Marjolein D. van der Zwaag

Emotional and psychophysiological responses to tempo, mode, and percussiveness

People often listen to music to influence their emotional state. However, the specific musical characteristics which cause this process are not yet fully understood. We have investigated the influence of the musical characteristics of tempo, mode, and percussiveness on our emotions. In a quest towards ecologically valid results, 32 participants listened to 16 pop and 16 rock songs while conducting an office task. They rated experienced arousal, valence, and tension, while skin conductance and cardiovascular responses were recorded. An increase in tempo was found to lead to an increase in reported arousal and tension and a decrease in heart rate variability. More arousal was reported during minor than major mode songs. Level and frequency of skin conductance responses increased with an increase in percussiveness. Physiological responses revealed patterns that might not have been revealed by self-report. Interaction effects further suggest that musical characteristics interplay in modulating emotions. So, tempo, mode, and percussiveness indeed modulate our emotions and, consequently, can be used to direct emotions. Music presentation revealed subtly different results in a laboratory setting, where music was altered with breaks, from those in a more ecologically valid setting where continuous music was presented. All in all, this enhances our understanding of the influence of music on emotions and creates opportunities seamlessly to tap into listeners’ emotional state through their physiological responses.

The influence of music on mood and performance while driving

Mood can influence our everyday behaviour and people often seek to reinforce, or to alter their mood, for example by turning on music. Music listening while driving is a popular activity. However, little is known about the impact of music listening while driving on physiological state and driving performance. In the present experiment, it was investigated whether individually selected music can induce mood and maintain moods during a simulated drive. In addition, effects of positive, negative, and no music on driving behaviour and physiological measures were assessed for normal and high cognitive demanding rides. Subjective mood ratings indicated that music successfully maintained mood while driving. Narrow lane width drives increased task demand as shown in effort ratings and increased swerving. Furthermore, respiration rate was lower during music listening compared to rides without music, while no effects of music were found on heart rate. Overall, the current study demonstrates that music listening in car influences the experienced mood while driving, which in turn can impact driving behaviour. Practitioners Summary: Even though it is a popular activity, little is known about the impact of music while driving on physiological state and performance. We examined whether music can induce moods during high and low simulated drives. The current study demonstrates that in car music listening influences mood which in turn can impact driving behaviour. The current study shows that listening to music can positively impact mood while driving, which can be used to affect state and safe behaviour. Additionally, driving performance in high demand situations is not negatively affected by music.

Directing Physiology and Mood through Music: Validation of an Affective Music Player

Music is important in everyday life, as it provides entertainment and influences our moods. As music is widely available, it is becoming increasingly difficult to select songs to suit our mood. An affective music player can remove this obstacle by taking a desired mood as input and then selecting songs that direct toward that desired mood. In the present study, we validate the concept of an affective music player directing the energy dimension of mood. User models were trained for 10 participants based on skin conductance changes to songs from their own music database. Based on the resulting user models, the songs that most increased or decreased the skin conductance level of the participants were selected to induce either a relatively energized or a calm mood. Experiments were conducted in a real-world office setting. The results showed that a reliable prediction can be made of the impact of a song on skin conductance, that skin conductance and mood can be directed toward an energized or calm state and that skin conductance remains in these states for at least 30 minutes. All in all, this study shows that the concept and models of the affective music player worked in an ecologically valid setting, suggesting the feasibility of using physiological responses in real-life affective computing applications.

Mood recognition based on upper body posture and movement features

While studying body postures in relation to mood is not a new concept, the majority of these studies rely on actors interpretations. This project investigated the temporal aspects of naturalistic body postures while users listened to mood inducing music. Video data was collected while participants listened to eight minutes of music during two sessions (happy and sad) in a within-subjects design. Subjectively reported mood scores validated that mood did differ significantly for valence and energy. Video analysis consisted of postural ratings for the head, shoulders, trunk, arms, and head and hand tapping. Results showed significant differences for the majority of these dimensions by mood. This study showed that certain body postures are indicative of certain mood states in a naturalistic setting.

Effects of mood induction via music on cardiovascular measures of negative emotion during simulated driving.

