The pleasures of sad music: a systematic review

Loop and Enjoy: A Scoping Review of the Research on the Effects of Processing Fluency on Aesthetic Reactions to Auditory Stimuli

Processing fluency has been shown to affect how people aesthetically evaluate stimuli. While this effect is well documented for visual stimuli, the evidence accumulated for auditory stimuli has not yet been integrated. Our aim was to examine the relevant research on how processing fluency affects the aesthetic appreciation of auditory stimuli and to identify the extant knowledge gaps in this body of evidence. This scoping review of 19 studies reported across 13 articles found that, similarly to visual stimuli, fluency has a positive effect on liking of auditory stimuli. Additionally, we identified certain elements that impede the generalizability of the current research on the relationship between fluency and aesthetic reactions to auditory stimuli, such as a lack of consistency in the number of repeated exposures, the tendency to omit the affective component and the failure to account for personal variables such as musical abilities developed through musical training or the participants' personality or preferences. These results offer a starting point in developing novel and proper processing fluency manipulations of auditory stimuli and suggest several avenues for future research aiming to clarify the impact and importance of processing fluency and disfluency in this domain.

Understanding the Effect of Listening to Music, Playing Music, and Singing on Brain Function: A Scoping Review of fNIRS Studies

Music is integrated into daily life when listening to it, playing it, and singing, uniquely modulating brain activity. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), celebrated for its ecological validity, has been used to elucidate this music-brain interaction. This scoping review synthesizes 22 empirical studies using fNIRS to explore the intricate relationship between music and brain function. This synthesis of existing evidence reveals that diverse musical activities, such as listening to music, singing, and playing instruments, evoke unique brain responses influenced by individual traits and musical attributes. A further analysis identifies five key themes, including the effect of passive and active music experiences on relevant human brain areas, lateralization in music perception, individual variations in neural responses, neural synchronization in musical performance, and new insights fNIRS has revealed in these lines of research. While this review highlights the limited focus on specific brain regions and the lack of comparative analyses between musicians and non-musicians, it emphasizes the need for future research to investigate the complex interplay between music and the human brain.

Music-Based Interventions for Symptom Management in Critically Ill, Mechanically Ventilated Adults: A Scoping Review of the Literature

Background: Patients in intensive care units experience high symptom burden during mechanical ventilation (MV). Pharmacologic symptom management is associated with side effects and increased morbidity. Music-based interventions (MBIs) have been associated with reductions in both anxiety in MV adults and pain for critically ill adults, yet their use for the management of other burdensome symptoms has not been evaluated. The purpose of this scoping review is to map the state of evidence for the use of prerecorded music listening MBIs for symptom management in MV adults. Methods: A systematic search of the literature was conducted across four electronic databases (PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, and Web of Science) for experimental designed studies that measured the efficacy of MBIs for the management of physical and psychological symptoms including anxiety, sedation/agitation, dyspnea, distress, delirium, sleep, stress, fear, loneliness, or depression in critically ill, MV adults between January 1, 1998, and April 18, 2023. Results: A total of 643 abstracts and 29 clinical trials were included. Overall, the risk of bias, assessed using the Evidence Project tool, was moderate. MBIs were mostly delivered with headphones using music selected either by investigators or from a limited selection. MBIs were associated with reduced pain, agitation, dyspnea, distress and anxiety, and improved tolerance of MV and sedative weaning. Outcomes of delirium were mixed. No studies explored sleep disturbances, fear, or loneliness. Conclusions: Use of MBIs improved symptom experience for critically ill adults during MV. Future studies employing unrestricted patient-preferred music selections and exploring outcomes of sleep quality, psychological distress, and delirium are needed in this highly symptomatic patient population.

Heart rate-related physiological changes induced by classical music-elicited emotions do not underlie alterations in healthy adults' ankle joint target-matching strategy

Emotions have the potential to modulate human voluntary movement by modifying muscle afferent discharge which in turn may affect kinesthetic acuity. We examined if heart rate (HR)-related physiological changes induced by music-elicited emotions would underlie alterations in healthy young adults' ankle joint target-matching strategy quantified by joint position sense (JPS). Participants (n = 40, 19 females, age = 25.9 ± 2.9 years) performed ipsilateral-, and contralateral ankle target-matching tasks with their dominant and non-dominant foot using a custom-made foot platform while listening to classical music pieces deemed to evoke happy, sad, or neutral emotions (each n = 10). Participants in the 4th group received no music during the task. Absolute (ABS), constant (CONST), and variable (VAR) target-matching errors and HR-related data were analyzed. Participants performed the contralateral target-matching task with smaller JPS errors when listening to sad vs. happy music (ABS: p < 0.001, d = 1.6; VAR: p = 0.010, d = 1.2) or neutral (ABS: p < 0.001, d = 1.6; VAR: p < 0.001, d = 1.4) music. The ABS (d = 0.8) and VAR (d = 0.3) JPS errors were lower when participants performed the task with their dominant vs. non-dominant foot. JPS errors were also smaller during the ipsilateral target-matching task when participants (1) listened to sad vs. neutral (ABS: p = 0.007, d = 1.2) music, and (2) performed the target-matching with their dominant vs. non-dominant foot (p < 0.001, d = 0.4). Although emotions also induced changes in some HR-related data during the matching conditions, i.e., participants who listened to happy music had lower HR-related values when matching with their non-dominant vs. dominant foot, these changes did not correlate with JPS errors (all p > 0.05). Overall, our results suggest that music-induced emotions have the potential to affect target-matching strategy and HR-related metrics but the changes in HR-metrics do not underlie the alteration of ankle joint target-matching strategy in response to classical music-elicited emotions.

Construction of a Chinese traditional instrumental music dataset: A validated set of naturalistic affective music excerpts

Music is omnipresent among human cultures and moves us both physically and emotionally. The perception of emotions in music is influenced by both psychophysical and cultural factors. Chinese traditional instrumental music differs significantly from Western music in cultural origin and music elements. However, previous studies on music emotion perception are based almost exclusively on Western music. Therefore, the construction of a dataset of Chinese traditional instrumental music is important for exploring the perception of music emotions in the context of Chinese culture. The present dataset included 273 10-second naturalistic music excerpts. We provided rating data for each excerpt on ten variables: familiarity, dimensional emotions (valence and arousal), and discrete emotions (anger, gentleness, happiness, peacefulness, sadness, solemnness, and transcendence). The excerpts were rated by a total of 168 participants on a seven-point Likert scale for the ten variables. Three labels for the excerpts were obtained: familiarity, discrete emotion, and cluster. Our dataset demonstrates good reliability, and we believe it could contribute to cross-cultural studies on emotional responses to music.

