Affect-matching music improves cognitive performance in adults and young children for both positive and negative emotions

Abstract

Three experiments assessed the hypothesis that cognitive benefits associated with exposure to music only occur when the perceived emotion expression of the music and the participant's affective state match. Experiment 1 revealed an affect-matching pattern modulated by gender when assessing high-arousal states of opposite valence (happy/angry) in an adult sample (n=94) in which mood classification was based on self-report, and affective valence in music was differentiated by mode and other expressive cues whilst keeping tempo constant (139 BPM). The affect-matching hypothesis was then tested in two experiments with children using a moodinduction procedure: Experiment 2 tested happy/angry emotions with, respectively, 3-5-(n=40) and 6-9-year-old (n=40) children, and Experiment 3 compared happy/sad emotions (i.e., states differing both for valence and arousal profiles) with 3-5-year-old children (n=40), using music pieces differentiated also by fast vs. slow tempo. While young children failed to discriminate systematically between fast tempo music conveying different emotions, they did display cognitive benefits from exposure to affect-matching music when both valence (e.g., mode) and arousal level (e.g., tempo) differentiated the musical excerpts, with no gender effects. Keywords:Arousal, Central executive, Child development, Mozart Effect 3In music psychology, the beneficial effects of music on psychosocial functioning, and the role played by emotion and mood in producing those effects, are currently important topics of research (MacDonald, Kreutz, & Mitchell, 2012). One area of experimental research that has received particular attention is the study of the 'Mozart effect', a term that refers to findings of temporary improvements in cognitive performance after listening to music (for a review, see Schellenberg, 2012). Doubts about the theoretical underpinnings of the original study that spawned research on the 'Mozart effect' (Rauscher, Shaw, & Ky, 1993) led Schellenberg and collaborators to formulate an alternative theory called the 'arousal and mood hypothesis', which proposed that temporary improvements in cognitive performance were not a direct product of listening to music, but were rather a product of arousal and positive affect induced by listening to music. According to this hypothesis, the 'Mozart effect' is neither Mozart-specific nor music-specific: any piece of music, or any nonmusical stimulus, that induces arousal and positive affect can be used to produce temporary improvements in cognitive performance. This proposal is consistent with a wide range of studies finding that positive affect enhances performance on cognitive tasks (e.g. see Isen, 2008). A series of studies conducted by Schellenberg and collaborators supported the arousal and mood hypothesis (Husain, Thompson, & Schellenberg, 2002;Schellenberg, Nakata, Hunter, & Tamoto, 2007;Thompson, Schellenberg, & Husain, 2001; for a review, see Schellenberg, 2012).A key assumption made by Schellenberg and others is that happy-sounding music ...

Emotion-related musical variables affect person perception

“…In this perspective, the potential role played by the interaction between a participant's mood and the musical emotion would be another critical aspect to carefully control (Franco et al, 2014).…”

Preschoolers’ attribution of affect to music: A comparison between vocal and instrumental performance

“…'anger') -in which case the comparison would be simply based on emotional valence (e.g., conveyed by mode cues) rather than being confounded with arousal (e.g., conveyed by tempo cues) (see Franco, Swaine, Israni, Zaborowska, Kaloko, Kesavarajan,& Majek, 2014, for a design matching tempi/arousal levels across musical emotion contrasts). A final possibility is that there is a general bias towards the recognition of happy affect (e.g., see Calvo, Nummenmaa & Avero, 2010;Nawrot, 2003).…”

The Space Between Us: Evaluating a multi-user affective brain-computer music interface

“…[26,27] This notion of mood enhancement is also acknowledged in studies that highlight the importance of affect-matching music to mood, to help improve cognitive performance. [15] Although improving cognitive performance is not a primary concern within our research this idea of affect-matching presents an ideal gateway towards engaging or locking-in the listener's affective mood with music before altering their state through the use of an affective trajectory.…”

“…Two of the most widely accepted musical parameters that influence arousal and valence are, respectively, tempo and mode. [33,37] Franco et al [15] identify further expressive cues in music related to mood, such as Happy, harmonic consonance and off-beat accentuation, and Angry, harmonic dissonance and a greater density of note onsets. Additionally, the KTH performance rules provide a set of relative values for arousal and valence linked to musical performance attributes.…”

“…This link is exemplified by recent studies on affective algorithmic music composition systems [14] alongside research that indicates a strong link between the use of emotionally charged music and improvements in cognitive performance. [15] However, studies where emotion recognition in a BCI is utilized can be difficult to quantify if success is measured against intention. This challenge is also increased as responses to music can often be unpredictable.…”