title: Emotional communication in speech and music: the role of melodic and rhythmic contrasts.
abstract: Many acoustic features convey emotion similarly in speech and music. Researchers have established that acoustic features such as pitch height, tempo, and intensity carry important emotional information in both domains. In this investigation, we examined the emotional significance of melodic and rhythmic contrasts between successive syllables or tones in speech and music, referred to as Melodic Interval Variability (MIV) and the normalized Pairwise Variability Index (nPVI). The spoken stimuli were 96 tokens expressing the emotions of irritation, fear, happiness, sadness, tenderness, or no emotion. The music stimuli were 96 phrases, played with or without performance expression and composed with the intention of communicating the same emotions. Results showed that nPVI, but not MIV, operates similarly in music and speech. Spoken stimuli, but not musical stimuli, were characterized by changes in MIV as a function of intended emotion. The results suggest that these measures may signal emotional intentions differently in speech and music.
authors: Department of Psychology, Macquarie University Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors: Lena
authors: L
authors: Quinto
authors: William Forde
authors: WF
authors: Thompson
authors: Felicity Louise
authors: FL
authors: Keating
keywords: emotional communication; melodic variability index; music cognition and perception; normalized pairwise variability index; speech prosody
references: Emotion. 2010 Jun;10(3):335-48
references: 20515223
references: Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2003 Dec;1000:244-65
references: 14766635
references: Curr Biol. 2009 Apr 14;19(7):573-6
references: 19303300
references: Psychol Bull. 2003 Sep;129(5):770-814
references: 12956543
references: Lang Speech. 2000 Oct-Dec;43(Pt 4):377-401
references: 11419223
references: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Nov 13;109(46):19027-32
references: 23112175
references: J Pers Soc Psychol. 1996 Mar;70(3):614-36
references: 8851745
references: Cognition. 2009 Jun;111(3):404-10
references: 19358985
references: Cogn Emot. 2013;27(4):658-84
references: 23057507
references: J Voice. 1995 Sep;9(3):235-48
references: 8541967
references: Psychol Bull. 2002 Mar;128(2):203-35
references: 11931516
references: J Acoust Soc Am. 2006 May;119(5 Pt 1):3034-47
references: 16708959
references: Annu Rev Psychol. 1997;48:115-38
references: 9046557
references: J Acoust Soc Am. 2010 Jan;127(1):491-503
references: 20058994