What music makes us feel: At least 13 dimensions organize subjective experiences associated with music across different cultures Alan S. Cowena,1,2, Xia Fangb,c,1, Disa Sauterb, and Dacher Keltnera aDepartment of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720; bDepartment of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, 1001 NK Amsterdam, The Netherlands; and cDepartment of Psychology, York University, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada Edited by Dale Purves, Duke University, Durham, NC, and approved December 9, 2019 (received for review June 25, 2019) What is the nature of the feelings evoked by music? We investi- people hear a moving or ebullient piece of music, do particular gated how people represent the subjective experiences associated feelings—e.g., “sad,”“fearful,”“dreamy”—constitute the foun- with Western and Chinese music and the form in which these dation of their experience? Or are such feelings constructed representational processes are preserved across different cultural from more general affective features such as valence (pleasant vs. groups. US (n = 1,591) and Chinese (n = 1,258) participants listened unpleasant) and arousal (9, 11–15)? The answers to these to 2,168 music samples and reported on the specific feelings (e.g., questions not only illuminate the nature of how music elicits “ ”“ ” angry, dreamy ) or broad affective features (e.g., valence, subjective experiences, but also can inform claims about how the arousal) that they made individuals feel. Using large-scale statisti- brain represents our feelings (8, 15), how infants learn to rec- cal tools, we uncovered 13 distinct types of subjective experience ognize feelings in themselves and others (16), the extent to which associated with music in both cultures. Specific feelings such as representations of subjective experience are universal across “triumphant” were better preserved across the 2 cultures than cultures (4–7), and the etiology of affective disorders (17, 18). levels of valence and arousal, contrasting with theoretical claims that The dimensionality of subjective experience concerns the range valence and arousal are building blocks of subjective experience. This held true even for music selected on the basis of its valence and of feelings that people experience. How many distinct feelings do arousal levels and for traditional Chinese music. Furthermore, the we experience in response to music? Which of the feelings asso- feelings associated with music were found to occupy continuous ciated with music are dependent on the cultural background of the gradients, contradicting discrete emotion theories. Our findings, vi- listener, and which are consistent across cultural groups? sualized within an interactive map (https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/ Finally, there is the question of distribution: How are the ∼acowen/music.html) reveal a complex, high-dimensional space of feelings that music evokes distributed: Are they discrete clusters subjective experience associated with music in multiple cultures. of states, or can they be blended together (11, 19)? These findings can inform inquiries ranging from the etiology of Together, the conceptualization, dimensionality, and distribu- affective disorders to the neurological basis of emotion. tion of subjective experience capture what we refer to as a se- mantic space of subjective experience. Studies drawing upon this emotion | affect | music | culture | semantic space conceptual framework have renewed our understanding of the feelings elicited by videos of real-world events (12) and attributed entral to the meaning of music are the subjective experiences to facial expressions and vocal utterances (10, 20, 21). Cthat it evokes (1–3). Performers across cultures (4, 5) can reliably convey intense feelings with songs and instruments of Significance different kinds and often do so by relying on acoustic features and associated percepts—pitch, loudness, pace—characteristic Do our subjective experiences when listening to music show of the human vocal expression of emotion (6) and of speech (7). evidence of universality? And if so, what is the nature of these Music also modulates activity in brain regions implicated in experiences? With data-driven methodological and statistical emotion-related processing (8). approaches, we examined the feelings evoked by 2,168 music What is not well understood is how music evokes feelings in excerpts in the United States and China. We uncovered 13 dis- listeners. What is the taxonomic structure of the subjective ex- tinct types of experiences that people across 2 different cul- periences that music evokes? How do people represent their tures report in listening to music of different kinds. Categories experiences when hearing music? To what extent are these such as “awe” drive the experience of music more so than processes consistent or variable across cultural groups? The broad affective features like valence. However, emotions that present investigation addresses these questions, guided by a scientists have long treated as discrete can be blended to- theoretical approach to subjective experience (9) and empirical gether. Our results provide answers to long-standing questions and quantitative approaches (10). about the nature of the subjective experiences associated with music. A Semantic Space Approach to Subjective Experience Music can evoke intense subjective experiences that people Author contributions: A.S.C., D.S., and D.K. designed research; A.S.C. and X.F. performed represent with concepts such as “awe,”“joy,” and “anger” (1–3). research; A.S.C. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; A.S.C. analyzed data; and A.S.C., Within any realm—social interactions, the appreciation of art, or X.F., D.S., and D.K. wrote the paper. the daily fluctuations of mood, for example—subjective experi- The authors declare no competing interest. ences are varied, blended, and complex (11). To account for such This article is a PNAS Direct Submission. complexity, we have offered a semantic space approach that Published under the PNAS license. structures subjective experiences in terms of 3 properties: their 1A.S.C. and X.F. contributed equally to this work. conceptualization, dimensionality, and distribution. 2To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: [email protected]. The conceptualization of subjective experience concerns the This article contains supporting information online at https://www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/ nature of the concepts that most precisely characterize our doi:10.1073/pnas.1910704117/-/DCSupplemental. feelings. This question is central to affective science (11). When First published January 6, 2020. 1924–1934 | PNAS | January 28, 2020 | vol. 117 | no. 4 www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1910704117 Downloaded by guest on September 26, 2021 A Methodological Approach to Subjective Experience people report feeling chills, shivers down their spine, laughter, Characterizing the semantic space of any response modality re- tears, goose bumps, lumps in their throat, and rushes of adren- quires a departure from past approaches. The vast majority of aline (23–27). However, we have yet to fully understand the research on subjective experience has focused on a small number different varieties of subjective experience associated with dif- of emotions (often just 4 to 6) (11). These experiences are typ- ferent kinds of music [or the distinctions between experienced ically elicited using a limited number of stimuli—often only 1 or 2— and perceived feelings in music, which are difficult to capture preselected to elicit more prototypical emotional responses, (1, 28); see Discussion for implications for the present study]. Well- which are measured by asking participants to choose among 4 to replicated studies have found that people within a cultural group 6 emotion categories or to report ratings of valence and arousal can, with 70% or greater accuracy, label the feelings associated (and on occasion other appraisals) (11, 18). These methods pre- with small assortments of musical selections with 6 or fewer — “ ”“ ”“ ” clude advances in understanding how people conceptualize sub- emotion categories most notably, anger, happiness, fear, “ ”“ ” “ ” — jective experience in terms of both categories and affective sadness, surprise, and tenderness (1) or along scales of features (conceptualization), the range of feelings people experi- valence and arousal (29). ence (dimensionality), and the nature of the boundaries between Less is understood, however, about the broader structure of specific feelings (distribution) (9–12). subjective experiences associated with music. Many studies have With respect to the conceptualization of subjective experience, contrasted models that sort the feelings associated with music the use of small stimulus sets precludes comparing competing into 6 discrete emotion categories with models that represent models of experience—for example, whether it is driven by spe- these feelings as levels of valence and arousal (29, 30). However, cific feelings such as “amusement” or broad affective features such because these are 2 among many possible ways that the feelings as valence. This is because with few stimuli that vary in many ways, associated with music may be structured (11), the focus on these many alternative conceptualizations become equivalent (that is, 2 models has precluded a richer understanding of the concep- tualization, dimensionality, and distribution of the subjective competing model features become collinear) (22). For example, experiences associated