Our voices are a critical part of human communication. However, it turns out that there's still much we don't know about how our brains perceive and produce the emotions that we communicate through voice.
A new study explored this subject. It focused on the one voice that most people can't help but hear all the time — their own. "You can't escape it," laughed Jean-Julien Aucouturier. He is a scientist with the French National Center for Scientific Research. This group is part of a lab in Paris, France, that studies the science of music and sound. Aucouturier is the lead author of the paper describing the study. The results suggest that the emotions carried in your voice can influence your overall emotional state.
For this experiment, about 100 participants were asked to answer simple questions about their emotions — whether they felt happy, sad or afraid. Then they wore headphones and read a short story out loud while listening to their own voice. Afterward, they were asked to rate their emotions again using the same set of written questions. Participants were not told that reporting their emotions and reading the story were part of the same experiment.
How effective is the introduction [paragraphs 1-3] at developing the article's MAIN idea?
A
Effective; it summarizes the findings of the study and how it was carried out.
B
Effective; it provides an anecdote about the lead author of the study.
C
Not effective; it explains the importance of voices but not their link to emotion.
D
Not effective; it outlines the process of the study but not the reasons for it.
A
Effective; it summarizes the findings of the study and how it was carried out.