Music, emotional response

Juslin P.N. and Vastfjall D. (2008) Emotional responses to music the need to consider underlying mechanisms. Behavioral and Brain Science 31 559-575. 

The next layer in material selection based on feel involves the concept of response. Like all animals, humans respond to sensory input. The response may be an involuntary action (like your knee kicking out), a body sensation (feeling dizzy), a physical action (salivating when you smell food), an emotional response (feeling happy when you hug your child), or a combination of these items. It may also involve an intellectual assessment, where one evaluates the sensory input and makes a conscious decision on what actions to take next (such as whether or not they should yell Turn that music down ). These responses may also be affected by conditioning (either intentional or unintentional). The Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov... 

Music is the perfect example of human response to sound. Sound, as we discussed earlier, is a mechanical wave. Hearing is the act of receiving that mechanical wave, and how it is transmitted to and processed by the brain. The feel of a sound is the response we have to what we hear. Most of us have favorite pieces of music, which elicit physical and emotional responses, and perhaps even memories. But we also respond to other sounds, often without even realizing it. 

A subject chose music or aroma he/she liked. This means mental or emotional activity of the subject s satisfaction. This is a conscious response. Judging from this experiment, the answer was honest one. 

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