Association of different neural processes during different emotional perceptions of white noise and pure tone auditory stimuli

Social Media Approval Reduces Emotional Arousal for People High in Narcissism: Electrophysiological Evidence

We used event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine if posting a "selfie" and receiving validation from others in the form of "likes" on social media can help narcissists reduce psychological distress. After all participants completed the narcissistic personality inventory (NPI) and experienced social exclusion, participants completed an auditory startle task that elicits the P3 to white noise-an ERP component that reflects emotional arousal and is sensitive to psychological distress. Participants were then randomly assigned to either view a personal "selfie" that quickly received a significant number of ostensibly real "likes" (selfie with likes condition), view a "selfie" with no feedback (selfie only condition), or view a neutral picture before (neutral picture condition) completing the auditory startle task again. Results revealed that participants high on the Leadership/Authority subscale of the NPI in the "selfie" with "likes" condition demonstrated a pre-post manipulation decrease in P3 mean amplitude, relative to participants in the other two conditions. These results suggest that approval via social media can help certain kinds of narcissists alleviate distress from social exclusion.

Background Music Dependent Reduction of Aversive Perception and Its Relation to P3 Amplitude Reduction and Increased Heart Rate

Music is commonly used to modify mood and has attracted attention as a potential therapeutic intervention. Despite the well-recognized effects of music on mood, changes in affective perception due to music remain majorly unknown. Here, we examined if the perception of aversive stimuli could be altered by mood-changing background music. Using subjective scoring data from 17 healthy volunteers, we assessed the effect of relaxing background music (RelaxBGM), busy background music (BusyBGM), or no background music (NoBGM) conditions on response to aversive white noise stimulation. Interestingly, affective response to the white noise was selectively alleviated, and white noise-related P3 component amplitude was reduced in BusyBGM. However, affective responses as well as P3 amplitude to reference pure tone stimuli were similar regardless of background music conditions. Interestingly, heart rate (HR) increased in BusyBGM, whereas no increase in HR was found in similar distress, NoBGM condition. These findings suggest that increase in HR, which happens during BusyBGM exposure, can be a reflecting feature of music that ameliorates the affective response to aversive stimuli, possibly through selective reduction in neurophysiological responses.

Effect of noise tolerance on non-restorative sleep: a population-based study in Hong Kong

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to assess the impact of auditory noise tolerance on non-restorative sleep using an objective audiometric test in a representative sample.

DESIGN

A total of 202 Chinese individuals aged 15 years and above were recruited from a population-based household survey. Their non-restorative sleep was assessed by a single item, the degree of feeling refreshed on waking up, on a 0-10 scale, while noise tolerance was measured by the most comfortable level expressed in A-weighted decibels.

RESULTS

The 202 individuals (106 women) had a mean degree of feeling refreshed on waking up of 6.5 on the 0-10 scale and a mean maximum comfortable sound level of 69.2 dB. A multivariable analysis showed that a 1 dB increase in noise tolerance was associated with a 0.1-unit increase in the degree of feeling refreshed after adjusting for age, education, marital status, occupation, exercise, smoking, alcohol consumption, household noise level, stress, anxiety and depression. Moreover, housewives, non-smokers and individuals who were less anxious or stressed felt significantly more refreshed on waking up.

CONCLUSION

People with higher levels of noise tolerance experienced more refreshing sleep. Additional clinical consideration of enhancing noise tolerance in patients with sleep complaints is needed.