«Invited Lecture»Perceptual and emotional reality of sounds

-Mechanisms of brain and body-

Abstract

Auditory modality contributes significantly to the perceptual and emotional reality of events in the external world. The mapping between the physical properties of sounds and auditory percepts is not straightforward. The discrepancies, or illusions, are not mere errors in processing. Rather, they reflect adaptive information processing strategies for the brain to interpret what is occurring where in the external world (i.e., auditory scene analysis) efficiently and appropriately, and thus an essential element of the reality. Another element of the reality is physiological responses of the autonomic nervous system and the endocrine system in response to emotional values of sounds, such as pleasantness or unpleasantness. The emotional responses to sounds represent adaptive functions for the brain to adjust body states in accordance with current situations. The emotional responses provide useful ways to evaluate the reality of sounds objectively.