Indirect assessment of memory for music during anesthesia.
OBJECTIVE
To obtain evidence for intraoperative registration of auditory information in patients undergoing elective surgery.


METHODS
Within-subject design with three levels of frequency of exposure to music.


METHODS
A university hospital and a university language laboratory.


METHODS
Thirty-four patients scheduled for elective surgery and 20 healthy undergraduate psychology students.


METHODS
Selections of instrumental ethnic music were played to patients for 0, 3, or 12 exposures in one experiment and for 0, 6, or 24 exposures in another study. The undergraduates heard 0, 3, or 12 exposures of the music while awake.


RESULTS
Forty-eight hours after hearing the music, all subjects were tested on their preference for the selections they had heard as well as selections they had not heard. For the patients, the mean preference ratings (in millimeters, mm) on a visual analog scale following 0, 3, and 12 exposures were 73.3 mm, 74.0 mm, and 65.1 mm, respectively, a nonsignificant difference. For the patients who were exposed to the music 0, 6, and 24 times, the mean preference ratings were 64.4 mm, 66.1 mm, and 70.6 mm, respectively, a nonsignificant difference. For the waking participants, the mean preference ratings following 0, 3, and 12 exposures were 55 mm, 66.2 mm, and 62.5 mm, respectively, a significant difference (p less than 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
The anesthetized patients did not exhibit indirect memory for music played intraoperatively, at least to the extent required to demonstrate an exposure effect.
Winograd
E
E
Department of Anesthesiology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322.
Sebel
P S
PS
Goldman
W P
WP
Clifton
C
C
Lowdon
J D
JD
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000758:Anesthesia / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009146:Music / Q000523:psychology*