Mind-Wandering during Personal Music Listening in Everyday Life: Music-Evoked Emotions Predict Thought Valence

Scoping Review on the Use of Music for Emotion Regulation

With increasing interest in the emotional responses to music, some studies are specifically looking into music's regulatory function on emotion, known as "music emotion regulation (MER)". The purpose of this study was to examine the concepts on the regulatory impact of music on emotion using a scoping review procedure. Through an electronic database and manual searches based on the guidelines suggested by the JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis, a total of 47 studies were identified and included for analysis. The results showed that there were some definitional challenges in each component of music emotion regulation. Most studies treated music as a single variable without exploring the regulatory mechanism of the intra-musical elements that constitute music. When examining the regulatory impact of music on emotion, emotion was inclusive of other terms ranging from feeling to mood. Most of the MER studies employed the terms used in the emotion regulation strategies; however, there were some regulatory processes that pertained solely to music's cathartic effect. Overall, the results showed that music emotion regulation (MER) was not clearly distinguished from music emotion (ME) studies. Future research should allocate more attention to the theoretical mechanism behind music's intrinsic regulatory effect in emotion regulation (MER) studies.

Musicotherapy mobile applications: what level of evidence and potential role in psychiatric care? A systematic review

Context

In our times of smartphone ubiquity, mobile applications are an inescapable daily life tool, including in health care. Music therapy has already proven its worth, notably in mental health. Hence, we were interested in the mobile app format for this type of therapy, its level of evidence, how to use it in daily psychiatric care and the leads for future research and innovation.

Method

This study carries out a systematic review of scientific literature of this topic on two search engines, PubMed and PubPsych, using these key-words: [(web-application) OR (web-app) OR (smartphone) OR (apps) OR (app)) AND ((music) OR (music therapy) OR (melody)].

Outcome

Out of a total of 282 studies found by keyword, 31 are included in this review. Several outcomes emerge. These studies relate to existing applications like Music Care, Calm or Unwind, on application prototypes or a potential use of music streaming applications on health care. They involve many different populations and clinical situations, including in hospital environments, for patients with chronic illnesses, different age ranges or for the general population. These musical interventions show a significant effect mainly for anxious symptoms, but also for depression, sleep disorders, pain and other psychiatric or psycho-somatic syndromes. These applications have no significant adverse effects.

Conclusion

This review shows that music therapy apps have several potentials for improving mental health care. It could assist psychiatric usual care and could potentially lower medication intake. Nevertheless, the studies on the topic are limited and recent but they open prospects for future research.

The role of mood and arousal in the effect of background music on attentional state and performance during a sustained attention task

Across two online experiments, this study explored the effect of preferred background music on attentional state and performance, as well as on mood and arousal, during a vigilance task. It extended recent laboratory findings-showing an increase in task-focus and decrease in mind-wandering states with music-to environments with more distractions around participants. Participants-people who normally listen to background music during attention-demanding tasks-completed the vigilance task in their homes both with and without their chosen music and reported their attentional state, subjective arousal, and mood valence throughout the task. Experiment 1 compared music to relative silence and Experiment 2 compared music against the backdrop of continuous noise to continuous noise alone. In both experiments, music decreased mind-wandering and increased task-focus. Unlike in previous laboratory studies, in both experiments music also led to faster reaction times while increasing low-arousal external-distraction states. Importantly, mood and arousal increased with music and were shown to mediate its effects on reaction time and for the first time attentional state, both separately and together. Serial mediation effects were mostly confined to models where mood was entered first and arousal second and were consistent with the mood-arousal account of the impact of background music listening.

Thematic Contents of Mental Imagery are Shaped by Concurrent Task-Irrelevant Music

Imagination plays a key role in evidence-based, cognitive therapies, and recent research highlights that music - a perceptual stimulus imbued with affective and social meaning - can influence some aspects of imagination, such as vividness and emotional tone. However, little is known about music's capability to facilitate specific imagery themes that may be relevant for therapy. Here, we examine whether the quantity and quality (related to themes of affect, social dynamics, and confidence) of people's imagery is affected by the presence of task-irrelevant background music. One hundred participants imagined the continuation of a figure's journey while listening to different musical excerpts or silence. Written reports of imagined journeys underwent linguistic analysis to reveal the number of words belonging to the themes of interest. Bayesian Mixed Effects models revealed that music (vs. silence) led to longer reports and predicted imagery characterised by affect, social dynamics, and confidence. Implications for therapy are discussed.

