title: The joys of spring.
abstract: This study used Vivaldi's Four Seasons, an extraordinary example of program music, to explore the consequence of music exposure on cognitive event-related potentials (ERPs). Seventeen participants performed a three-stimulus visual odd-ball task while ERPs were recorded. Participants were required to differentiate between a rare target stimulus (to elicit a memory updating component; P3b), a rare novel stimulus (to elicit a novelty attention component; P3a), and a frequent nontarget stimulus. During task performance participants listened to the four concertos: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter in comparison to a silent control condition. Additionally, the three movements of each concerto have a fast, slow, fast structure that enabled examination of the impact of tempo. The data revealed that "Spring," particularly the well-recognized, vibrant, emotive, and uplifting first movement, had the ability to enhance mental alertness and brain measures of attention and memory.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. leigh.riby@northumbria.ac.uk
authors.forename: Leigh M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Riby
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D000293:Adolescent; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001307:Auditory Perception; D018913:Event-Related Potentials, P300 / Q000502:physiology; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D009146:Music; D011930:Reaction Time; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D055815:Young Adult