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Emotional granularity and the musical enjoyment of sadness itself

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2017

Nathaniel F. Barrett ,
Jay Schulkin  and
Javier Bernacer
Nathaniel F. Barrett
Affiliation:
Institute for Culture and Society, University of Navarra, Pamplona 31009, Spain. [email protected]@unav.eshttp://www.unav.edu/web/instituto-cultura-y-sociedad/mente-y-cerebro
Jay Schulkin
Affiliation:
Department of Neuroscience, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057. [email protected]://neuro.georgetown.edu/
Javier Bernacer
Affiliation:
Institute for Culture and Society, University of Navarra, Pamplona 31009, Spain. [email protected]@unav.eshttp://www.unav.edu/web/instituto-cultura-y-sociedad/mente-y-cerebro
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Abstract

We contest the claim that musically induced sadness cannot be enjoyable in itself. This possibility is supported by closer attention to a musical experience as well as cases of affective reversal, such as the “hedonic flip” of painful feelings. We propose that the affective reversal of sadness in music is due to the high granularity of musically induced emotion.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 40 , 2017 , e351
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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