Dissertation Defense - R. Michael Winters

Candidate:

R. Michael Winters, PhD Candidate

Music Technology, Georgia Institute of Technology

Title:

Empathic Effects of Auditory Heartbeats: A Neurophysiological Investigation.

Date & Time:

December 12, 2019 1-3pm

Place:
West Village Annex Room 275
532 8th St. NW, Atlanta, GA 30318

Oral Defense Committee:

Grace Leslie, Brain Music Lab, Center for Music Technology, Georgia Institute of Technology

Gil Weinberg, Robotic Musicianship Group, Center for Music Technology, Georgia Institute of Technology

Bruce Walker, Sonification Lab, Schools of Psychology & Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology 

Melody Moore Jackson: Brain Lab, School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology

Stephen McAdams: Music Perception & Cognition Lab, Schulich School of Music, McGill University

Description:

We were curious if hearing someone's heartbeat would increase listeners' empathic connection to them. We made an experiment that paired heartbeat sounds with images of eyes, and asked participants what the virtual person was feeling. We found that hearing auditory heartbeats changed listeners' affective perspective and increased their reported co-feeling with that person. These changes were accompanied by differences in listener heartrate and autonomic physiological entrainment to the tempo of the auditory heartbeat. We analyzed the heartbeat-evoked potential (HEP) and found evidence that listeners' cortical attention to their internal heartbeat had decreased. We propose auditory heartbeat sharing as an empathic intervention with clinical and interpersonal applications. The empathetic response to the auditory heartbeat might engage similar mechanisms as the beat and tempo in music.

Guest Parking:
Curran Street Parking Deck (Entrance on Curran Street)
$1/hr