Animacy, Anthropomimesis,
and Musical Line

This dissertation argues that music is compelling because it exhibits anthropomimetic animacy cues — perceptual indicators that it originates from a living human source. Musical lines mimic three characteristics of humans: voice, gait, and language. Empirical studies investigate how polyphonic voice multiplicity influences emotion perception, and test whether higher musical pitch coincides with faster speeds in western composition and performance.

Completed at The Ohio State University in 2013 under the advisement of David Huron, with committee members David Clampitt, Gregory Proctor, and Robert J. Ward.

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