Exploring Emotional Induction through Music: The Interplay of Intrinsic Musical Features, Contemporaneity, and Cultural Proximity

Abstract

Background. Music can induce different emotional states on listener, a phenomenon termed Emotional Induction through Music (EIM;) (Ribeiro et al., 2019). EIM has been mainly explained by intrinsic musical features, leading to a classification of music in two categories: arousing and relaxing (Gomez & Danuser, 2007). However, the role of other aspects, such as contemporaneity and cultural proximity with music, has been less addressed. Aims. This study aims to assess the EIM comparing music from different contexts and periods (European vs Latin American) vs baseline without music. Method. We evaluated subjective measures (valence, arousal, liking and familiarity), heart rate variability (HRV) and skin conductance (SC) in 28 Argentinian participants (M = 27.45; SD = 1.31), while they stayed in silence (baseline) and listened to musical pieces (arousing Latin American vs relaxing Latin American vs arousing European vs relaxing European) for three minutes each one. Results. Subjectively, arousing pieces were more exciting than relaxing ones, and the relaxing European was less exciting and negative than the rest. Physiologically, both Latin American music elicited higher SC response than European music. About HRV indexes, arousing Latin American music presented an increase in low frequency and decrease of very low frequency components compared with relaxing European music. Discussion and conclusion. The arousing Latin American and the relaxing European elicit opposite psychophysiological states which cannot be explained by intrinsic musical features alone. Therefore, contemporaneity and cultural proximity with music should be taken into account in EIM.