Eckart Altenmüller: Is Music the Universal “Language” of emotions? The Neurobiology and Psychology of Aesthetic feelings

Neuroaesthetics | Symposium


Symposium im ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie,
22.-24. November 2012
In Kooperation und mit Unterstützung der Gemeinnützigen
Hertie-Stiftung.


Although music is generally acknowledged as a powerful tool for
eliciting emotions, little is known concerning
the neurobiological basis of these emotions.
We investigated the psychological and neurobiological basis of
strong emotional responses to music (SEM),
leading to shivers down the spine (chills) and changes in heart
rate. From previous studies it is known that these SEMs are
accompanied by the activation
of a brain network that includes areas involved in reward,
emotion, and motivation.
In order to observe distinct acoustical and music structural
elements related to chill reactions, in a series of
experiments,
on-line emotional self report and psychophysiological
data was obtained while participants were listening to music
inducing strong emotions and aesthetic feelings.
Despite of highly individual emotional reactions towards music,
some interindividually constant characteristics of music
eliciting chill responses can be
found. Chills were much more frequent in previously known music
and in familiar music stiles.
Furthermore, distinct musical events frequently caused strong
emotional responses, especially when violating
expectancies.
These results demonstrate that strong emotional responses are not
only related to the psychoacoustic properties
of the respective pieces of music, but furthermore to
biographical memories, personality traits and social
environments.


Prof. Dr. med. Eckart Altenmüller is a full university professor
and medical doctor, and has an active clinical and academic
research career.
He holds a Masters degree in Classical flute, and a M.D. and
Ph.D. degree in Neurology and Neurophysiology.
Between 1983 and 1985, he held a postdoctoral position in the
department of Clinical Neurophysiology in Freiburg. In this
position,
he performed research into brain activation during auditory
processing of music and learning of fine motor skills, an area in
which he has published extensively.
He received his clinical training in Neurology at the Department
of Neurology at the University of Tübingen between 1985 and 1992,
and was appointed Assistant Professor in Neurology in 1992.
Since 1994 he is Chair and Director of the Institute of Music
Physiology and Musicians’ Medicine at the University of Music
Drama and Media in Hannover.
He continues research into movement disorders in musicians as
well as motor, auditory and sensory learning. He has published
more than 120 peer reviewed
papers on this topic and received 18 grants from the German
Research Foundation (DFG). Since 2005 he is a member of the
Göttingen Academy of Sciences.