primary and secondary “interjections”; primary being “nature sounds”, and secondary interjections were sounds which throughout evolution have become incorporated into language(57). Furthermore, Kainz adds to this stating that as our evolution progressed, we began to express emotions less frequently by nature sounds, but these sounds have become language, and we use these to express sudden reactions(58).
In accordance with this, Goffman additionally characterises non- verbal vocal exclamations as “response cries”, and defines them as an expression of feeling which overflows into our vocalisations(59). Following, it has been suggested by both philosophers (Rosseau and Herder) and scientists (Heimoltz) that early forms of both music and language through our evolution may have evolved and have its origins in these non- verbal vocalisations. Scherer further suggests that how we both expressed and understood this form of communication is closely linked to our level of development in evolution. The vocal tools which we had, and also the developmental stage of the brain were likely to have been constraints for initial communication, but then adapted together through feedback loops, to extend both our means of communication and level of understanding for it(60).
Heimholtz writes that in trying to copy the unconscious changes in our voice, and finding new innovative ways of being expressive with it may have throughout evolution helped us arrive at the understanding that expressive communication can also be communicative through music. By mimicking expressive vocalisations such as crying, shouting, sighing or laughing, we have embodied human expression within musical compositions, which is significant in that the meaning of it can be understood by us to be composed, and written into a piece, the effect of it understood by the performer, and the resulting music understood by the audience. Such examples can be heard within operas, or in baroque music(61).
Following, if the suggestion that expression in music, and the beginnings of music itself is founded in the expressivity of our voices, it could also be assumed that the most emotional music could be that of the voice; singing may be the music which instills the most distinct and powerful emotions in listeners.
In speech and vocal music, alterations in fundamental frequency, intonation of a sentence, or word order etc, can all affect the meaning implied, and emotion inferred and correspondingly in music, fundamental frequency, melody, harmonic structure and timing can have the same functions in conveying emotion and meaning. This combination of two systems when we neurologically process a piece of music (in particular vocal or wind music, or hear music played by instruments which have similar fundamental frequency and tone to the human voice) means that communication is all the more likely, due to us firstly having the innate ability tounconsciously process almost immeasurable qualities of the voice(62,63).
Having seen how our brains are evolutionarily hard- wired to be receptive to communicative expression, let’s move on to discuss how the functions within music trigger our mechanisms for understanding, and experiencing the emotional content of music.