Live music stimulates the affective brain and emotionally entrains listeners in real time

Music is powerful in conveying emotions and triggering affective brain mechanisms. Affective brain responses in previous studies were however rather inconsistent, potentially because of the non-adaptive nature of recorded music used so far. Live music instead can be dynamic and adaptive and is often modulated in response to audience feedback to maximize emotional responses in listeners. Here, we introduce a setup for studying emotional responses to live music in a closed-loop neurofeedback setup. This setup linked live performances by musicians to neural processing in listeners, with listeners' amygdala activity was displayed to musicians in real time. Brain activity was measured using functional MRI, and especially amygdala activity was quantified in real time for the neurofeedback signal. Live pleasant and unpleasant piano music performed in response to amygdala neurofeedback from listeners was acoustically very different from comparable recorded music and elicited significantly higher and more consistent amygdala activity. Higher activity was also found in a broader neural network for emotion processing during live compared to recorded music. This finding included observations of the predominance for aversive coding in the ventral striatum while listening to unpleasant music, and involvement of the thalamic pulvinar nucleus, presumably for regulating attentional and cortical flow mechanisms. Live music also stimulated a dense functional neural network with the amygdala as a central node influencing other brain systems. Finally, only live music showed a strong and positive coupling between features of the musical performance and brain activity in listeners pointing to real-time and dynamic entrainment processes.

Biological principles for music and mental health

Efforts to integrate music into healthcare systems and wellness practices are accelerating but the biological foundations supporting these initiatives remain underappreciated. As a result, music-based interventions are often sidelined in medicine. Here, I bring together advances in music research from neuroscience, psychology, and psychiatry to bridge music's specific foundations in human biology with its specific therapeutic applications. The framework I propose organizes the neurophysiological effects of music around four core elements of human musicality: tonality, rhythm, reward, and sociality. For each, I review key concepts, biological bases, and evidence of clinical benefits. Within this framework, I outline a strategy to increase music's impact on health based on standardizing treatments and their alignment with individual differences in responsivity to these musical elements. I propose that an integrated biological understanding of human musicality-describing each element's functional origins, development, phylogeny, and neural bases-is critical to advancing rational applications of music in mental health and wellness.

Emotions of subject and object affect beauty differently for images and music

What role do the emotions of subject and object play in judging the beauty of images and music? Eighty-one participants rated perceived beauty, liking, perceived happiness, and perceived sadness of 24 songs, 12 art images, and 12 nature photographs. Stimulus presentation was brief (2 seconds) or prolonged (20 seconds). The stimuli were presented in two blocks, and participants took the Positive and Negative Affect Score (PANAS) mood questionnaire before and after each block. They viewed a mood induction video between blocks either to increase their happiness or sadness or to maintain their mood. Using linear mixed-effects models, we found that perceived object happiness predicts an increase in image and song beauty regardless of duration. The effect of perceived object sadness on beauty, however, is stronger for songs than images and stronger for prolonged than brief durations. Subject emotion affects brief song beauty minimally and prolonged song beauty substantially. Whereas past studies of beauty and emotion emphasized sad music, here we analyze both happiness and sadness, both subject and object emotion, and both images and music. We conclude that the interactions between emotion and beauty are different for images and music and are strongly moderated by duration.

The dual effect of background music on creativity: perspectives of music preference and cognitive interference

Music, an influential environmental factor, significantly shapes cognitive processing and everyday experiences, thus rendering its effects on creativity a dynamic topic within the field of cognitive science. However, debates continue about whether music bolsters, obstructs, or exerts a dual influence on individual creativity. Among the points of contention is the impact of contrasting musical emotions-both positive and negative-on creative tasks. In this study, we focused on traditional Chinese music, drawn from a culture known for its 'preference for sadness,' as our selected emotional stimulus and background music. This choice, underrepresented in previous research, was based on its uniqueness. We examined the effects of differing music genres (including vocal and instrumental), each characterized by a distinct emotional valence (positive or negative), on performance in the Alternative Uses Task (AUT). To conduct this study, we utilized an affective arousal paradigm, with a quiet background serving as a neutral control setting. A total of 114 participants were randomly assigned to three distinct groups after completing a music preference questionnaire: instrumental, vocal, and silent. Our findings showed that when compared to a quiet environment, both instrumental and vocal music as background stimuli significantly affected AUT performance. Notably, music with a negative emotional charge bolstered individual originality in creative performance. These results lend support to the dual role of background music in creativity, with instrumental music appearing to enhance creativity through factors such as emotional arousal, cognitive interference, music preference, and psychological restoration. This study challenges conventional understanding that only positive background music boosts creativity and provides empirical validation for the two-path model (positive and negative) of emotional influence on creativity.

A randomized controlled trial on the effects of different music genres on physiologic parameters and emotion

BACKGROUND

Listening to music has psychophysiological effects on individuals' body and emotions, and it is known as one of the most influential stimuli to create emotions. The aim of this study was to explore the effect of different music genres on some physiological parameters and emotion.

METHODS

This was a randomized controlled trial. For 5 days, forty-six healthy undergraduate students were randomly assigned to several types of music (pop, rock, western classical, and Persian traditional), as well as silence. Physiologic parameters were checked five times (before, during, immediately, 15, and 30 min after the interventions). Before and after the interventions, the Self-Assessment Manikin questionnaire was completed.

RESULTS

There was no statistically significant difference in heart rate, diastolic blood pressure, temperature, silence, or other approaches between the groups. Silence and other ways did not reduce systolic blood pressure as much as listening to the pop. Peripheral oxygen saturation increased significantly only when listening to Persian traditional music, and when there was silence however, the differences were not statistically significant. In terms of valence, arousal, and dominance, none of the five treatments were shown to be more effective.

CONCLUSION

The results of the present study showed that statistically and clinically, there was no difference between silent music and other types of music, including pop, rock, western classical, and Persian traditional, in reducing physiological parameters. Different genres of music had no additional impact on emotion when compared to silence.

Unlocking the Beat: Dopamine and Eye Blink Response to Classical Music

The present study examined music-induced dopamine release, as measured by a proxy measure of spontaneous eye blinks. Specifically, we explored the effects of uplifting and sombre tones in different sections of Vivaldi's Four Seasons to investigate the affective content of musical pieces within one composition. Seventeen participants listened to four concertos (Major modes: "Spring" and "Autumn", Minor modes: "Summer" and "Winter") and a silence condition while completing a three-stimulus odd-ball attention task. Electrooculograms were recorded from electrodes placed above and under the left eye. Self-reported arousal and music preference measures were also gathered during the testing session. In addition, the P3a Event-Related Potential (ERP) component was analysed as another potential index of dopamine function. Results revealed significant differences in the blink rates during music listening and silence, with the largest effect observed for the sad, melancholic "Winter" concerto. However, no significant correlation was found between blink rate and music preference or arousal. Furthermore, no reliable association was found between blink rate and the P3a ERP component, suggesting that these measures tap into different aspects of dopamine function. These findings contribute to understanding the link between dopamine and blink rate, particularly in response to classical music. Crucially, the study's discovery that the "Winter" concerto, with its sorrowful tone, significantly increased the blink rate highlights the significance of sad music and perhaps the programmatic qualities of this concerto to induce a strong emotional response.

The influence of music liking on episodic memory for rich spatiotemporal contexts

It is thought that the presence of music influences episodic memory encoding. However, no studies have isolated the influence of music liking - the hedonic value listeners attribute to a musical stimulus - from that of the core affect induced by the presence of that music. In an online survey, participants rated musical excerpts in terms of how much they liked them, as well as in terms of felt valence, felt arousal and familiarity. These ratings were then used to inform the stimuli presented in an online episodic memory task which, across different scenarios, involved dragging cued objects to cued locations and then recalling details of what was moved, where they were moved to and the order of movements made. Our results showed an influence of liking and music-reward sensitivity on memory for what was moved, as well as a detrimental effect of arousing musical stimuli on memory for un-cued scenario details. Taken together, our study showcases the importance of episodic memory paradigms that involve rich spatiotemporal contexts and provides insights into how different aspects of episodic memory may be influenced by the presence of music.

