A Cross-Cultural Investigation of the Perception of Emotion in Music: Psychophysical and Cultural Cues Author(s): Laura-Lee Balkwill and William Forde Thompson Source: Music Perception: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Fall, 1999), pp. 43-64 Published by: University of California Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40285811 . Accessed: 15/10/2014 16:19 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. University of California Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Music Perception: An Interdisciplinary Journal. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 130.132.173.158 on Wed, 15 Oct 2014 16:19:39 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Music Perception © 1999 by the regents of the Fall 1999, Vol. 17, No. 1, 43-64 university of California A Cross-CulturalInvestigation of the Perceptionof Emotion in Music: Psychophysicaland CulturalCues LAURA-LEE BALKWILL & WILLIAM FORDE THOMPSON AtkinsonCollege, YorkUniversity Studiesof the link betweenmusic and emotion have primarilyfocused on listeners'sensitivity to emotionin the musicof theirown culture.This sensitivitymay reflectlisteners' enculturation to the conventionsof their culture's tonal system. However, it may also reflect responses to psychophysicaldimensions of soundthat are independentof musicalex- perience.A model of listeners'perception of emotion in music is pro- posed in which emotionin music is communicatedthrough a combina- tion of universaland culturalcues.