Central auditory processing. Are the emotional perceptions of those listening to classical music inherent in the composition or acquired by the listeners?

Abstract

Conclusions: There is seemingly some inherent component in selected musical compositions that elicits specific emotional perceptions, feelings, and physical conduct. Objectives: The purpose of the study was to determine if the emotional perceptions of those listening to classical music are inherent in the composition or acquired by the listeners. Methods: Fifteen kindergarten students, aged 5 years, from three different sociocultural groups, were evaluated. They were exposed to portions of five purposefully selected classical compositions and asked to describe their emotions when listening to these musical pieces. All were instrumental compositions without human voices or spoken language. In addition, they were played to an audience of an age at which they were capable of describing their perceptions and supposedly had no significant previous experience of classical music. Results: Regardless of their sociocultural background, the children in the three groups consistently identified similar emotions (e.g. fear, happiness, sadness), feelings (e.g. love), and mental images (e.g. giants or dangerous animals walking) when listening to specific compositions. In addition, the musical compositions generated physical conducts that were reflected by the children's corporal expressions. Although the sensations were similar, the way of expressing them differed according to their background.

Keywords::

• Emotions and music
• physical conduct and music
• inherent emotions in music
• expression of emotions
• abstract thinking
• reading and understanding
• education and music
• early educational intervention
• universal language

Acknowledgments

Our thanks to the School Directors Evelyn Schoken (Instituto Hebreo de Santiago), Trinidad Goycoolea (Colegio Santa Cruz de Chicureo), and Ximena Balmaceda (Escuela Marcos Goycoolea de Colina) who allowed us to conduct these studies in their Institutions. We also want to thank Luz Navarrete, Librarian of Clínica Las Condes, for her efforts and success in carrying out literature searches and obtaining reference articles.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.