"The many faces of sorrow": An empirical exploration of the psychological plurality of sadness

Sadness has typically been associated with failure, defeat and loss, but it has also been suggested that sadness facilitates positive and restructuring emotional changes. This suggests that sadness is a multi-faceted emotion. This supports the idea that there might in fact be different facets of sadness that can be distinguished psychologically and physiologically. In the current set of studies, we explored this hypothesis. In a first stage, participants were asked to select sad emotional faces and scene stimuli either characterized or not by a key suggested sadness-related characteristic: loneliness or melancholy or misery or bereavement or despair. In a second stage, another set of participants was presented with the selected emotional faces and scene stimuli. They were assessed for differences in emotional, physiological and facial-expressive responses. The results showed that sad faces involving melancholy, misery, bereavement and despair were experienced as conferring dissociable physiological characteristics. Critical findings, in a final exploratory design, in a third stage, showed that a new set of participants could match emotional scenes to emotional faces with the same sadness-related characteristic with close to perfect precision performance. These findings suggest that melancholy, misery, bereavement and despair can be distinguishable emotional states associated with sadness.

The taste & affect music database: Subjective rating norms for a new set of musical stimuli

Music is a ubiquitous stimulus known to influence human affect, cognition, and behavior. In the context of eating behavior, music has been associated with food choice, intake and, more recently, taste perception. In the latter case, the literature has reported consistent patterns of association between auditory and gustatory attributes, suggesting that individuals reliably recognize taste attributes in musical stimuli. This study presents subjective norms for a new set of 100 instrumental music stimuli, including basic taste correspondences (sweetness, bitterness, saltiness, sourness), emotions (joy, anger, sadness, fear, surprise), familiarity, valence, and arousal. This stimulus set was evaluated by 329 individuals (83.3% women; Mage = 28.12, SD = 12.14), online (n = 246) and in the lab (n = 83). Each participant evaluated a random subsample of 25 soundtracks and responded to self-report measures of mood and taste preferences, as well as the Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index (Gold-MSI). Each soundtrack was evaluated by 68 to 97 participants (Mdn = 83), and descriptive results (means, standard deviations, and confidence intervals) are available as supplemental material at osf.io/2cqa5 . Significant correlations between taste correspondences and emotional/affective dimensions were observed (e.g., between sweetness ratings and pleasant emotions). Sex, age, musical sophistication, and basic taste preferences presented few, small to medium associations with the evaluations of the stimuli. Overall, these results suggest that the new Taste & Affect Music Database is a relevant resource for research and intervention with musical stimuli in the context of crossmodal taste perception and other affective, cognitive, and behavioral domains.

Machine learning algorithms distinguish discrete digital emotional fingerprints for web pages related to back pain

Back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide. Its emergence relates not only to the musculoskeletal degeneration biological substrate but also to psychosocial factors; emotional components play a pivotal role. In modern society, people are significantly informed by the Internet; in turn, they contribute social validation to a "successful" digital information subset in a dynamic interplay. The Affective component of medical pages has not been previously investigated, a significant gap in knowledge since they represent a critical biopsychosocial feature. We tested the hypothesis that successful pages related to spine pathology embed a consistent emotional pattern, allowing discrimination from a control group. The pool of web pages related to spine or hip/knee pathology was automatically selected by relevance and popularity and submitted to automated sentiment analysis to generate emotional patterns. Machine Learning (ML) algorithms were trained to predict page original topics from patterns with binary classification. ML showed high discrimination accuracy; disgust emerged as a discriminating emotion. The findings suggest that the digital affective "successful content" (collective consciousness) integrates patients' biopsychosocial ecosystem, with potential implications for the emergence of chronic pain, and the endorsement of health-relevant specific behaviors. Awareness of such effects raises practical and ethical issues for health information providers.

Music, Pleasure, and Meaning: The Hedonic and Eudaimonic Motivations for Music (HEMM) Scale

Many people listen to music that conveys challenging emotions such as sadness and anger, despite the commonly assumed purpose of media being to elicit pleasure. We propose that eudaimonic motivation, the desire to engage with aesthetic experiences to be challenged and facilitate meaningful experiences, can explain why people listen to music containing such emotions. However, it is unknown whether music containing violent themes can facilitate such meaningful experiences. In this investigation, three studies were conducted to determine the implications of eudaimonic and hedonic (pleasure-seeking) motivations for fans of music with violent themes. In Study 1, we developed and tested a new scale and showed that fans exhibit high levels of both types of motivation. Study 2 further validated the new scale and provided evidence that the two types of motivations are associated with different affective outcomes. Study 3 revealed that fans of violently themed music exhibited higher levels of eudaimonic motivation and lower levels of hedonic motivation than fans of non-violently themed music. Taken together, the findings support the notion that fans of music with violent themes are driven to engage with this music to be challenged and to pursue meaning, as well as to experience pleasure. Implications for fans' well-being and future applications of the new measure are discussed.

The Effect of Sadness on Visual Artistic Creativity in Non-Artists

The study of the relationships between mood and creativity is long-standing. In this study, the effects of mood states on artistic creativity were investigated in ninety non-artist participants. Mood states were induced by instructing participants to listen to self-selected happy, sad, or neutral music for ten minutes. Then, all participants were asked to make two artistic drawings. To check for mood manipulation, the Profile of Mood States (POMS) was administered before and after listening to the self-selected music. After the mood induction, the negative group reported higher scores than the other two groups in the 'depression' subscale and lower scores than the other two groups in the 'vigour' subscale of the POMS; the positive mood group showed more vigour than the negative mood group. Yet, three independent judges assigned higher ratings of creativity and emotionality to the drawings produced by participants in the negative mood group than drawings produced by participants in the other two groups. These results confirmed that specific negative mood states (e.g., sadness) positively affect artistic creativity, probably because participants are more likely to engage in mood-repairing. Limitations and future research directions are presented.

Musical Emotion Categorization with Vocoders of Varying Temporal and Spectral Content

While previous research investigating music emotion perception of cochlear implant (CI) users observed that temporal cues informing tempo largely convey emotional arousal (relaxing/stimulating), it remains unclear how other properties of the temporal content may contribute to the transmission of arousal features. Moreover, while detailed spectral information related to pitch and harmony in music - often not well perceived by CI users- reportedly conveys emotional valence (positive, negative), it remains unclear how the quality of spectral content contributes to valence perception. Therefore, the current study used vocoders to vary temporal and spectral content of music and tested music emotion categorization (joy, fear, serenity, sadness) in 23 normal-hearing participants. Vocoders were varied with two carriers (sinewave or noise; primarily modulating temporal information), and two filter orders (low or high; primarily modulating spectral information). Results indicated that emotion categorization was above-chance in vocoded excerpts but poorer than in a non-vocoded control condition. Among vocoded conditions, better temporal content (sinewave carriers) improved emotion categorization with a large effect while better spectral content (high filter order) improved it with a small effect. Arousal features were comparably transmitted in non-vocoded and vocoded conditions, indicating that lower temporal content successfully conveyed emotional arousal. Valence feature transmission steeply declined in vocoded conditions, revealing that valence perception was difficult for both lower and higher spectral content. The reliance on arousal information for emotion categorization of vocoded music suggests that efforts to refine temporal cues in the CI user signal may immediately benefit their music emotion perception.

