This thesis applied the short-time direct directed transfer function (SdDTF) to time series data recordings from intracranial electrodes that measure the brain's electrical activity to determine the causal influences that occurred between brain regions during a speech production task. The combination of high temporal and spatial resolution of the electrocorticography (ECoG) recordings directly from the cortex render these measurements of brain activity desirable, particularly when analyzing the fine cognitive dynamics involved in word generation. This research applied a new method to characterize the SdDTF results by compressing across time and high gamma frequencies, generating adjacency matrices, and graphing them to visualize the influences between anatomical regions over the duration of the entire task. This consolidated SdDTF analysis technique allowed for data from a total of seven patients to be combined, generating results which were consistent with current speech production models. The results from this thesis contribute to the expansion of language research by identifying areas relevant to word generation, providing information that will help surgeons avoid irreparable damage to crucial cortex during brain surgery.

This thesis examines the relations among emotions and musical features and their changes with time, based on the assertion that there exist underlying, culturally specific, quantifiable rules which govern these relations. I designed, programmed and tested a computer controlled Two-Dimensional Emotion Space (2DES) which administered and controlled all aspects of the experimental work. The 2DES instrument consisted of two bipolar emotional response (ER) dimensions: valence (happiness-sadness) and arousal (activeness-sleepiness). The instrument had a test-retest reliability exceeding 0.83 (p &gt 0.01, N = 28) when words and pictures of facial expressions were used as the test stimuli. Construct validity was quantified (r &lt 0.84, p &gt 0.01). The 2DES was developed to collect continuous responses to recordings of four movements of music (N = 67) chosen to elicit responses in all quadrants of the 2DES: &quotMorning&quot from Peer Gynt, Adagio from Rodrigo???s Concierto de Aranjuez (Aranjuez), Dvorak???s Slavonic Dance Op 42, No. 1 and Pizzicato Polka by Strauss. Test-retest reliability was 0.74 (p &gt 0.001, N = 14). Five salient and objectively quantifiable features of the musical signal (MFs) were scaled and used for time series analysis of the stimuli: melodic pitch, tempo, loudness, frequency spectrum centroid (timbral sharpness) and texture (number of different instruments playing). A quantitative analysis consisted of: (1) first order differencing to remove trends, (2) determination of suitable, lagged MFs to keep as regressors via stepwise regression, and (3) regression of each ER onto selected MFs with first order autoregressive adjustment for serial correlation. Regression coefficients indicated that first order differenced (???) loudness and ???tempo had the largest correlations with ???arousal across all pieces, and ???melodic pitch correlated with ???valence for Aranjuez (p &gt 0.01 for all coefficients). The models were able to explain up to 73% of mean response variance. Additional variation was explained qualitatively as being due to interruptions, interactions and collinearity: The minor key and dissonances in a tonal context moved valence toward the negative direction; Short duration and perfect cadences moved valence in the positive direction. The 2DES measure and serial correlation adjusted regression models were, together, shown to be powerful tools for understanding relations among musical features and emotional response.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2007. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Tufts University, 2005. / Adviser: Robert Greif. Submitted to the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 231-237). Access restricted to members of the Tufts University community. Also available via the World Wide Web;

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Washington State University, May 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Umeå : Sveriges lantbruksuniv., 2007. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Thesis (M.S.)--Missouri University of Science and Technology, 2008. / Vita. The entire thesis text is included in file. Title from title screen of thesis/dissertation PDF file (viewed April 29, 2008) Includes bibliographical references (p. 53-55).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Tulsa, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 92-97).

Thesis (M. P. H.)--University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Also available in print.