Listening to the Quran Recitations: 'Does It Affect Psychophysiological Measures of Emotion?'

Abstract

Abstract. This study was designed to examine the effect of listening to the Quran recitations based on different melodies on the psychophysiological measurements of emotion. The skin conductance and heart rate were measured as the physiological response; meanwhile, the mood and emotion scale were analysed as participant's psychological assessment.The experiment was conducted with 22 Indonesian postgraduate students studying from various programs who are Muslims. An individual experiment was carried out in the listening laboratory of the Music Department, The University of York. Four different recitations were delivered. Shimmer GSR unit was used to measure the skin conductance and heart rate. Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), Geneva Emotional Music Scale (GEMS), and some demographic questionnaire were also used.Findings show that three kinds of recitations had no significant impact on the skin conductance (recitation without melody, Hicazmaqam, and KurdiMaqam); however, the third recital (Rastmaqam) had a significant effect on the skin conductance (p< 0.05). There was no significant effect of all recitations on heart rate. The mood response mean, both before and after listening to all stimuli, also demonstrated no significant difference. However, there were significant differences on emotional assessment both before and after listening to each stimulus, and a significant difference on some emotion categories of the effect of listening to Quran recitations based on the different melody. The recitation without melody influenced a lower level of wonder, transcendence, power, tenderness, nostalgia, and peacefulness emotion categories, though it increased tension. The Hicazmaqam (second stimulus) had a significant effect on the transcendence emotion, but still affect a higher tension level. The Rastmaqam (third stimulus) influenced the peacefulness emotion significantly, and impact a lower level of tension. The Kurdimaqam (fourth stimulus) had no significant difference on the effect on all nine categories of emotion. The Rast maqam showed the most powerful outcome in this study. We recommend Rast maqam can be applied on Quran recitation therapy for tension treatments.

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