Face-specific negative bias of aesthetic perception in depression: Behavioral and EEG evidence

INTRODUCTION

Symptoms of depression are associated with the dysfunction of neural systems such as the emotion, reward system, and the default mode network. These systems were suggested by the model of neuroaesthetics as key contributions to aesthetic experience, leading to the prediction of atypical aesthetic orientation in depression. Here we investigated the aesthetic characteristics of depression and the corresponding neural underpinnings.

METHODS

Fifty-two (25 depression patients, 27 healthy controls) participants were asked to make aesthetic judgments on faces and landscapes in an electroencephalographic (EEG) experiment.

RESULTS

Our results indicate that relative to the controls, the depression tended to give ugly judgments and refrained from giving beautiful judgments, which was observed only for faces but not for landscapes. We also found that the face-induced component N170 was more negative in the depression group than the control group for ugly and neutral faces. Moreover, the aesthetic evaluation of ugly faces was associated with decreased N200 negativity in the depression group than in the control group, while the evaluation of beautiful faces was associated with decreased brain synchronization at the theta band.

DISCUSSION

These results suggested a face-specific negative aesthetic bias in depression which can help to design and develop aesthetics-oriented schemes in assisting the clinical diagnosis and therapy of depression.

Neural response to sad autobiographical recall and sad music listening post recall reveals distinct brain activation in alpha and gamma bands

Although apparently paradoxical, sad music has been effective in coping with sad life experiences. The underpinning brain neural correlates of this are not well explored. We performed Electroencephalography (EEG) source-level analysis for the brain during a sad autobiographical recall (SAR) and upon exposure to sad music. We specifically investigated the Cingulate cortex complex and Parahippocampus (PHC) regions, areas prominently involved in emotion and memory processing. Results show enhanced alpha band lag phase-synchronization in the brain during sad music listening, especially within and between the Posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and (PHC) compared to SAR. This enhancement was lateralized for alpha1 and alpha2 bands in the left and right hemispheres, respectively. We also observed a significant increase in alpha2 brain current source density (CSD) during sad music listening compared to SAR and baseline resting state in the region of interest (ROI). Brain during SAR condition had enhanced right hemisphere lateralized functional connectivity and CSD in gamma band compared to sad music listening and baseline resting state. Our findings show that the brain during the SAR state had enhanced gamma-band activity, signifying increased content binding capacity. At the same time, the brain is associated with an enhanced alpha band activity while sad music listening, signifying increased content-specific information processing. Thus, the results suggest that the brain's neural correlates during sad music listening are distinct from the SAR state as well as the baseline resting state and facilitate enhanced content-specific information processing potentially through three-channel neural pathways-(1) by enhancing the network connectivity in the region of interest (ROI), (2) by enhancing local cortical integration of areas in ROI, and (3) by enhancing sustained attention. We argue that enhanced content-specific information processing possibly supports the positive experience during sad music listening post a sad experience in a healthy population. Finally, we propose that sadness has two different characteristics under SAR state and sad music listening.

Passion for Violently Themed Music and Psychological Well-Being: A Survey Analysis

While the benefits to mood and well-being from passionate engagement with music are well-established, far less is known about the relationship between passion for explicitly violently themed music and psychological well-being. The present study employed the Dualistic Model of Passion to investigate whether harmonious passion (i.e., passionate engagement that is healthily balanced with other life activities) predicts positive music listening experiences and/or psychological well-being in fans of violently themed music. We also investigated whether obsessive passion (i.e., uncontrollable passionate engagement with an activity) predicts negative music listening experiences and/or psychological ill-being. Fans of violently themed music (N = 177) completed the passion scale, scale of positive and negative affective experiences, and various psychological well- and ill-being measures. As hypothesised, harmonious passion for violently themed music significantly predicted positive affective experiences which, in turn, predicted psychological well-being. Obsessive passion for violently themed music significantly predicted negative affective experiences which, in turn, predicted ill-being. Findings support the Dualistic Model of Passion, and suggest that even when music engagement includes violent content, adaptive outcomes are often experienced. We propose that the nature of one's passion for music is more influential in predicting well-being than the content or valence of the lyrical themes.

Analysis and Classification of Music-Induced States of Sadness

The enjoyment and pleasure derived from sad music has sparked fascination among researchers due to its seemingly paradoxical nature in producing positive affect. Research is yet to develop a comprehensive understanding of this “paradox.” Contradictory findings have resulted in a great variability within the literature, meaning results and interpretations can be difficult to derive. Consequently, this review collated the current literature, seeking to utilize the variability in the findings to propose a model of differential sad states, providing a means for past and future findings to be interpreted. The proposed model is based on theoretical understanding, as such it requires full empirical support. Comparisons to alternative models, theoretical, clinical, and cognitive implications, as well as future directions are discussed.

Does music heal? Opera and the mood of people over 50 years of age

The authors of this work, noticing that opera is a combination of music and theater, examined the relationship between listening to opera music and mood changes in people over 50 years of age. The study took the form of a quasi-experiment. Recipients were invited to the previously prepared room, where the audiovisual material – a recording of the opera “La Traviata” – was presented for the first time. This was preceded by the respondents completing the SUPIN C30 and S30 questionnaires and a short survey by the authors. After the presentation of the stimulus, the subjects again filled in the SUPIN S30 questionnaire scale and the GEMS scale. The described procedure was carried out twice, using two different music materials. The procedure remained unchanged, while the audiovisual material changed. The second time, the participants were presented with a recording from the opera “The Barber of Seville”. The participants of the study were 30 people. In the studied group, there are no significant changes in emotional states in response to the opera “La Traviata”. In turn, the opera “The Barber of Seville” has no effect on a positive emotional state. Instead, it caused a statistically significant change in the level of negative emotional states. The results of this study are largely consistent with the results of other studies examining the relationship between music and mood, but there are also limitations – only two pieces of opera music were used and no control group was included. Research has shown that opera, as a specific musical genre, despite its peculiar form, affects mood and emotions.

An initial preparation for human cadaveric dissection ameliorates the associated mental distress in students

It is universally recognized that cadaveric dissection is an essential part of anatomy training. However, it has been reported to induce mental distress in some students and impair their intrinsic motivation (IM) to study. One of the postulated reasons for this behavior is the lack of adequate information and preparation of students for cadaveric dissection. Therefore, it is hypothesized that providing relevant information prior to cadaveric dissection will ameliorate the mental distress, enhance the IM of students, and improve their academic performance. A cohort of occupational therapy students enrolled in an anatomy course were psychologically prepared for cadaveric dissection. Students were provided with a curated list of YouTube videos and peer-reviewed journal articles related to cadaveric dissection prior to the commencement of the anatomy course. All students were also required to attend an oral presentation immediately before commencing dissection. The control group included students who had not been provided with any resources in preparation for cadaveric dissection. Compared to the control group, students who had been prepared demonstrated better quality of cadaveric dissection, improved academic performance, reported less mental distress and greater IM. Moreover, students reported the oral presentation to be most relevant and journal articles to be least useful in their preparation. Therefore, this is an effective approach in the amelioration of mental distress and improvement of performance in anatomy students. Consequently, this study represents a paradigm shift in the pedagogy of anatomy, and could represent a vital element in the evolution of a revitalized anatomy curriculum.

