People

Dr Imre Lahdelma
Contact Dr Imre Lahdelma (email at imre.d.lahdelma@durham.ac.uk)
Biography
Imre Lahdelma is a post-doctoral researcher. He obtained his PhD degree in musicology from the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, in 2017. Imre’s doctoral work examined the perception of single chords (i.e., chords without a musical or tonal context) in terms of conveyed emotions and their psychoacoustic qualities. During his doctoral work he did research visits to the UK (Durham University), Denmark (Aarhus University), and held a Fulbright pre-doctoral fellowship at the University of Washington in Seattle, USA, collaborating with the UW Laboratory for Music Cognition, Culture & Learning.
Imre’s current research focuses on the perception of consonance and dissonance from a cross-cultural perspective. His research is situated in the multidisciplinary field of music psychology and draws from methods of experimental psychology, psychoacoustics, and ethnomusicology. Imre’s current research aims to cast light on the questions of how and to what extent culture affects the way we perceive consonance and dissonance, with a focus on comparing listeners familiar with Western and Hindustani (North Indian) music cultures, respectively.
For further information on Imre’s research publications, go to ResearchGate.
Selected Publications
Doctoral Thesis
- Lahdelma, I. (2017). At the interface between sensation and emotion: Perceived qualities of single chords. Jyväskylä Studies in Humanities (313). University of Jyväskylä. PhD.
Journal Article
- Lahdelma, I., Armitage, J. & Eerola, T. (2020). Affective priming with musical chords is influenced by pitch numerosity. Musicae Scientiae
- Lahdelma, I. & Eerola, T. (2020). Cultural familiarity and musical expertise impact the pleasantness of consonance/dissonance but not its perceived tension. Scientific Reports 10: 8693.
- Lahdelma, I. & Eerola, T. (2016). Mild dissonance preferred over consonance in single chord perception. i-Perception 7(3): 2041669516655812
- Lahdelma, I. & Eerola, T. (2016). Single chords convey distinct emotional qualities to both naïve and expert listeners. Psychology of Music 44(1): 37-54.
- Lahdelma, I. & Eerola, T. (2015). Theoretical proposals on how vertical harmony may convey nostalgia and longing in music. Empirical Musicology Review 10(3): 245-263.