Cheng Tzu-Han, Tsai Chen-Gia
Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University Taipei, Taiwan.
Graduate Institute of Musicology, National Taiwan UniversityTaipei, Taiwan; Center for Neurobiology and Cognitive Science, National Taiwan UniversityTaipei, Taiwan.
Front Psychol. 2016 Feb 17;7:182. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00182. eCollection 2016.
Although music and the emotion it conveys unfold over time, little is known about how listeners respond to shifts in musical emotions. A special technique in heavy metal music utilizes dramatic shifts between loud and soft passages. Loud passages are penetrated by distorted sounds conveying aggression, whereas soft passages are often characterized by a clean, calm singing voice and light accompaniment. The present study used heavy metal songs and soft sea sounds to examine how female listeners' respiration rates and heart rates responded to the arousal changes associated with auditory stimuli. The high-frequency power of heart rate variability (HF-HRV) was used to assess cardiac parasympathetic activity. The results showed that the soft passages of heavy metal songs and soft sea sounds expressed lower arousal and induced significantly higher HF-HRVs than the loud passages of heavy metal songs. Listeners' respiration rate was determined by the arousal level of the present music passage, whereas the heart rate was dependent on both the present and preceding passages. Compared with soft sea sounds, the loud music passage led to greater deceleration of the heart rate at the beginning of the following soft music passage. The sea sounds delayed the heart rate acceleration evoked by the following loud music passage. The data provide evidence that sound-induced parasympathetic activity affects listeners' heart rate in response to the following music passage. These findings have potential implications for future research on the temporal dynamics of musical emotions.
尽管音乐及其传达的情感是随着时间展开的，但对于听众如何回应音乐情感的变化却知之甚少。重金属音乐中的一种特殊技巧是在响亮和柔和的段落之间进行戏剧性的转换。响亮的段落被传达攻击性的失真声音穿透，而柔和的段落通常以清晰、平静的歌声和轻柔的伴奏为特征。本研究使用重金属歌曲和柔和的海浪声来检验女性听众的呼吸频率和心率如何回应与听觉刺激相关的唤醒变化。心率变异性的高频功率（HF-HRV）被用于评估心脏副交感神经活动。结果显示，重金属歌曲的柔和段落和柔和的海浪声所表达的唤醒程度较低，并且比重金属歌曲的响亮段落诱发的HF-HRV显著更高。听众的呼吸频率由当前音乐段落的唤醒水平决定，而心率则取决于当前和之前的段落。与柔和的海浪声相比，响亮的音乐段落在随后柔和音乐段落开始时导致心率更大程度的减速。海浪声延迟了随后响亮音乐段落诱发的心率加速。这些数据提供了证据，表明声音诱发的副交感神经活动会影响听众对随后音乐段落的心率反应。这些发现对未来关于音乐情感时间动态的研究具有潜在意义。
