Aspects of musical emotion influence how we perceive each other in interactional contexts
What is it about?
Some features of music are typically manipulated by composers to convey affect. We used music excerpts in which some of these features were systematically varied to produce different emotional characteristics. When participants moved together with the researcher to the music, the perceived 'likeability' of the synchronised partner changed in function of the affect conveyed by the music excerpts. This influence was determined by a significantly stronger effect of the music characteristics in female participants.
Why is it important?
Our findings show that, differently from what described in previous studies, music affects person perception not only by affording a beat to synchronise with and to be used for interpersonal coordination, but also by providing different emotional cues.