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mode on arousal and mood. A Mozart sonata was manipulated to produce four
versions that varied both in tempo and mode. The results show that tempo
manipulation affected arousal but not mood, whereas mode manipulation affected
mood but not arousal. Furthermore, musical excerpts that have fast or slow tempo
were judged to be happy or sad, respectively. Cagnon and Peretz (
2003
), although
they were not interested in the interaction between mode and tempo, reported that
happy
sad conditions were in
uenced more strongly by tempo than they were by
-
mode. The results con
”
judgments with tempo being more salient. Webster and Weir (
2005
) investigated
systematically the effect of tempo, mode, and texture on emotional responses to
music. They concluded that the effects of mode, tempo, and texture were interactive
in nature. Major modes presented at fast tempi were positively valenced, whereas
minor modes presented at slow tempi were negatively valenced. Recently, the
combined in
rm that both mode and tempo determine the
“
happy
sad
-
uence of mode and tempo on emotional responses to music was
studied (Ramos et al.
2011
). Three musical pieces composed in the Ionian mode
and then played in the remaining six Greek modes without affecting the melodic
contour were used. The resulted musical excerpts were then played at three different
tempi. The reported results showed some interactive effects between tempo and
mode but the effect of the two parameters was mainly additive. The research
reported so far in the interaction between musical characteristics of mode and tempo
provided contradictory results. On the one hand, it has been shown that fast tempo
music excerpts increase valence and arousal up to a certain degree of happiness, and
on the other hand, it has been found that tempo increases decrease the effect of
happiness on major mode and support happiness appraisal on minor mode.
The main body of the research on the effect of mode and tempo on emotional
responses to music was primarily based on self-reports instead of physiological
responses or a combination of both. Physiological responses, compared to self-
reports, provide unbiased responses and are able to capture changes in emotions
that would be undetected in self-reports. Using physiological responses to music
stimuli including heart and respiration rate and skin conductance, Van der Zwaag
et al. (
2011
) studied the effect of tempo, mode, and percussiveness on emotion.
Percussiveness can be considered as a descriptor of timbre (Skowronek and Mc-
Kinney
2007
). They found, in agreement with previous research, that fast tempo
increases arousal and tension. Minor mode, however, evoked higher arousal
compared to major mode. This is in contradiction with existing research. They also
found interdependencies of musical characteristics in affecting emotion. Percus-
siveness is strengthening the influence of either mode or tempo on the intensity of
positive feelings. Fast tempo and major mode music are both experienced more
positively in combination with high percussiveness compared to low percussive-
ness. The combined interactions of mode and tempo on emotional responses to
music were recently investigated using both self-reports and EEG activity
(Trochidis and Bigand
2013
). It was reported that musical modes in
uence the
valence of emotion with major mode being evaluated happier and more serene, than
minor and locrian modes. In EEG frontal activity, major mode was associated with
an increased alpha activation in the left hemisphere compared to minor and locrian
