Date of Award

5-2008

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Dr. L. Elizabeth Crawford

Abstract

The present study examined the link between affect and auditory stimuli in three parts. The first sought to determine the affective norms for the auditory stimuli. The second assessed the influence of a musical note’s register on the evaluation of a positive or negative word, while the third assessed the influence of harmonic musical intervals. Participants were simultaneously presented with auditory stimuli and a word, and their task was to judge as quickly as possible whether the word was positive or negative by pressing a corresponding key. It was hypothesized that congruence between auditory valence and word valence would facilitate quicker response times, while incongruence would inhibit response times. The results supported the hypothesis. The current findings have implications for the relationship between affective metaphor and verticality in terms of musical register, the affective characteristics of consonance and dissonance, and the ability of specific musical elements to influence perceptual judgments across modalities.

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