Regulating a Learner's Emotions Through Variable-Tempo Background Music: Effects on Performance, Emotions, and Psychophysiology

• In Event: Student Emotion Across Domains and Contexts

Abstract

This study examined the psycho-emotional and psychophysiological effects that variations in the tempo/speed of background music have on learners who are completing reading comprehension tasks. Results from seventy-four (N= 74) participants indicated that participants were more likely to have lower performance scores, greater expressions of fear, joy and contempt, and greater skin conductance responses when listening to fast tempo music (150bpm). These results suggest that a combined regulatory mechanism may be at play that helps indicate the combined effect that music may have on cognitive performance, attention allocation, and emotion regulation.

Authors

• Matthew Moreno, McGill University

• Earl Woodruff, OISE/University of Toronto