Musical Emotions Explained

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrik N. Juslin
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Perspective ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Psychological Mechanisms ◽  
Broad Variety ◽  
Multiple Levels ◽  
New Research ◽  
The Brain ◽  
As If ◽  
A Performance ◽  
Aesthetic Judgments

The emotional power of music has been much examined and discussed. Based on new research, this book takes a close look at how music expresses and arouses emotions, and how it becomes an object of aesthetic judgments. It asks: can music really arouse emotions? If so, which emotions? How, exactly, does music arouse such emotions? Why do listeners often respond with different emotions to the same piece of music? Are emotions to music different from other emotions? Why do we respond to fictive events in art as if they were real, even though we know they are not? What is it that makes a performance of music emotionally expressive? Music is often regarded as consisting of abstract sequences of notes, which are devoid of meanings. This book argues that this is not true. Adopting an evolutionary perspective, the book shows how psychological mechanisms from our ancient past engage with meanings in music at multiple levels of the brain to evoke a broad variety of affective states — from startle responses to profound aesthetic emotions. Finally, it asks: but why do these mechanisms respond to music?

The Cooking Ape: An Interview with Richard Wrangham

2005 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-37
Author(s):  
elisabeth townsend
Keyword(s):  
Social Relationships ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Harvard University ◽  
Primate Research ◽  
Social Organizations ◽  
Cooked Food ◽  
New Research ◽  
The Brain

Humans: The Cooking Ape Perhaps the first to suggest that humans were cooking as early as 1.9 million years ago, Richard Wrangham shows through his new research and his imagination how and possibly when cooking changed humans dramatically. Wrangham, Harvard University primatologist and MacArthur Fellow, has been studying the evolution of human cooking. After 25 years of primate research at his site in Kibale, Uganda, Wrangham is best known for explaining the similarity and differences across species of primate social organizations. In Kibale, he has analyzed chimpanzees’ behavior: how it’s changed when they interact with the environment and how their social groups have evolved. In particular, he noticed how food changed their interactions with each other. Like that of chimps, human behavior has been affected by food, especially as they shifted from raw to cooked food. Moving from eating food as it was discovered to collecting edibles and cooking them altered our social relationships. Cooked food has changed Homo sapiens physically by making food more digestible thereby altering jaws, teeth, and guts, and providing more calories for more expensive organs such as the brain. Wrangham discusses when and how humans may have started using fire to cook food, what they cooked, and the transition from cooking in an outdoor fire to hearths and open ovens.

Consciousness

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anil K. Seth
Keyword(s):  
Conscious Experience ◽  
Real Problem ◽  
Active Inference ◽  
Biological Mechanisms ◽  
Specific Content ◽  
Brain Responses ◽  
Biomimetic Approach ◽  
Multiple Levels ◽  
In Virtue Of ◽  
The Brain

Consciousness is perhaps the most familiar aspect of our existence, yet we still do not know its biological basis. This chapter outlines a biomimetic approach to consciousness science, identifying three principles linking properties of conscious experience to potential biological mechanisms. First, conscious experiences generate large quantities of information in virtue of being simultaneously integrated and differentiated. Second, the brain continuously generates predictions about the world and self, which account for the specific content of conscious scenes. Third, the conscious self depends on active inference of self-related signals at multiple levels. Research following these principles helps move from establishing correlations between brain responses and consciousness towards explanations which account for phenomenological properties—addressing what can be called the “real problem” of consciousness. The picture that emerges is one in which consciousness, mind, and life, are tightly bound together—with implications for any possible future “conscious machines.”

The Debate with Space

2001 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 118-127
Author(s):  
Valère Novarina
Keyword(s):  
Composition I ◽  
As If ◽  
A Performance

The French avantgardist's act of writing is a performance. Here he ruminates about his processes of composition. “I write not facing the spectacle but under the theatre, under the boards. Buried as if through a mole's work.”

scholarly journals An Evolutionary Perspective on the Importance of Community Relations for Quality of Life

2009 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 588-605 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bjørn Grinde
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Community Relations ◽  
Western Society ◽  
Evolutionary Perspective ◽  
Human Interactions ◽  
Inherent Nature ◽  
The Brain

The evolutionary perspective is relevant for the study of quality of life in that the brain, including its capacity for positive and negative states of mind, has been shaped by the forces of evolution. The present text uses this perspective to discuss three questions related to the observation that human interactions are a particular important factor for well-being: (1) What is known about the inherent nature of our social propensities? (2) Is the present situation responsible for a suboptimal quality of life? (3) Are there alternatives to the organization of mainstream Western society? Based on this discussion, the question is raised as to whether it is possible to suggest improvements. Briefly, it seems possible to create conditions that enhance social relations and to the extent that happiness is considered an important objective, this is a relevant endeavor.

scholarly journals Influence of Retail Therapy upon Shoppers Experience in Organized Retailing at Select Retail Malls in Grater Hyderabad

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 3644-3649
Keyword(s):  
Dominant Role ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Shopping Malls ◽  
Normal Functioning ◽  
Movie Theaters ◽  
Impulsive Buying ◽  
Shopping Experience ◽  
Good For ◽  
New Research ◽  
The Brain

