A1 Journal article (refereed)
Music-induced positive mood broadens the scope of auditory attention (2017)

Putkinen, V., Makkonen, T., & Eerola, T. (2017). Music-induced positive mood broadens the scope of auditory attention. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 12(7), 1159-1168. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsx038

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Putkinen, Vesa; Makkonen, Tommi; Eerola, Tuomas

Journal or series: Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience

ISSN: 1749-5016

eISSN: 1749-5024

Publication year: 2017

Volume: 12

Issue number: 7

Pages range: 1159-1168

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Publication country: United Kingdom

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsx038

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Open Access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/54975

Abstract

Previous studies indicate that positive mood broadens the scope of visual attention, which can manifest as heightened distractibility. We used event-related potentials (ERP) to investigate whether music-induced positive mood has comparable effects on selective attention in the auditory domain. Subjects listened to experimenter-selected happy, neutral or sad instrumental music and afterwards participated in a dichotic listening task. Distractor sounds in the unattended channel elicited responses related to early sound encoding (N1/MMN) and bottom-up attention capture (P3a) while target sounds in the attended channel elicited a response related to top-down-controlled processing of task-relevant stimuli (P3b). For the subjects in a happy mood, the N1/MMN responses to the distractor sounds were enlarged while the P3b elicited by the target sounds was diminished. Behaviorally, these subjects tended to show heightened error rates on target trials following the distractor sounds. Thus, the ERP and behavioral results indicate that the subjects in a happy mood allocated their attentional resources more diffusely across the attended and the to-be-ignored channels. Therefore, the current study extends previous research on the effects of mood on visual attention and indicates that even unfamiliar instrumental music can broaden the scope of auditory attention via its effects on mood.

Keywords: music; emotions; attention; mismatch negativity

Free keywords: emotion; P3a; P3b

Contributing organizations

Related projects

Ministry reporting: Yes

Reporting Year: 2017

JUFO rating: 2