Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Verbal and Nonverbal Communication Behaviours pp 51–64Cite as

Children’s Perception of Musical Emotional Expressions

  • Conference paper

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 4775))

Abstract

This study investigates on children’s ability to interpret emotions in instrumentally-presented melodies. 40 children (20 males and 20 females) all aged six years, have been tested for the comprehension of emotional concepts through the correct matching of emotional pictures to pieces of music. Results indicate that 6-year-old emotional responses to orchestral extracts considered full of affective cues are similar to those demonstrated by adults and that there is no gender effect.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Baruch, C., Drake, C.: Tempo Discrimination in Infants. Infant Behavior and Development 20(4), 573–577 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Baumgartner, T., Esslen, M., Lutz Jäncke, L.: From Emotion Perception to Emotion Experience: Emotions Evoked by Pictures and Classical Music. International Journal of Psychophysiology 60, 34–43 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Bermond, B., Nieuwenhuyse, B., Fasotti, L., Schuerman, J.: Spinal Cord Lesions, Peripheral Feedback, and Intensities of Emotional Feelings. Cognition and Emotion 5, 201–220 (1991)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Bradley, M.M., Cuthbert, B.N., Lang, P.J.: Startle Reflex Modification: Emotion or Attention. Psychophysiology 27, 513–523 (1990)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Brown, S.: The “Musilanguage” Model of Music Evolution. In: Wallin, N.L., Merker, B., Brown, S. (eds.) The Origins of Music, pp. 271–300. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Cacioppo, J.T., Berntson, G.G., Larsen, J.T., Poehlmann, K.M., Ito, T.A.: The Psychophysiology of emotion. In: Lewis, J.M., Haviland-Jones, M. (eds.) Handbook of Emotions, 2nd edn., pp. 173–191. Guilford Press, New York (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Cunningham, J.G., Sterling, R.S.: Developmental Changes in the Understanding of Affective Meaning in Music. Motivation and Emotion 12, 399–413 (1988)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Bella, S.D., Peretz, I., Rousseau, L., Gosselin, N.: A Developmental Study of the Affective Value of Tempo and Mode in Music. Cognition 80, B1–B10 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Damasio, A.R., Grabowski, T.J., Bechara, A., Damasio, H., Ponto, L.L.B., Parvizi, J., Hichwa, R.D.: Subcortical and Cortical Brain Activity During the Feeling of Self-Generated Emotions. Nature Neuroscience 3, 1049–1056 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Dolgin, K.G., Adelson, E.H.: Age Changes in the Ability to Interpret Affect in Sung and Instrumentally-Presented Melodies. Psychology of Music 18, 87–98 (1990)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Ekman, P.: An Argument for Basic Emotions. Cognition and Emotion 6, 169–200 (1992)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Ekman, P.: Expression and the Nature of Emotion. In: Scherer, K., Ekman, P. (eds.) Approaches to emotion, pp. 319–343. Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ (1984)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Frijda, N.H.: Moods, Emotion Episodes, and Emotions. In: Haviland, M., Lewis, J.M. (eds.) Handbook of Emotion, pp. 381–402. Guilford Press, New York (1993)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Frijda, N.H.: The Emotions. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1986)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Gabrielsson, A., Juslin, P.N.: Emotional Expression in Music. In: Davidson, R.J., Goldsmith, H.H., Scherer, K.R. (eds.) Handbook of Affective Sciences, pp. 503–534. Oxford University Press, New York (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Gerardi, G.M., Gerken, L.: The Development of Affective Responses to Modality and Melodic Contour. Music Perception 12(3), 279–290 (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Gregory, A.H., Worrall, L., Sarge, A.: The Development of Emotional Responses to Music in Young Children. Motivation and Emotion 20(4), 341–349 (1996)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Heinlein, C.P.: The Affective Characteristics of the Major and Minor Modes in Music. Journal of Comparative Psychology 8, 101–142 (1928)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Hevner, K.: The Affective Character of the Major and Minor Modes in Music. American Journal of Psychology 47, 103–118 (1935)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Hodges, D.A. (ed.): Handbook of Music Psychology. IMR Press, San Antonio (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Imberty, M.: L’Aquisition des Structures Tonales Chez l’Enfant. Paris: Klinsiek (1969)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Izard, C.E.: Organizational and Motivational Functions of Discrete Emotions. In: Lewis, M., Haviland, J.M. (eds.) Handbook of Emotions, pp. 631–641. Guilford Press, New York (1993)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Izard, C.E.: Basic Emotions, Relations among Emotions, and Emotion–Cognition Relations. Psychological Review 99, 561–565 (1992)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Juslin, P.N., Laukka, P.: Communication of Emotions in Vocal Expression and Music Performance: Different Channels, Same Code. Psychological Bulletin 129(5), 770–814 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Kastner, M.P., Crowder, R.G.: Perception of the Major/Minor Distinction: IV. Emotional Connotations in Young Children. Music Perception 8(2), 189–202 (1990)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Levenson, R.W.: Autonomic Nervous System Differences Among Emotions. Psychological Science 3, 23–27 (1992)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Levenson, R.W.: Human Emotion: A Functional View. In: Ekman, P., Davidson, R.J. (eds.) The Nature of Emotion: Fundamental Questions, pp. 123–126. Oxford University Press, New York (1994)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Levman, B.G.: Western Theories of Music Origin, Historical and Modern. Musicae Scientiae 4, 185–211 (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  29. MacLean, P.: Cerebral Evolution of Emotion. In: Lewis, M., Haviland, J.M. (eds.) Handbook of Emotions, pp. 67–83. Guilford Press, New York (1993)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Mcculloch, R.: Modality and Children’s Affective Responses to Music. (1999), www.ms.cam.ac.uk/~ic108/PandP/McCulloch99/McCulloch99.html

