Intensity of Emotions Conveyed and Elicited by Familiar and Unfamiliar Music

Abstract

WE REPLICATED PREVIOUS FINDINGS AND DEMONSTRATED that familiarity with musical stimuli increased 'liking' or 'preference' for the stimuli. We also demonstrated that familiarity increased the intensity of emotional responses to music, but only when the stimuli were made highly familiar through en masse repetitions (Experiment 3) rather than through interspersed repetitions (Experiment 1). In addition, intensity ratings were higher when participants were asked to judge the emotion conveyed by the music than when they were asked to judge the emotion elicited by the same music (Experiments 2 and 3). Finally, positive emotions (i.e., happy and calm) were rated higher compared with negative emotions (i.e., sad and angry) for both types of ratings (i.e., conveyed or elicited). The findings suggest that familiarity plays a role in modulating a listener's emotional response to music.