Fear, Music, and the Brain: What Makes Music Scary with Caitlyn Trevor PhD

Music and tech have long played their own ghoulish roles in making Halloween especially terrifying. In this week’s spooky episode, Caitlyn Trevor PhD joins host Tristra Newyear Yeager to explore what makes music scary and how our brains process fear. Discover and experience how musical elements such as high drone tones, vocal mimicry, rhythmic unpredictability, low rumbling, and sound effects create soundscapes that evoke fear and anxiety. Learn how Caitlyn and her research team use pupil dilation, heart rate, micro expressions, and FMRI brain imaging to measure our physiological reaction to scary music. How can a greater understanding of how  our brains process fear and anxiety help survivors of PTSD and trauma build emotional resilience? Find out on this week’s episode.

The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit MusicTectonics.com to learn more, and find us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!