UM research records striking physiological similarities

DATE: 4-5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2006.

EVENT: ” Deep Listening: Music, Emotion and Trancing,” an exploration of the physiological similarities between religious ecstatics and people with deep emotional responses to music. A lecture by Judith Becker, professor of ethnomusicology in the School of Music, Drama and Dance.

Becker will discuss her findings based on studying the galvanic skin responses of participants during the last year-and-a-half of research, including documenting physiological reactions of Pentecostals, professional musicians, and common music listeners. The empirical support for Professor Becker’s thesis illuminates the power of music to captivate, compel and manipulate emotions.

Among the many practical applications of the research is a heightened awareness of how music can be used to manipulate when placed within the context of product advertising and political campaigns.

Her research and hypothesis challenges many widely accepted cultural and neuroscientific studies. Accused by critics of ” trying to take the magic out of music,” Professor Becker’s purpose is to probe the fundamental relationship among music, ritual and avid listeners’ deep infatuation with rhythms and the ” listening experience.”

Uncovering the connection between auditory pleasure and a deep physiological response, Professor Becker’s research also broadens the understanding of the emotional connection” often times referred to as a ” hysterical reaction” ” music fans have had to such pop icons as Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Madonna and Britney Spears.

PLACE: Fourth floor, east conference room, Rackham School of Graduate Studies