A study was conducted to investigate the potential of mood induction via music to influence cardiovascular correlates of negative emotions experience during driving behaviour. One hundred participants were randomly assigned to one of five groups, four of whom experienced different categories of music: High activation/positive valence (HA/PV), high activation/negative valence (HA/NV), low activation/positive valence (LA/PV) and low activation/negative valence (LA/NV). Following exposure to their respective categories of music, participants were required to complete a simulated driving journey with a fixed time schedule. Negative emotion was induced via exposure to stationary traffic during the simulated route. Cardiovascular reactivity was measured via blood pressure, heart rate and cardiovascular impedance. Subjective self-assessment of anger and mood was also recorded. Results indicated that low activation music, regardless of valence, reduced systolic reactivity during the simulated journey relative to HA/NV music and the control (no music) condition. Self-reported data indicated that participants were not consciously aware of any influence of music on their subjective mood. It is concluded that cardiovascular reactivity to negative mood may be mediated by the emotional properties of music.

The impact of music on affect during anger inducing drives

Driver anger could be potentially harmful for road safety and longterm health. Because of its mood inducing properties, music is assumed to be a potential medium that could prevent anger induction during driving. In the current study the influence of music on anger, mood, skin conductance, and systolic blood pressure was investigated during anger inducing scenarios in a driving simulator. 100 participants were split into five groups: four listened to different types of music (high / low energy in combination with both positive / negative valence) or a no music control. Results showed that anger induction was highest during high energy negative music compared to positive music irrespective of energy level. Systolic blood pressure and skin conductance levels were higher during high energy negative music and no music compared to low energy music. Music was demonstrated to mediate the state of anger and therefore can have positive health benefits in the long run.

Using music to change mood while driving

This study investigated whether gradual or abrupt music change towards more calming music is most effective in calming drivers during high-demand driving situations. Twenty-eight participants were subjected to two types of music change (gradual, abrupt) in a within-subject design. First, a relatively happy mood was induced with personally selected music during an eight-minute simulated high-demand drive. The drive then continued and the mood was changed either gradually or abruptly. Subjective results showed successful music mood induction irrespective of gradual or abrupt changes. The results further showed lower skin conductance (less arousal) and more facial corrugator muscle tension (more sadness) during the abrupt music change. Fewer accidents occurred during the abrupt music mood change. To conclude, the results support the abrupt way of changing music type to down-regulate ones mood: during high-demand driving, abrupt changes in music led to more physiological calmness and improved driving performance, and were thus safer and more effective. Practitioner Summary: The current study shows that during high-demand drives, drivers are calmed more effectively using abrupt music changes compared to gradual music changes. This is illustrated by reductions in physiological arousal and improved driving behaviour. Hence, in-car music presentation can be used as a tool to improve drivers mood and behaviour.

Deploying music characteristics for an affective music player

This paper describes work toward an affective music player (AMP), which is able to direct affect to a goal state by selecting music. Repeatedly, music has been shown to modulate affect; however, precise guidelines for the use of music characteristics in an AMP have not been defined. To explore these, we investigated the influence of music characteristics on 32 participants who listened to 16 songs, testing effects of tempo (slow/high), mode (minor/major), and per-cussiveness (low/high). Subjective measures of affect (i.e., arousal, tension, and positive and negative valence) and physiology (i.e., skin conductance level, skin conductance responses, and heart rate variability) were measured during listening. Results show main and interaction effects of music characteristics on both subjective affect and physiology, implying that the characteristics are mutually dependent in modulating affect. Based on these results, guidelines are presented for AMPs, which can effectively direct affect through music.

Inducing moods with background music

Music is listened to in many places at many different times. An important aspect of music when played as primary activity is its ability to direct mood. This is beneficial as moods influence several cognitive functions. In this study, we investigated whether and to what extent background music mood induction results in similar mood and physiological patterns to music mood induction as a primary activity. Thirty participants took part in two experimental sessions in which they listened to individually selected music (happy, sad, or no music) and performed an activity (Sudoku or nothing) in a within-subject design. The results showed that mood ratings of valence and energy, skin conductance level, and zygomaticus major facial muscle tension responded best and in similar ways to both types of music mood induction. All in all, the present study showed that moods can be induced when played in the background to an activity. This study therefore shows the potential for systems which select background music that is tuned to direct mood towards a desired state and which can benefit cognitive functioning.