Can a Brief Interaction With Online, Digital Art Improve Wellbeing? A Comparative Study of the Impact of Online Art and Culture Presentations on Mood, State-Anxiety, Subjective Wellbeing, and Loneliness

When experienced in-person, engagement with art has been associated—in a growing body of evidence—with positive outcomes in wellbeing and mental health. This represents an exciting new field for psychology, curation, and health interventions, suggesting a widely-accessible, cost-effective, and non-pharmaceutical means of regulating factors such as mood or anxiety. However, can similar impacts be found with online presentations? If so, this would open up positive outcomes to an even-wider population—a trend accelerating due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Despite its promise, this question, and the underlying mechanisms of art interventions and impacts, has largely not been explored. Participants (N = 84) were asked to engage with one of two online exhibitions from Google Arts and Culture (a Monet painting or a similarly-formatted display of Japanese culinary traditions). With just 1–2 min exposure, both improved negative mood, state-anxiety, loneliness, and wellbeing. Stepdown analysis suggested the changes can be explained primarily via negative mood, while improvements in mood correlated with aesthetic appraisals and cognitive-emotional experience of the exhibition. However, no difference was found between exhibitions. We discuss the findings in terms of applications and targets for future research.

Atonal Music as a Model for Investigating Exploratory Behavior

Atonal music is often characterized by low predictability stemming from the absence of tonal or metrical hierarchies. In contrast, Western tonal music exhibits intrinsic predictability due to its hierarchical structure and therefore, offers a directly accessible predictive model to the listener. In consequence, a specific challenge of atonal music is that listeners must generate a variety of new predictive models. Listeners must not only refrain from applying available tonal models to the heard music, but they must also search for statistical regularities and build new rules that may be related to musical properties other than pitch, such as timbre or dynamics. In this article, we propose that the generation of such new predictive models and the aesthetic experience of atonal music are characterized by internal states related to exploration. This is a behavior well characterized in behavioral neuroscience as fulfilling an innate drive to reduce uncertainty but which has received little attention in empirical music research. We support our proposal with emerging evidence that the hedonic value is associated with the recognition of patterns in low-predictability sound sequences and that atonal music elicits distinct behavioral responses in listeners. We end by outlining new research avenues that might both deepen our understanding of the aesthetic experience of atonal music in particular, and reveal core qualities of the aesthetic experience in general.

Musical Enjoyment and Reward: From Hedonic Pleasure to Eudaimonic Listening

This article is a hypothesis and theory paper. It elaborates on the possible relation between music as a stimulus and its possible effects, with a focus on the question of why listeners are experiencing pleasure and reward. Though it is tempting to seek for a causal relationship, this has proven to be elusive given the many intermediary variables that intervene between the actual impingement on the senses and the reactions/responses by the listener. A distinction can be made, however, between three elements: (i) an objective description of the acoustic features of the music and their possible role as elicitors; (ii) a description of the possible modulating factors—both external/exogenous and internal/endogenous ones; and (iii) a continuous and real-time description of the responses by the listener, both in terms of their psychological reactions and their physiological correlates. Music listening, in this broadened view, can be considered as a multivariate phenomenon of biological, psychological, and cultural factors that, together, shape the overall, full-fledged experience. In addition to an overview of the current and extant research on musical enjoyment and reward, we draw attention to some key methodological problems that still complicate a full description of the musical experience. We further elaborate on how listening may entail both adaptive and maladaptive ways of coping with the sounds, with the former allowing a gentle transition from mere hedonic pleasure to eudaimonic enjoyment.

Time perception in film is modulated by sensory modality and arousal

Considerable research has shown that the perception of time can be distorted subjectively, but little empirical work has examined what factors affect time perception in film, a naturalistic multimodal stimulus. Here, we explore the effect of sensory modality, arousal, and valence on how participants estimate durations in film. Using behavioral ratings combined with pupillometry in a within-participants design, we analyzed responses to and duration estimates of film clips in three experimental conditions: audiovisual (containing music and sound effects), visual (without music and sound effects), and auditory (music and sound effects without a visual scene). Participants viewed clips from little-known nature documentaries, fiction, animation, and experimental films. They were asked to judge clip duration and to report subjective arousal and valence, as their pupil sizes were recorded. Data were analyzed using linear mixed-effects models. Results reveal duration estimates varied between experimental conditions. Clip durations were judged to be shorter than actual durations in all three conditions, with visual-only clips perceived as longer (i.e., less distorted in time) than auditory-only and audiovisual clips. High levels of Composite Arousal (an average of self-reported arousal and pupil size changes) were correlated with longer (more accurate) estimates of duration, particularly in the audiovisual modality. This effect may reflect stimulus complexity or greater cognitive engagement. Increased ratings of valence were correlated with longer estimates of duration. The use of naturalistic, complex stimuli such as film can enhance our understanding of the psychology of time perception.

Exploring the Effects of Brain Stimulation on Musical Taste: tDCS on the Left Dorso-Lateral Prefrontal Cortex—A Null Result

Humans are the only species capable of experiencing pleasure from esthetic stimuli, such as art and music. Neuroimaging evidence suggests that the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) plays a critical role in esthetic judgments, both in music and in visual art. In the last decade, non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) has been increasingly employed to shed light on the causal role of different brain regions contributing to esthetic appreciation. In Experiment #1, musician (N = 20) and non-musician (N = 20) participants were required to judge musical stimuli in terms of “liking” and “emotions”. No significant differences between groups were found, although musicians were slower than non-musicians in both tasks, likely indicating a more analytic judgment, due to musical expertise. Experiment #2 investigated the putative causal role of the left dorsolateral pre-frontal cortex (DLPFC) in the esthetic appreciation of music, by means of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). Unlike previous findings in visual art, no significant effects of tDCS were found, suggesting that stimulating the left DLPFC is not enough to affect the esthetic appreciation of music, although this conclusion is based on negative evidence,.

'You're Not Alone for China': The First Song in Times of COVID-19 to Keep the Faith in a World Crying in Silence

Collective mourning is an expression of societal maturity, cohesion, and respect. The world is in grief, but in early January 2020, before nobody could even imagine that SARS-CoV-2 would turn into the COVID-19 pandemic, a music video version of a pop ballad about love and isolation was spread across a Chinese social network. The song 'You Are Not Alone' was adapted as a cover by young foreigners living in China to express their support to bereaved families and frontline workers and encourage the people of China, their second home. At that time, the rest of the world looked to distant China but could hardly expect to face the same adversity months later. The authors reported that the music video was a spontaneous artistic expression copying such traumatic events and the mourning process. The present work analyses how the music was blended with lyrics and images describing the outbreak in Wuhan to reach their goal. The original song and this shortened version for China were compared regarding musical and lyric structures and main characteristics. Additionally, an analysis of the two videos was done regarding cinemetric variables and non-verbal communication that emphasized the power of songs to express deep sorrow and sympathy but also to give hope. Psychological first aid, the five stages of the mourning process by Kübler-Ross, the dual-process model by Stroebe and Schut, and Taylor's tend-to-befriend provided a better understanding of the translation from interpersonal to societal mourning. Finally, other memorable songs that society spontaneously chose to be performed alone or together to cope with sudden and dramatic situations, mitigate physical distancing, and alleviate human suffering are discussed. Music, lyrics, and artistic performance are playing a key role in building social and emotional ties during this pandemic, hampering individual and social pain and sorrow despite cultural barriers.

