Abstract
The ability of music to induce emotion is a disputed phenomenon. The aim of this study is to
examine the perception of, subjective feeling, and physiological arousal to the emotion
expressed in music. Ninety participants listened to an audio clip of unfamiliar instrumental
music while heart rate and skin conductance were recorded. Participants were randomly
assigned to three music conditions: happy, sad and neutral. The PANAS questionnaire was
completed prior to exposure to the music stimulus to establish general affective state.
Following the excerpt, participants completed the Geneva Emotional Music Scale, a selfreport
measure of the subjective feeling of musically induced emotions. A report of the
perception of the emotionality of the music was included in the demographic questionnaire. A
significant difference was indicated between the perception of the emotion expressed in the
music, the subjective feeling and physiological responses; demonstrating recognition of
emotion is greater than is musically induced. Author keywords: music, music psychology, emotion in music, mood, affective state, physiological reponses, subjective feeling, perception