We humans live life for attaining happiness by the way of fulfilling our needs wants & desires. We work hard to earn and satisfy all our requirements. We strive to derive a better experience upon our every shopping attempt which we make. Retail therapy in shopping is to improve the shoppers mood or disposition which is seen among people during depression or stress, in normal context it is a small duration-lived habit. Products purchased during period of retail therapy are also referred to as "comfort buys". in shopping experience, human brain apparently releases the chemical known as dopamine, a natural messenger required for the normal functioning of the brain, and it plays dominant role in our ability to experience pleasure and pain. It appears also to have a role in addictive behavior. The most important reason shopping malls are so popular is due to convenience. Which include clothing stores, a food court, movie theaters, etc Shopping might not be good for wallet, but it could be good for health, new research suggests. Walking within the mall between stores, multiplex, food court, gaming zone etc provides better enjoyment experience which ultimately results into shopper’s satisfaction. “Therapy” denotes the favorable impact of shopping experience of shoppers at shopping malls, there are indeed psychological rewards. This article discuses about retail therapy from shoppers’ experience point of view as depending upon the experience, knowledge & situation the shoppers intend to make compulsive or impulsive buying which impacts behavior of shopper & emotions which are been motivated by desire to fulfill material needs and wants.

scholarly journals Distinct facial expressions represent pain and pleasure across cultures

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (43) ◽  
pp. E10013-E10021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chaona Chen ◽  
Carlos Crivelli ◽  
Oliver G. B. Garrod ◽  
Philippe G. Schyns ◽  
José-Miguel Fernández-Dols ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Information Theoretic ◽  
Complementary Approach ◽  
Dynamic Facial Expressions ◽  
Negative Affective States ◽  
Affective Experiences ◽  
New Research

Real-world studies show that the facial expressions produced during pain and orgasm—two different and intense affective experiences—are virtually indistinguishable. However, this finding is counterintuitive, because facial expressions are widely considered to be a powerful tool for social interaction. Consequently, debate continues as to whether the facial expressions of these extreme positive and negative affective states serve a communicative function. Here, we address this debate from a novel angle by modeling the mental representations of dynamic facial expressions of pain and orgasm in 40 observers in each of two cultures (Western, East Asian) using a data-driven method. Using a complementary approach of machine learning, an information-theoretic analysis, and a human perceptual discrimination task, we show that mental representations of pain and orgasm are physically and perceptually distinct in each culture. Cross-cultural comparisons also revealed that pain is represented by similar face movements across cultures, whereas orgasm showed distinct cultural accents. Together, our data show that mental representations of the facial expressions of pain and orgasm are distinct, which questions their nondiagnosticity and instead suggests they could be used for communicative purposes. Our results also highlight the potential role of cultural and perceptual factors in shaping the mental representation of these facial expressions. We discuss new research directions to further explore their relationship to the production of facial expressions.

The Engineer

Rebel Genius ◽  
2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tara H. Abraham
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Reticular Formation ◽  
Research Laboratory ◽  
Biological Systems ◽  
Theoretical Modelling ◽  
Research Culture ◽  
Cognitive Sciences ◽  
New Research ◽  
Scientific Identity ◽  
The Brain

This chapter examines the ways that McCulloch’s new research culture at MIT’s Research Laboratory of Electronics shaped the evolution of his scientific identity into that of an engineer. This was an open, fluid, multidisciplinary culture that allowed McCulloch to shift his focus more squarely onto understanding the brain from the perspective of theoretical modelling, and to promote the cybernetic vision to diverse audiences. McCulloch’s practices, performed with a new set of student-collaborators, involved modeling the neurophysiology of perception, understanding reliability in biological systems, and pursuing knowledge of the reticular formation of the brain. The chapter provides a nuanced account of the relations between McCulloch’s work and the emerging fields of artificial intelligence and the cognitive sciences. It also highlights McCulloch’s identities as sage-collaborator and polymath, two roles that in part were the result of his students’ observations and in part products of his own self-fashioning.

Obesity: An Evolutionary Perspective

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin I.M. Dunbar
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Evolutionary Perspective ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Human Adults ◽  
Human Brains ◽  
Time And Energy ◽  
Post Industrial ◽  
Industrial Societies ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Late Palaeolithic

The brain consumes about 20 per cent of the total energy intake in human adults. Primates, and especially humans, have unusually large brains for body size compared with other vertebrates, and fuelling these is a significant drain on both time and energy. Larger-brained primates generally eat fruit-intense diets, but human brains are so large that a reduction in gut size is needed to free up sufficient resources to allow a larger brain to be evolved, placing further pressure on foraging. The early invention of cooking increased nutrient absorption by around 30 per cent over raw food. Increasing digestibility in this way perhaps inevitably leads to risk of obesity when food is super-abundant, as it is in post-industrial societies. However, obesity has clearly been around for a long time, as suggested by the late Palaeolithic Venus figures of Europe, so it is not a novel problem.

Selected to Kill in His Name

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yael Sela ◽  
Nicole Barbaro
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Parental Investment ◽  
Mate Guarding ◽  
Wife Beating ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Evolutionary Perspective ◽  
Genital Mutilation ◽  
Psychological Mechanisms ◽  
Evolved Psychological Mechanisms ◽  
Sexual Selection Theory

Religion motivates, exacerbates, and even justifies violence. This chapter argues that religious beliefs regarding violence—particularly those of monotheistic, Abrahamic faiths—are shaped by evolved psychological mechanisms. Further, it argues that religiously motivated violence is most likely to occur in evolutionarily relevant contexts. Guided by sexual selection theory and parental-investment theory, it first provides an overview of human sexual selection from an evolutionary perspective. It discusses how and why an evolutionary perspective—and principles of sexual selection and parental investment in particular—may provide a richer understanding of religiously motivated violence. Next follows an overview of research addressing several types of religiously motivated violence such as mate guarding and controlling behaviors, wife beating and uxoricide, honor killing, child abuse and filicide, male and female genital mutilation, war, and terrorism. Finally, it highlights the parallels between religiously motivated violence and evolved psychological mechanisms for violence, concluding with suggestions for future research.

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