Emotion investigated with music of variable valence – neurophysiology and cultural influence Emotion investigated with music of variable valence - neurophysiology and cultural influence Bei der Humanwissenschaftlichen Fakultät (Fach Kognitionswissenschaften) der Universität Potsdam eingereichte DISSERTATION zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades doctor philosophiae Dr. phil. vorgelegt von Diplom-Biologe Thomas Fritz geboren am 02. 03. 1973 in Karlsruhe, Deutschland Dekan: Prof. Dr. Ria De Bleser Published online at the Institutional Repository of the University of Potsdam: http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/volltexte/2009/2911/ urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-29114 [http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-29114] Acknowledgements It has been a pleasure conducting my work in the stimulating scientific environment provided by the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences. Stefan Koelsch, with whom I have experienced the privilege and challenge of working closely together, has in recent years tackled several largely uncharted territories in the neurosciences of music research with an enthusiasm that was contagious. He granted me the scientific freedom to develop an horizon of my own ideas and supported my plans to include a series of ethno-musicological studies in this thesis.