The impact of music-prompted emotional valence and arousal on self-report, autonomic, facial EMG, and startle responses across experimental contexts

This research examined the effects of music-prompted emotional valence and arousal on psychophysiological responses in both evaluative and non-evaluative contexts. Instrumental music prompted emotion in a 2 Valence (negative, positive) x 2 Arousal (low, high) within-subjects design (N = 67). In the initial and final experimental phases, participants were instructed to process the emotion expressed in 26-sec music trials and rated their affect after each trial. In the main, non-evaluative section of study, participants processed emotion both during and after music presentation trials, separated by 11-20 sec relaxation intervals. Physiology was measured throughout the study. Heart rate (HR), skin conductance, and orbicularis oculi EMG change scores were higher during high vs. low-arousal emotion. Zygomatic EMG was higher during positive vs. negative conditions, and corrugator EMG showed the opposite pattern. In contrast to previous findings, startle reflex magnitudes were unaffected by valence, and were larger during low vs. high-arousal conditions. These findings pose interesting questions about the relationships among affective arousal, the startle, and HR. Ratings supported valence and arousal manipulations. HR decreases indicative of orienting responses occurred during all evaluation phase conditions, and only during the low-arousal conditions in the main study. Facial EMG, valence and liking ratings changed from the initial to final evaluation phase. Results are discussed in terms of emotional dimensions, the evaluative context of emotion, and in relation to findings from other sensory stimulus and imagery paradigms. This research contributes a new paradigm to the emotion and psychophysiology literature, organizes self-report and physiological responses to music within the framework of valence and arousal, and bridges the gap between music psychology and the broader field of emotion research