The Evolution of Emotional Communication

Prof. Dr. med. Eckart Altenmüller (b. 1955) holds a Masters degree in classical flute, and is a Medical Doctor. After clinical training as a neurologist and habilitation, he became in 1994 chairman and director of the Institute of Music Physiology and Musicians' Medicine at the University of Music, Drama, and Media in Hannover. He continues research into the neurobiology of emotions and into movement disorders in musicians as well as motor, auditory and sensory learning. Since 2005 he is President of the German Society of Music Physiology and Musicians' Medicine and Member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences. Privatdozent Dr. rer nat. Sabine Schmidt is an experimental behavioural and sensory biologist and Head of the Sensory Biology group of the Institute of Zoology at the University of Veterinary Medicine and the Centre for Systems Neuroscience in Hannover, Germany. Her main research interests cover behavioural ecology and psychoacoustics, with special emphasis on echolocation and acoustic communication in bats. Prof. Dr. rer nat. Elke Zimmermann is an experimental behavioural and evolutionary biologist and Director of the Institute of Zoology and Professor at the University of Veterinary Medicine and the Center for Systems Neuroscience in Hannover, Germany. Her main research interests cover patterns, processes and mechanisms of primate adaptation, speciation and evolution, with special emphasis to the evolution of communication and cognition. She is spokesperson of the DFG-funded interdisciplinary Research Unit Acoustic communication of emotions in humans and nonhuman mammals.