Basic Empathy Scale: A Systematic Review and Reliability Generalization Meta-Analysis

The Basic Empathy Scale (BES) has been internationally used to measure empathy. A systematic review including 74 articles that implement the instrument since its development in 2006 was carried out. Moreover, an evidence validity analysis and a reliability generalization meta-analysis were performed to examine if the scale presented the appropriate values to justify its application. Results from the systematic review showed that the use of the BES is increasing, although the research areas in which it is being implemented are currently being broadened. The validity analyses indicated that both the type of factor analysis and reliability are reported in validation studies much more than the consequences of testing are. Regarding the meta-analysis results, the mean of Cronbach's α for cognitive empathy was 0.81 (95% CI: 0.77-0.85), with high levels of heterogeneity (I2 = 98.81%). Regarding affective empathy, the mean of Cronbach's α was 0.81 (95% CI: 0.76-0.84), with high levels of heterogeneity. It was concluded that BES is appropriate to be used in general population groups, although not recommended for clinical diagnosis; and there is a moderate to high heterogeneity in the mean of Cronbach's α. The practical implications of the results in mean estimation and heterogeneity are discussed.

Music Lessons for the Study of Affect

Some accounts of the evolution of music suggest that it emerged from emotionally expressive vocalizations and serves as a necessary counterweight to the cognitive elaboration of language. Thus, emotional expression appears to be intrinsic to the creation and perception of music, and music ought to serve as a model for affect itself. Because music exists as patterns of changes in sound over time, affect should also be seen in patterns of changing feelings. Psychologists have given relatively little attention to these patterns. Results from statistical approaches to the analysis of affect dynamics have so far been modest. Two of the most significant treatments of temporal patterns in affect-sentics and vitality affects have remained outside mainstream emotion research. Analysis of musical structure suggests three phenomena relevant to the temporal form of emotion: affect contours, volitional affects, and affect transitions. I discuss some implications for research on affect and for exploring the evolutionary origins of music and emotions.

Does music affect citizens' evaluations of candidates?

While some candidates use music in some of their campaign ads to shape individuals' perceptions of their competence or compassion, for example, it is unclear whether the relationship between music and trait perceptions is empirically valid. Considering the importance of knowing where trait perceptions-which represent important determinants of the vote-come from and the extent to which it is possible to manipulate trait perceptions by means of music, this study investigates the effect of music on trait perceptions using data from an online survey experiment conducted between October 30 and November 12, 2020. In this experiment, 362 individuals were exposed to a random sequence of five campaign ads, either with their original music or with no music. Following each campaign ad, individuals were asked to evaluate the candidate's competency, honesty, leadership, and compassion. The analyses reveal that music marginally affects perceptions of competency, honesty, and leadership. Moreover, music exerts no significant effect on perceptions of compassion.

Emotion Modulation through Music after Sadness Induction-The Iso Principle in a Controlled Experimental Study

Music therapy intervention manuals suggest that individuals who suffer from affective disorders benefit from listening to music according to the iso principle. The iso principle comprises listening to music that matches the current mood of patients at first, and then to gradually shift to music that represents a desired mood. Within the current study, we investigate whether the sequence of music with different emotional valence can modulate the emotional state. All participants were healthy adults who underwent a sadness induction via a movie clip. They were subsequently divided into four experimental groups. Each was asked to listen to two pieces of music according to a specific sequence: sad-sad; sad-happy; happy-happy; happy-sad. Participants were prompt to rate their current emotional state at different stages of the experiment: prior to and after the movie clip, as well as after each of the two pieces of music. The frame used for the assessment was the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule and the Self-Assessment Manikin. The results indicate that the movie clip induced sadness. The group of participants who listened to the sad music first and the happy music afterwards ultimately reported a higher positive affect, a higher emotional valence, and a lower negative affect compared with the other groups. However, not all the between-group differences reached significance. We conclude that the sequence of music with different emotional valence affects the current emotional state. The results are generally in line with the iso principle. Directions for future research are presented.

Sensory Stimulation Via the Visual, Auditory, Olfactory and Gustatory Systems Can Modulate Mood and Depression

Depression is one of the most common mental disorders, predicted to be the leading cause of disease burden by the next decade. There is great deal of emphasis on the central origin and potential therapeutics of depression whereby the symptomatology of depression has been interpreted and treated as brain generated dysfunctions filtering down to the periphery. This top-down approach has found strong support from clinical work and basic neuroscientific research. Nevertheless, despite great advances in our knowledge of the etiology and therapeutics of depression, success in treatment is still by no means assured.. As a consequence, a wide net has been cast by both clinicians and researchers in search of more efficient therapies for mood disorders. As a complementary view, the present integrative review advocates approaching mood and depression from the opposite perspective: a bottom-up view that starts from the periphery. Specifically, evidence is provided to show that sensory stimulation via the visual, auditory, olfactory and gustatory systems can modulate depression. The review shows how -depending on several parameters- unisensory stimulation via these modalities can ameliorate or aggravate depressive symptoms. Moreover, the review emphasizes the bidirectional relationship between sensory stimulation and depression. Just as peripheral stimulation can modulate depression, depression in turn affects-and in most cases impairs-sensory reception. Furthermore, the review suggests that combined use of multisensory stimulation may have synergistic ameliorative effects on depressive symptoms over and above what has so far been documented for unisensory stimulation.

Modulation of Negative Affect Predicts Acceptance of Music Streaming Services, While Personality Does Not

Music streaming services (MSS) offer their users numerous ways of choosing and implementing their individual approaches to music listening. Personality, uses of music, and the acceptance of MSS can be conceptualized as interdependent. This study investigates whether negative affect modulation strategies explain differences in the acceptance of MSS and integrates findings from previous research into a structural equation model. As for measurements, the Big Five Inventory 2, the Inventory for the Assessment of Activation and Arousal modulation through Music, and adapted scales from previous research on the Technology Acceptance Model were used. A convenience sample of 825 participants (24.3 years; 74% females and 89% students) successfully completed an online questionnaire. In total, 89 percent of the sample reported using MSS regularly. The results show that the tendency to modulate negative affect through music is positively influenced by openness and neuroticism. In turn, the tendency to modulate negative affect through music is shown to increase the perceived usefulness of MSS. However, this study failed to replicate the previous findings that openness increases the attitude toward using and that neuroticism decreases the perceived usefulness. This implies that uses of music are more effective than personality traits at predicting the individual acceptance of MSS. However, personality can be viewed as a predictor for uses of music. The interwovenness of stable and situational factors of music choices is supported. MSS seem to assist their users in coping with negative affect in everyday life, increasing wellbeing. MSS should expand their personalization features to optimize user experience with respect to individual uses of music.