Influence of music on the hearing and mental health of adolescents and countermeasures

This review elaborates on the influence of music on the psychological well-being of adolescents, covering the potential advantages, drawbacks, and necessary strategic interventions associated with music exposure. Initially, we characterize music and delve into a multifaceted classification system. Music, as a pervasive art form, is categorized based on regional and national parameters, and it also distinguishes through the assorted genres and traits. The mental well-being of adolescents is significantly influenced by music through mechanisms such as the facilitation of emotional expression and regulation, fortification of social bonds and the sense of belonging, as well as the fostering of creativity and cognitive development. Nonetheless, music, if misused or associated with inappropriate content, could elicit a spectrum of issues ranging from auditory impairment, diversion of attention, addiction tendencies, to the induction of negative emotions. To counteract these potential hazards, we propose several mitigation strategies including the selection of appropriate music styles, the establishment of a wholesome music environment, the promotion of the constructive role of music education, and fostering active participation in music activities among the youth. In conclusion, we underscore the necessity of a collaborative endeavor from all sectors of society to ensure a healthy music environment for the youth, which in turn would enhance the positive influence of music on the mental health development of this population.

Immersive and maladaptive daydreaming and divergent thinking in autism spectrum disorders

Little is known about the internal mental experiences of individuals with ASD. While some research suggests a limited capacity for imagination, other studies show heightened interest in fantasy and unique forms of creative thinking in ASD. This study explored daydreaming experiences in adults with ASD, with a focus on immersive daydreaming and its relation to divergent thinking abilities. Individuals with and without a diagnosis of ASD were surveyed on their daydreaming habits and completed a divergent thinking task. Experiences of immersive daydreaming were identified in 42% of adults with ASD and were related to broad ASD traits in those without a diagnosis of ASD. However, ASD diagnosis was unrelated to originality of divergent thinking, which was negatively associated with immersive daydreaming. Moreover, daydreaming experiences in ASD were diverse. A more nuanced understanding of the mental experiences in ASD may assist in the development of interventions and support for this population.

Effect of music intervention on subjective scores, heart rate variability, and prefrontal hemodynamics in patients with chronic pain

INTRODUCTION

Music interventions have been proposed in recent years as a treatment for chronic pain. However, the mechanisms by which music relieves pain are unclear, and the effects of music intervention on physiological indicators in patients with chronic pain remain to be explored. This study aimed to explore whether a music intervention would have effects on subjective pain ratings, heart rate variability, and functional connectivity of the cerebral cortex in patients with chronic pain.

METHODS

A randomized controlled study was conducted on 37 pain patients aged 18-65 years, with the control group receiving usual care, and the intervention group receiving music intervention (8-150 Hz, 50-70 dB) for 30 min before bedtime for 7 days on top of usual care. Pain visual analog scale and heart rate variability were used as subjective and objective physiological indices before and after the music intervention, respectively. Changes in oxyhemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin concentrations in the cerebral cortex were measured by functional near-infrared spectroscopy, and whole-brain correlation analysis was used to quantify the connectivity of prefrontal brain regions associated with the pain response.

RESULTS

Results showed that patients with chronic pain in the intervention group had significantly lower visual assessment scale scores, as well as significantly lower overall voluntary mobility during pain episodes, resulting in relatively higher vagal innervation compared to the control group. In addition, connections between the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (BA9, BA46) and frontal areas (BA10) were significantly higher in the intervention group.

DISCUSSION

This study demonstrates the effectiveness of the combined application of music interventions with usual care in reducing pain levels in patients with chronic pain and provides insight into the pathological mechanisms of music interventions for analgesia, providing direction for new baseline indicators for quantitative clinical assessment of pain. The study was registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (No. ChiCTR2100052993).

CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION

[https://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=136268], identifier [ChiCTR2100052993].