Jonna K. Vuoskoski
Jonna K. Vuoskoski, førsteamanuensis, UiO
Main content
- Psychology of music
- Music cognition
- Music and emotion
- Empathy and social cognition
My research investigates various psychological and cognitive processes that take place during musical engagement. An enduring theme in my research has been music and emotion: What kinds of psychological processes and mechanisms account for the powerful emotional effects that music has on us – even in the absence of lyrics and other extramusical information? Among other aspects, I have investigated individual differences in emotional responding in the context of music listening, and how these differences might shed light on the underlying processes. I have used a variety of methods in my research, including online and lab-based experiments, self-report, implicit measures, and psychophysiology.
More recently, my research has focused on social cognitive processes during musical engagement; particularly empathy and affiliation. Music is able to represent and communicate multiple levels of agency as well as social and cultural categories, and musical engagement involves a number of processes that foster social bonding and rapport. For example, engagement with the music of a specific culture may evoke feelings of affiliation towards members of that culture more generally. My planned research investigates two underlying processes that may contribute to the affiliative/social bonding effects of musical engagement: emotional empathy and rhythmic entrainment (i.e., neural and motor resonance with the rhythmic features of music, and/or synchronized joint action).
Contact information:
https://www.hf.uio.no/ritmo/english/people/core-group/jonnakv/
