Browsing by Author "Tsai, Chen-Gia"

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Experiencing affective music in eyes-closed and eyes-open states: an electroencephalography study
(2015-08-07)
Chang, Yun-Hsuan
;
Lee, You-Yun
;
Liang, Keng-Chen
;
Chen, I-Ping
;
Tsai, Chen-Gia
In real life, listening to music may be associated with an eyes-closed or eyes-open state. The effect of eye state on listeners' reaction to music has attracted some attention, but its influence on brain activity has not been fully investigated. The present study aimed to evaluate the electroencephalographic (EEG) markers for the emotional valence of music in different eye states. Thirty participants listened to musical excerpts with different emotional content in the eyes-closed and eyes-open states. The results showed that participants rated the music as more pleasant or with more positive valence under an eyes-open state. In addition, we found that the alpha asymmetry indices calculated on the parietal and temporal sites reflected emotion valence in the eyes-closed and eyes-open states, respectively. The theta power in the frontal area significantly increased while listening to emotional-positive music compared to emotional-negative music under the eyes-closed condition. These effects of eye states on EEG markers are discussed in terms of brain mechanisms underlying attention and emotion.
Relaxation and Executive Control Processes in Listeners: An Exploratory Study of Music-Induced Transient Suppression of Skin Conductance Responses
(2015-07-01)
Tsai, Chen-Gia
;
Yang, Chien-Ming
;
Chen, Chien-Chung
;
Chen, I-Ping
;
Liang, Keng-Cheng
As music unfolds over time, fluctuations in listeners\' arousal level can be assessed by physiological measures. Strong emotional feelings induced by music are usually accompanied by heightened physiological arousal as reflected by increased skin conductance responses (SCRs). The aim of this study was to demonstrate that SCRs can be suppressed by musical events; cognitive-emotional processing of music in the central nervous system may lead to decreases in sympathetic activity and transient inhibition of sweat gland innervation. We recruited nonmusicians and recorded their real-time SCRs during the presentation of musical excerpts. Among 48 musical excerpts, seven excerpts were found to transiently reduce SCR amplitude to a level below the resting control value. Music analysis revealed that anticipation of sudden accents, music-evoked feelings of tenderness, and habituation or cancellation of an alarm in listeners may be associated with significant antipeaks on the average curve of SCR amplitude. In light of the neural mechanisms underlying SCR regulation, we suggest that an antipeak of average SCR amplitude represents a physiological signature of transient relaxation or executive control. With regard to music cognition, our findings shed new light on the perception of musical-tension/relaxation contrasts, major-minor ambiguity, and musical repetitions.