Music Listening, Music Therapy, Phenomenology and Neuroscience

Appendix 3.03 Survey of The Neurosciences

and Music III Conference 2008

Disorders and Plasticity

Title, Category

Aim

Mus. Material, Cultural Ref.

Technology & Procedure

Main focus of interest

Conclusion

51S.

Grewe et al.

(351

-354)

Chills and individual emotional peaks

Cat. 18: Bodiiy impact Cat. 19: Emotion

52S

. Müller et al.

(355

-358)

Expert versus lay aeshetic judgment

of music

Cat. 2: Harmony Cat. 8: Musicians

53S

. Nakahara et al.
(359

-362)

Emotion

-induced cardiac

response to musical performance

Cat. 18: Bodily impact Cat. 19: Emotion

54S

. Sutherland et al

.

(363

-367)

Social influences on emotions responses to music

Cat. 7: Culture Cat. 19: Emotion

55S

. Yoshie et al.

(368

-371)

Stress responses in a piano competition

Cat. 18: Bodily impact

To discuss a new approach that uses chills as indicators of individual emotional peaks

:

Combination of s

ubjective

response

, Skin conduc

tance

response (SCR) and Heart Rate (HR)

To analyze the process of making aesthetic judgments of music, focusing on the differences between music experts and laypersons

To investigate the effects of emotions evoked by music on Heart Rate (

HR) and Heart

Rate Variability (HRV) during piano playing compared to listening to the same music

To investigate whether listening to music in a group setting influenced the emotion felt by listeners

To examine the effects of psychological stress on

performance quality, autonomic responses, and upper extremity muscle activity in skilled pianists

Recorded music:

Seven musical pieces of Mozart, Bach, and Puccini

CR: Western

180 five

-chord, 3 sec piano

sequences. Ending chords sounded congruous,

ambi

• 
  

guous, or incongruous relative to the established harmonic context.

CR: Western

Task material:

Bach: Well-

Tempered Clavier:

Prelude Vol I, no. 1 (35 bars of music) played on

the piano.

Subsequently, listening to one’s own perfor

mances

CR: Western

Recorded music:

10 pre

• 
  

selected music excerpts shown in pilot tests to evoke strong emotional responses. 7 classical, 2 film music, 1 new age

. CR: Western, Western
popular
Task material:
Participants played a solo piece of their own choice a) in the rehearsal condition, alone in a practice room. b) in the competition condition, in front of audience and judges
CR: Not indicated

Collection of ch

ill samples of

95 listeners

in response to the

music. Ratings of the intensity of subjective feelings were recorded and synchronized to measurements of SCR and HR in the range of msec.

EEG:

Event

-Related

Potentials (

ERP

). 16 music

experts,16 laypersons. 360 trials. Visual cue indicated task: 1) Beautiful? 2) Correct

?

Response: Yes or No 13 active classical pianists

.

Tasks: 1) Play the music expressively. 2) Play the same music wihout emotions

3) Listen to 1

4) Listen to 2)

2 testing sessions: Alone, and in a group. Emotional reactions measured by a) questionnaires b) Skin Con

• 
  

ductance Response (SCR)

c) Button press for chill

Measurements of 1) Tension

• 
  

Anxiety (Profile of Mood States) 2) Heart Rate (HR)

3) Sweat Rate (SR)

4)

Electromyographic activity (EMG) of arm

-related muscles

Chills seem to consist in a strong feeling response combined with a measurable bo

dily reaction: goose bumps

elicited by the peripheral nervous system

Differences between

groups:

The depth of analytical processing as revealed by analyses of ERP: The P2 component and the Early Right Anterior Negaivity

Electrocardiogram: Measuring HR a

nd HRV. Analyses of

data indicating vagal and sympathetic nerve activities

Differences between

emotional response listening alone, and listening in a group Differences between rehearsal and competition conditions

Subjective intensity as well as

physiological arousal

(SCR, HR) revealed peaks during chill episodes.

Results suggest that chills are a reliable indicator of individual emotional peaks

ERP data indicate differences between

experts and

laypersons at three different processing stages

: Cu

e

presentation; 3rd to 4th chord; Last chord

Performance provided a stronger effect of emotion

• 
  

linked modulation in HR and HRV than listening. Reci

-procal modulation of

sympa

thetic and

parasympathetic

nervous activities involved Participants did not exp

erience more chills when

listening to music in a group than when listening alone

In the competition condition: Increased levels of subjective anxiety, autonomic arousal, and EMG activity.

Increased activation of the sympathetic division of the autonomous nervous system