The "Ifs" and "Hows" of the Role of Music on the Implementation of Emotional Regulation Strategies

Exploring the influence of national music lessons on subjective well-being, self-esteem, and national identity among university students: a case study from China

This study aims to explore the influence of national music lessons on university students' subjective well-being, self-esteem, and national identity. A Chinese university provided four national music courses spanning 8 weeks. The students' subjective well-being, self-esteem, and national identity were measured before the commencement of the courses (T1), the fourth week of the courses (T2), and post the completion of the courses (T3). A total of 362 participants completed the Positive and Negative Affect Scales, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and the National Identity Scale at T1, T2, and T3. Results indicated that national music lessons could improve university students' subjective well-being, yet there was no effect on their national identity or self-esteem. Although high national identity and high self-esteem predicted a greater level of subjective well-being, self-esteem and national identity did not affect the influence of national music lessons on subjective well-being. National music lessons were particularly beneficial to students with low and middle levels of subjective well-being, in comparison to those with higher levels of subjective well-being. This paper verifies an efficient method to bolster students' subjective well-being that can be conducted in educational practices.

Electroencephalography Based Microstate Functional Connectivity Analysis in Emotional Cognitive Reappraisal Combined with Happy Music

Currently, research mainly focuses on the effects of happy music on the subjective assessment of cognitive reappraisal, but relevant results of the neural mechanism are lacking. By analysing the functional connectivity of microstates based on electroencephalography (EEG), we investigated the effect of cognitive reappraisal combined with happy music on emotional regulation and the dynamic characteristics of brain functional activities. A total of 52 healthy college students were divided into music group and control group. EEG data and behavioural scores were collected during an experiment of cognitive reappraisal combined with happy music. The dynamic time window of the brain functional network was determined by microstate analysis, and the metrics of functional connectivity, clustering coefficient (Cp) and characteristic path length (Lp), were calculated based on the phase-locked value. The arousal of cognitive reappraisal significantly increased (p = 0.005) in music group, but the valence did not change significantly. This suggested that happy music did not affect emotional regulation from the behavioural perspective. Four microstate global templates (A–D) were determined. With happy music, the duration (p = 0.043) and Lp (p = 0.033) of microstate B increased significantly, indicating that the transfection efficiency of the brain network decreased, reflecting a negative effect on cognitive reappraisal. The duration (p = 0.017) of microstate D decreased and of Cp (p < 0.001) increased significantly, indicating that the local information-processing ability of the brain network increased. We conclude that happy music can change the characteristics of brain functional networks and have a positive effect on cognitive reappraisal in specific period. The research provides a certain electrophysiological basis for applying happy music to cognitive reappraisal.