Aesthetics, cognition, emotion

Central to this theme is the multisensory experience of arts and music, and the different ways in which viewers and listeners make sense of art, what it means for them and what they use it for. Here are some examples:

Expression, felt and perceived emotion: comparative research 

Figure representing interactions with functional context of aesthetic emotional experiences (from Timmers, Bannister, & Lennie 2024). 

Our research projects investigate processes giving rise to emotional experiences of music, expression and communication of emotions and feelings in music performance and interactions between emotion and cognition in the perception and sense making of music. Whilst we investigate processes that may be generalisable across groups with certain demographics, we have a particular interest in understanding differences and variations in finding meaning and emotion in music. For example, we have investigated what constitutes music for relaxation for older or younger adults (UK sample), what are similarities and differences between Japanese and UK listeners in their perception of emotion in western classical and north american jazz music, what is the role of self-construal in shaping emotional responses to music and musical preferences, variations in beliefs and approaches to emotional expression in music among Spanish and UK higher education staff and students, and what are music-structural and listener-related factors influencing the perception of consonance and dissonance in music as pleasant or unpleasant. The photo above relates to a programme of research conducted in collaboration with researchers in Columbia on emotional and social inclusion benefits of musical participation.  

Selected publications: 

Arthurs, Y., Beeston, A. V., & Timmers, R. (2018). Perception of isolated chords: Examining frequency of occurrence, instrumental timbre, acoustic descriptors and musical training. Psychology of Music, 46(5), 662-681.

Bonastre, C., & Timmers, R. (2021). Comparison of beliefs about teaching and learning of emotional expression in music performance between Spanish and English HE students of music. Psychology of Music, 49(1), 108-123.

Cespedes-Guevara, J., & Dibben, N. (2022). The role of embodied simulation and visual imagery in emotional contagion with music. Music & Science, 5, 20592043221093836.

Fleckenstein, A. M., Vuoskoski, J. K., & Dibben, N. (2024). Understanding Musical Beauty. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 02762374241253771.

Lee-Harris, G., Timmers, R., Humberstone, N., & Blackburn, D. (2018). Music for relaxation: A comparison across two age groups. Journal of music therapy, 55(4), 439-462.

Solberg, R. T., & Dibben, N. (2019). Peak experiences with electronic dance music: Subjective experiences, physiological responses, and musical characteristics of the break routine. Music Perception: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 36(4), 371-389.

Timmers, R., Bannister, S., & Lennie, T. M. (2024). Aesthetic emotions in music: Theory, measurements, and cross-cultural comparison. In B. Bogunović, R. Timmers, & S. Nikolić (Eds). Psychological perspectives on musical experiences and skills: Research in the Western Balkans and Western Europe. Open Book Publishers.

Synaesthesia and multimodal experiences of music

Summary: 

The research under this theme consists of an interdisciplinary investigation of how music can evoke sensory experiences beyond hearing. It delves into the intriguing phenomenon where hearing music triggers the perception of colours, shapes, and textures—a form of synaesthesia known as chromesthesia or coloured hearing. Under the umbrella of ‘music-colour synaesthesia’ or ‘coloured hearing’, manifestations include colour perception - experiencing specific colours in response to musical tones, influenced by compositional style, timbre, tonality, and pitch; perception of shapes and textures - synaesthetes may perceive not just colours, but also shapes, textures, and spatial landscapes when listening to music, and idiosyncratic experiences - individual synaesthetes often report unique and highly personal associations, such as differing colours for the same musical note or theme. Research indicates that there are commonalities between synaesthetic experiences and typical cross-modal associations found in the general population. For example, higher pitches are often associated with lighter colours and elevated spatial positions, while lower pitches correlate with darker colours and lower spatial positions. These findings suggest that there may be some overlap in mental processes between synaesthetic and non-synaesthetic experiences.

The research under this subtheme investigates different types of coloured hearing showing previously unknown links between music and colour, as new forms are still regularly discovered, it investigates parallels between general cognition and synaesthesia, including how synaesthesia may be shaped by embodied and action-based development, illusions that may arise as a consequence of regularly occurring associations or correspondences, and relationships between emotion, synaesthesia, and action in musical contexts. 

Selected publications: 

Curwen, C., Timmers, R. & Schiavio, A.  (2023). Action, emotion, and music-colour synaesthesia: An examination of sensorimotor and emotional responses in synaesthetes and non-synaesthetes. Psychological Research. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-023-01856-2

Curwen, C. (2022). The role of synaesthesia in reading written musical key signatures. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 151(10), 2284–2299. https://doi.org//10.1037/xge0001193

Curwen, C. (2020). Music-colour synaesthesia: A sensorimotor account. Musicae Scientiae https://doi.org/10.1177/1029864920956295

Li, S., & Timmers, R. (2020). Exploring pianists’ embodied concepts of piano timbre: An interview study. Journal of New Music Research, 49(5), 477-492.

Timmers, R., & Li, S. (2016). Representation of pitch in horizontal space and its dependence on musical and instrumental experience. Psychomusicology: Music, Mind, and Brain, 26(2), 139.

How music listening impacts environmental thinking and behaviour

Figure adapted from Stern (2000) representing the place of listening to presentational musics in listeners’ environmental thinking and behaviour. This is intended to capture the idea that certain music may make listeners’ biospheric and altruistic values more salient, either directly and/or by affording connection to the natural world. 

Climate change is one of the most serious threats to global health, wellbeing and security we face, and artistic expression, including music, increasingly engages with this issue. But what, if anything, does music do? Musicological research suggests that music can represent the natural world and express human-nature relationships. We are providing empirical evidence of the way in which engagement in music might contribute to individuals’ environmental values, beliefs and world views and ultimately their behaviours. Most recently we collaborated with Scottish musician Erland Cooper on the launch of two nature-related music albums, discovering the aesthetic processes by which pro-environmental values and beliefs are afforded, maintained and circulated.

Selected publications and presentations:

Dibben, N., Downs, J. & Peck, L. (in draft). How music influences environmental values. Music & Science. 

Downs, J.K. & Dibben, N. Intermedial environmental aesthetics in the music of Erland Cooper’, Hamburg, 21 June 2024. Spoken paper.

Dibben, N. Producing and communicating scientific knowledge through sound art and music. Sound Matters: Interdisciplinary Explorations into Audio Knowledge Production. An online symposium hosted by the SA Research Chair in Science Communication, The Academic Citizen, and the South African Journal of Science. 9-10 November 2023. Spoken paper.

Dibben, N. Can musicking influence biospheric values, intentions and behaviours? Music, Sound, and Climate Justice Conversations, New Orleans, 2 November 2022. Spoken paper.