Emotional Musical Signals

ended

The emotional power of music is a force we reckon with on a daily basis. Bubbly music in advertisements entices us to buy products. Tranquil music in medical waiting rooms evokes calm and diffuses anxiety. In spite of its extensive influence, there are still many open questions about how music impacts our emotions. One emotion in particular has been largely overlooked in music and emotion research: fear. The lack of research is surprising given the important role fear plays in society. Fear-based mental disorders are the most widespread, negatively impacting the lives of millions worldwide. Fear drives our daily behaviors and thus is used frequently to spread beliefs for political gain. Given its relevance, there are many benefits for deepening our understanding of fear. Music, a powerful emotional influencer, could be the ideal tool for furthering our knowledge of fear. This groundbreaking, interdisciplinary action will unlock the potential of music as a platform for fear research through the combined use of methods from cognitive neuroscience, behavioral psychology, and music theory. Specifically, my research objectives are to create a new multicultural database of scary music excerpts, catalogue cultural and biological musical fear signals, and synthesize the results of this research into a comprehensive report on musical fear signaling. My training in music theory and cognition methods and my expertise in film music make me the ideal person for this action. The interdisciplinary, state-of-the-art research environment at the Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory at the University of Zurich is the perfect location for this work. At this pioneering lab in the field of vocal and music perception, I will be trained in cognitive neuroscience methods (fMRI & eye tracking), statistical and programming skills, and in communicating my interdisciplinary work, fostering my development as an independent music cognition scholar capable of leading my own laboratory.