Being moved by listening to unfamiliar sad music induces reward-related hormonal changes in empathic listeners

Many people enjoy sad music, and the appeal for tragedy is widespread among the consumers of film and literature. The underlying mechanisms of such aesthetic experiences are not well understood. We tested whether pleasure induced by sad, unfamiliar instrumental music is explained with a homeostatic or a reward theory, each of which is associated with opposite patterns of changes in the key hormones. Sixty-two women listened to sad music (or nothing) while serum was collected for subsequent measurement of prolactin (PRL) and oxytocin (OT) and stress marker (cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormone) concentrations. Two groups of participants were recruited on the basis of low and high trait empathy. In the high empathy group, PRL and OT levels were significantly lower with music compared with no music. And compared to the low empathy group, the high empathy individuals reported an increase of positive mood and higher ratings of being moved with music. None of the stress markers showed any changes across the conditions or the groups. These hormonal changes, inconsistent with the homeostatic theory proposed by Huron, exhibit a pattern expected of general reward. Our findings illuminate how unfamiliar and low arousal music may give rise to pleasurable experiences.

Engagement in Music-Related Activities During the COVID-19 Pandemic as a Mirror of Individual Differences in Musical Reward and Coping Strategies

The COVID-19 pandemic and the measures taken to mitigate its impact (e.g., confinement orders) have affected people's lives in profound ways that would have been unimagable only months before the pandemic began. Media reports from the height of the pandemic's initial international surge frequently highlighted that many people were engaging in music-related activities (from singing and dancing to playing music from balconies and attending virtual concerts) to help them cope with the strain of the pandemic. Our first goal in this study was to investigate changes in music-related habits due to the pandemic. We also investigated whether engagement in distinct music-related activities (singing, listening, dancing, etc.) was associated with individual differences in musical reward, music perception, musical training, or emotional regulation strategies. To do so, we collected detailed (~1 h-long) surveys during the initial peak of shelter-in-place order implementation (May-June 2020) from over a thousand individuals across different Countries in which the pandemic was especially devastating at that time: the USA, Spain, and Italy. Our findings indicate that, on average, people spent more time in music-related activities while under confinement than they had before the pandemic. Notably, this change in behavior was dependent on individual differences in music reward sensitivity, and in emotional regulation strategies. Finally, the type of musical activity with which individuals engaged was further associated with the degree to which they used music as a way to regulate stress, to address the lack of social interaction (especially the individuals more concerned about the risk of contracting the virus), or to cheer themselves up (especially those who were more worried about the pandemic consequences). Identifying which music-related activities have been particularly sought for by the population as a means for coping with such heightened uncertainty and stress, and understanding the individual differences that underlie said propensities are crucial to implementing personalized music-based interventions that aim to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms.

Naturalistic Stimuli in Affective Neuroimaging: A Review

Naturalistic stimuli such as movies, music, and spoken and written stories elicit strong emotions and allow brain imaging of emotions in close-to-real-life conditions. Emotions are multi-component phenomena: relevant stimuli lead to automatic changes in multiple functional components including perception, physiology, behavior, and conscious experiences. Brain activity during naturalistic stimuli reflects all these changes, suggesting that parsing emotion-related processing during such complex stimulation is not a straightforward task. Here, I review affective neuroimaging studies that have employed naturalistic stimuli to study emotional processing, focusing especially on experienced emotions. I argue that to investigate emotions with naturalistic stimuli, we need to define and extract emotion features from both the stimulus and the observer.

Music Listening in Times of COVID-19 Outbreak: A Brazilian Study

The COVID-19 outbreak required diverse strategies, such as social distancing and self-isolation, to avoid a healthcare system crisis. However, these measures have been associated with the onset or increase of anxiety and depression symptoms in the population. Music listening was previously shown to regulate emotion, consequently reducing depression symptoms. Since previous studies with Brazilian samples have already shown a high prevalence of depressive symptoms during the first confinement period, the aim of this study was threefold: (i) to compare groups with severe depression symptoms and no depression in what concerns to demographic and socio-economic factors as well as symptoms of anxiety and resilience levels, (ii) to explore changes in music listening daily routine during the confinement measures by both groups (no depression and severe depression), and (iii) to investigate which were the main factors influencing both two groups to music listening during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-sectional study included 494 Brazilian respondents aged 18 years and above. Our online survey comprised demographics, socio-economic, and COVID-19 related questionnaires, with questions regarding music listening used during social distancing measures on which the participants rated how much each of the 41 potential reasons for listening to music changed in importance compared to the situation before the pandemic and also the evaluation of anxiety, depression, and resilience levels. The respondents with severe depression were younger and showed higher levels of anxiety symptoms and lower resilience level. Furthermore, they were increasingly likely to listen to music to feel emotionally better with the situation, to feel comfort, to forget problems, to be energetic, to decrease sad feelings, to relax, to cheer up, to forget concerns, to express feelings, to reduce anxiety, to remember better times, to relieve boredom, to mentally stimulate themselves, and to ward off stressful thoughts compared to the participants with no depression. The exploratory factor analysis (FA) identified four types of music listening functions during social distancing measures: negative mood management, cognitive functioning, positive mood management, and physical involvement, in which the participants with severe depression revealed significant differences compared to non-depressed participants for the negative mood management factor, which shows the importance of music listening to regulate their negative emotions. As a conclusion, we can argue that most of our respondents used music listening to cope with and regulate their moods during confinement, especially those who presented with severe depression symptoms.

"Help! I Need Somebody": Music as a Global Resource for Obtaining Wellbeing Goals in Times of Crisis

Music can reduce stress and anxiety, enhance positive mood, and facilitate social bonding. However, little is known about the role of music and related personal or cultural (individualistic vs. collectivistic) variables in maintaining wellbeing during times of stress and social isolation as imposed by the COVID-19 crisis. In an online questionnaire, administered in 11 countries (Argentina, Brazil, China, Colombia, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, the UK, and USA, N = 5,619), participants rated the relevance of wellbeing goals during the pandemic, and the effectiveness of different activities in obtaining these goals. Music was found to be the most effective activity for three out of five wellbeing goals: enjoyment, venting negative emotions, and self-connection. For diversion, music was equally good as entertainment, while it was second best to create a sense of togetherness, after socialization. This result was evident across different countries and gender, with minor effects of age on specific goals, and a clear effect of the importance of music in people's lives. Cultural effects were generally small and surfaced mainly in the use of music to obtain a sense of togetherness. Interestingly, culture moderated the use of negatively valenced and nostalgic music for those higher in distress.

The Compassionate Kitbag: A creative and integrative approach to compassion-focused therapy

PURPOSE

This paper outlines the concept of the 'Compassionate Kitbag', a novel multi-sensory-based means of helping draw together the various elements of compassionate mind training and processes within compassion-focused therapy (CFT), to help clients cultivate and facilitate their capacities for compassion. Building on the work of Lucre and Corten (2013, Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 86, 387), this is the first published work exploring this concept and the theoretical underpinnings, with a specific focus on how this can be used to support people with attachment and relational trauma.

METHODS

A narrative review of the literature on multi-sensory stimulation in facilitating people's capacities for compassion was conducted, coupled with a review of the literature of the use of non-human and transitional objects as explained by attachment theory and the broader scientific research underpinning the CFT model.

RESULTS

Clinical examples of how to use the Compassionate Kitbag to help stimulate compassionate therapeutic processes demonstrate the benefits of and how to begin utilizing this approach in compassion-focused work with clients with complex needs.

CONCLUSIONS

The Compassionate Kitbag's potential therapeutic value lies in offering multifarious creative and tangible means of accessing compassion to a wide range of individuals whom are typically fearful of, blocked, and/or resistant to compassion. Further research into the wider application of the concept of the Compassionate Kitbag is needed.