  31. Madison, G.: Properties of Expressive Variability Patterns in Music Performance. Journal of New Music Research 29(4), 335–356 (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  32. Nawrot, E.S.: The Perception of Emotional Expression in Music: Evidence from Infants, Children and Adults. Psychology of Music 31(I), 75–92 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Niedenthal, P.M., Setterlund, M.B.: Emotion Congruence in Perception. Personality and Social Psychology Bullettin 20, 401–410 (1993)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Nyklicek, I., Thayer, J.F., Van Doornen, L.J.P.: Cardiorespiratory Differentiation of Musically-Induced Emotions. Journal of Psychophysiology 11, 304–321 (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  35. Oatley, K., Jenkins, J.M.: Understanding Emotions, pp. 96–132. Blackwell Publishers (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  36. Panksepp, J.: Emotions as Natural Kinds Within the Mammalian Brain. In: Lewis, J.M., Haviland-Jones, M. (eds.) Handbook of Emotions, 2nd edn., pp. 137–156. Guilford Press, New York (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  37. Panksepp, J., Bernatzky, G.: Emotional Sounds and the Brain: The Neuro-affective Foundations of Musical Appreciation. Behavioural Processes 60, 133–155 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Panksepp, J.: At the Interface of the Affective, Behavioral, and Cognitive Neurosciences: Decoding the Emotional Feelings of the Brain. Brain and Cognition 52, 4–14 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Peretz, I.: The Nature of Music from a Biological Perspective. Cognition 100, 1–32 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Pickens, J., Bahrick, L.E.: Infants Discrimination of Bimodal Events on the Basis of Rhythm and Tempo. British Journal of Developmental Psychology 13, 223–236 (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  41. Plutchik, R.: Emotions as Adaptive Reactions: Implications for Therapy. Psychoanalytic Review, LIII 2, 105–110 (1966)

    Google Scholar 

  42. Plutchik, R.: Emotion and their Vicissitudes: Emotions and Psychopatology. In: Haviland, M., Lewis, J.M. (eds.) Handbook of Emotion, pp. 53–66. Guilford Press, New York (1993)

    Google Scholar 

  43. Russell, J.A.: A Circumplex Model of Affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 39, 1161–1178 (1980)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Salgado, A.G.: Voice, Emotion and Facial Gesture in Singing. In: Woods, C., Luck, G., Brochard, R., Seddon, F., Sloboda, J.A. (eds.) Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference for Music Perception and Cognition [CD-ROM]. Keele, England: Keele University (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  45. Scherer, K.: The Psychological Structure of Emotion. In: Smelser, N.J., Baltes, P.B. (eds.) International Encyclopaedia of the Social and Behavioural Sciences, pp. 4472–4477. Pergamon Press, Oxford (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  46. Schlosberg, H.: Three Dimensions of Emotion. The Psychological Review 61(2), 81–88 (1953)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Schellenberg, E.G., Trehub, S.E.: Natural Musical Intervals. Psychological Science 7(5), 272–277 (1996)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Steinberg, R. (ed.): Music and the Mind Machine. Springer, Berlin (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  49. Terwogt, M.M., Van Grinsven, F.: Musical Expression of Mood-states. Psychology of Music 19, 99–109 (1991)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. Trainor, L.J., Heinmiller, B.M.: The Development of Evaluative Responses to Music: Infants Prefer to Listen to Consonance over Dissonance. Infant Behavior and Development 21(1), 77–88 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Trehub, S.E.: The Origins of Music Perception and Cognition: A Developmental Perspective. In: Deliège, I., Sloboda, J.A. (eds.) Perception and Cognition of Music, pp. 103–128. Hove Psychology Press (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  52. Trehub, S.E., Schellenberg, E.G., Kamenetsky, S.B.: Infants’ and Adults’ Perception of Scale Structure. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 25(4), 965–975 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. Tsang, D.C., Trainor, J.L.: Spectral Slope Discrimination in Infancy: Sensitivity to Socially Important Timbre. Infant Behavior and Development 25, 183–194 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. VanderArk, S.D., Ely, D.: Biochemical and Galvanic Skin Responses to Music Stimuli by College Students in Biology and Music. Perceptual and Motor Skills 74, 1079–1090 (1992)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Seconda Università di Napoli, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Via Vivaldi 43, Caserta, Italy

    Anna Esposito

  2. IIASS, Via Pellegrino 19, 84019, Vietri sul Mare, Italy, INFM Salerno, Italy

    Anna Esposito & Manuela Serio

Authors
  1. Anna Esposito
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Manuela Serio
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Anna Esposito Marcos Faundez-Zanuy Eric Keller Maria Marinaro

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Esposito, A., Serio, M. (2007). Children’s Perception of Musical Emotional Expressions. In: Esposito, A., Faundez-Zanuy, M., Keller, E., Marinaro, M. (eds) Verbal and Nonverbal Communication Behaviours. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 4775. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-76442-7_5

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-76442-7_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-76441-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-76442-7

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation