rate (p. 352). The authors conclude that, according to their approach, it is possible to cope with indi-
vidual responses in a controlled and objective way. They have published an elaborate report of their
study (Grewe et al. 2009).
Emotional response to an infant’s unhappy cry
Strait et al. (NM III no. 30, pp. 209-213) have investigated auditory brain stem responses (ABR) to
affective vocal sounds. A group of non-musicians and a group of musically trained participants lis-
tened to an emotionally charged complex vocal sound – an infant’s unhappy cry. Differences in brain
stem responses suggest that musical experience sharpens subcortical auditory processing, resulting
in enhanced perception of vocally expressed emotion (p. 209). The authors attribute this sharpening
to a corticofugal system^20 incorporating the primary auditory cortex, thalamus, and the auditory brain
stem.
3.3.2. Critical comments stated at the conference NM III 2008
Contrary to the previous conferences, the chapter introductions in the proceedings do not include
critical comments on methods, cultural and social references, and technology, with one exception.
Mari Tervaniemi, in her introduction to the section on Emotions and Music (NM III, p. 295-296) re-
veals a critical attitude, as she emphasizes the challenge to empirical research in emotions and
music, that ”each individual listener can build his or her unique mental and emotional scene of any
musical piece.”^21 This statement indicates an important approach in neuroscience, the investigation
of individual experiences alongside with the general functions of the brain.^22
3.3.3. Achievements and problems of research in NM III 2008.
The 2008 conference was oriented towards the concept of plasticity, the possibility of inducing
changes in the brain. The conference plan focused on changes in brain function and anatomy due to
training and expertise, and changes of deficits and disorders by means of therapeutic interventions.
In the preface to the conference proceedings, the scientific committee pointed out that the
2008 conference highlighted the clinical domain, and that it reflected the consensus that music can
serve as a model system to study the plasticity of the brain. Moreover, they report the observation
that music neuroscience has established itself as a research area of importance, and that the gap
between applied and basic research is being bridged (NM III, pp. 1-2).
Similar to NM I and NM II, the following themes and problematics deserve attention: 1) Ecological
validity. 2) Cultural bias. 3) Aesthetic and social factors. 4) Localization of brain functions. 5) The lim-
itations of experimental techniques.
Ecological validity
Appendix 3.05, provides a survey of musical material NM III.
Sources not indicated
Nine papers out of 79 do not indicate the sound sources of stimuli. Four of these papers are studies
of tapping and meter (no. 1, 2, 5, and 76). Three papers are studies of memory (no. 36, 37, 38). One
20 A corticofugal system consists of nerve fibers that convey impulses away from the cerebral cortex. See the descen-
ding auditory pathway, Chapter 6 and He & Yu (2010:247-268).
21 Cf. Chapter 2, Listening strategies.
22 In his review of bodily responses to music, Donald A. Hodges expresses a related point of view: ”Bodily responses are
highly idiosyncratic as each person brings a unique self to a music listening situation” (Hodges 2009:127)