PRACTITIONER POINTS

Many patients with ruptured and/or traumatized early attachment relationships can find more traditional talking therapies difficult to access. Compassion-focused therapy (CFT) can offer an evolutionary-based understanding of interpersonal difficulties which can be helpful for such patients. Creatively harnessing and utilizing multi-sensory and non-linguistic social signals in CFT is key to exercising the care-giving and care-receiving social mentalities that facilitate compassionate flow. There is considerable evidence to support the use of a multi-sensory component to the therapeutic work to help patients cultivate and facilitate their capacities for compassion. The Compassionate Kitbag can be a way of supporting patients to create concrete representations of compassion in the context of the compassionate mind training component of the therapeutic work. Some of these objects can become transitional objects which can aid the therapeutic work.

A Practice-Inspired Mindset for Researching the Psychophysiological and Medical Health Effects of Recreational Dance (Dance Sport)

“Dance” has been associated with many psychophysiological and medical health effects. However, varying definitions of what constitute “dance” have led to a rather heterogenous body of evidence about such potential effects, leaving the picture piecemeal at best. It remains unclear what exact parameters may be driving positive effects. We believe that this heterogeneity of evidence is partly due to a lack of a clear definition of dance for such empirical purposes. A differentiation is needed between (a) the effects on the individual when the activity of “dancing” is enjoyed as a dancer within different dance domains (e.g., professional/”high-art” type of dance, erotic dance, religious dance, club dancing, Dance Movement Therapy (DMT), and what is commonly known as hobby, recreational or social dance), and (b) the effects on the individual within these different domains, as a dancer of the different dance styles (solo dance, partnering dance, group dance; and all the different styles within these). Another separate category of dance engagement is, not as a dancer, but as a spectator of all of the above. “Watching dance” as part of an audience has its own set of psychophysiological and neurocognitive effects on the individual, and depends on the context where dance is witnessed. With the help of dance professionals, we first outline some different dance domains and dance styles, and outline aspects that differentiate them, and that may, therefore, cause differential empirical findings when compared regardless (e.g., amount of interpersonal contact, physical exertion, context, cognitive demand, type of movements, complexity of technique and ratio of choreography/improvisation). Then, we outline commonalities between all dance styles. We identify six basic components that are part of any dance practice, as part of a continuum, and review and discuss available research for each of them concerning the possible health and wellbeing effects of each of these components, and how they may relate to the psychophysiological and health effects that are reported for “dancing”: (1) rhythm and music, (2) sociality, (3) technique and fitness, (4) connection and connectedness (self-intimation), (5) flow and mindfulness, (6) aesthetic emotions and imagination. Future research efforts might take into account the important differences between types of dance activities, as well as the six components, for a more targeted assessment of how “dancing” affects the human body.

Influence of Background Musical Emotions on Attention in Congenital Amusia

Congenital amusia in its most common form is a disorder characterized by a musical pitch processing deficit. Although pitch is involved in conveying emotion in music, the implications for pitch deficits on musical emotion judgements is still under debate. Relatedly, both limited and spared musical emotion recognition was reported in amusia in conditions where emotion cues were not determined by musical mode or dissonance. Additionally, assumed links between musical abilities and visuo-spatial attention processes need further investigation in congenital amusics. Hence, we here test to what extent musical emotions can influence attentional performance. Fifteen congenital amusic adults and fifteen healthy controls matched for age and education were assessed in three attentional conditions: executive control (distractor inhibition), alerting, and orienting (spatial shift) while music expressing either joy, tenderness, sadness, or tension was presented. Visual target detection was in the normal range for both accuracy and response times in the amusic relative to the control participants. Moreover, in both groups, music exposure produced facilitating effects on selective attention that appeared to be driven by the arousal dimension of musical emotional content, with faster correct target detection during joyful compared to sad music. These findings corroborate the idea that pitch processing deficits related to congenital amusia do not impede other cognitive domains, particularly visual attention. Furthermore, our study uncovers an intact influence of music and its emotional content on the attentional abilities of amusic individuals. The results highlight the domain-selectivity of the pitch disorder in congenital amusia, which largely spares the development of visual attention and affective systems.

Trait Empathy Shapes Neural Responses Toward Sad Music

Individuals with a predisposition to empathize engage with sad music in a compelling way, experiencing overall more pleasurable emotions. However, the neural mechanisms underlying these music-related experiences in empathic individuals are unknown. The present study tested whether dispositional empathy modulates neural responses to sad compared with happy music. Twenty-four participants underwent fMRI while listening to 4-min blocks of music evoking sadness or happiness. Using voxel-wise regression, we found a positive correlation between trait empathy (with scores assessed by the Interpersonal Reactivity Index) and eigenvector centrality values in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), including the medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC). We then performed a functional connectivity (FC) analysis to detect network nodes showing stronger FC with the vmPFC/mOFC during the presentation of sad versus happy music. By doing so, we identified a "music-empathy" network (vmPFC/mOFC, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, primary visual cortex, bilateral claustrum and putamen, and cerebellum) that is spontaneously recruited while listening to sad music and includes brain regions that support the coding of compassion, mentalizing, and visual mental imagery. Importantly, our findings extend the current understanding of empathic behaviors to the musical domain and pinpoint sad music as an effective stimulus to be employed in social neuroscience research.

Functions of Music Making Under Lockdown: A Trans-Historical Perspective Across Two Pandemics

This paper describes how music fulfills two of its broadly recognized functions-"mood regulation" and "social cohesion"-in times of pandemics and social isolation. Through a trans-historical comparison of the musical activities of the Milanese during an outbreak of plague in 1576 with the musical activities observed during the COVID lockdowns in 2020 (such as balcony-singing and playlist-making), this paper suggests a framework for understanding the role of music in the care of the biological body and the social body in times of medical disaster.

Preferred Music Listening Intervention in Nursing Home Residents with Cognitive Impairment: A Randomized Intervention Study

BACKGROUND

The current trend in addressing symptoms of dementia comprises non-pharmacological strategies such as music interventions for the management and improvement of cognitive function, memory, agitation, depression, or anxiety.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the impact of a preferred music listening group intervention upon the functional, cognitive, and emotional dimensions in nursing home residents.

METHODS

A randomized intervention study was carried out. The study was conducted from June to August 2015, and involved a preferred music listening group intervention lasting 60 minutes, 5 days/week during 8 weeks. A total of 119 adults aged ≥65 years, with annual permanent residence in the nursing home (Málaga, Spain) were included in the study. 47 (39.5%) subjects were randomized to the music group intervention. The nurses and physiotherapists were blinded to the assessments.

RESULTS

The sample had a mean age of 80.52 (SD7.44) years, with female predominance. The subjects presented dependency in Barthel, and cognitive impairment as determined by the MMSE. The Tinetti scores yielded fall risk and depression as evidenced by the Yesavage scale. The Cornell scores evidenced no depression in elderly people with dementia. Following the intervention, function improved significantly with a medium effect size, as did emotional state, with a large effect size. Cognitive function was seen to worsen in the control group, but remained stable in the intervention group, with a large effect size.

CONCLUSIONS

A preferred music listening group intervention among elderly people in nursing homes is effective, resulting in improvements in functional and emotional condition.