title: Autonomic effects of music in health and Crohn's disease: the impact of isochronicity, emotional valence, and tempo.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Music can evoke strong emotions and thus elicit significant autonomic nervous system (ANS) responses. However, previous studies investigating music-evoked ANS effects produced inconsistent results. In particular, it is not clear (a) whether simply a musical tactus (without common emotional components of music) is sufficient to elicit ANS effects; (b) whether changes in the tempo of a musical piece contribute to the ANS effects; (c) whether emotional valence of music influences ANS effects; and (d) whether music-elicited ANS effects are comparable in healthy subjects and patients with Crohn´s disease (CD, an inflammatory bowel disease suspected to be associated with autonomic dysfunction).
  
  
  METHODS
  To address these issues, three experiments were conducted, with a total of n = 138 healthy subjects and n = 19 CD patients. Heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV), and electrodermal activity (EDA) were recorded while participants listened to joyful pleasant music, isochronous tones, and unpleasant control stimuli.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared to silence, both pleasant music and unpleasant control stimuli elicited an increase in HR and a decrease in a variety of HRV parameters. Surprisingly, similar ANS effects were elicited by isochronous tones (i.e., simply by a tactus). ANS effects did not differ between pleasant and unpleasant stimuli, and different tempi of the music did not entrain ANS activity. Finally, music-evoked ANS effects did not differ between healthy individuals and CD patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The isochronous pulse of music (i.e., the tactus) is a major factor of music-evoked ANS effects. These ANS effects are characterized by increased sympathetic activity. The emotional valence of a musical piece contributes surprisingly little to the ANS activity changes evoked by that piece.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Roland Uwe
authors.initials: RU
authors.lastname: Krabs
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Ronny
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Enk
authors.affiliation: Group practice for Digestive and Metabolic Diseases, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Niels
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Teich
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany; Cluster of Excellence "Languages of Emotions", Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Koelsch
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001337:Autonomic Agents; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D004562:Electrocardiography; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009146:Music / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D001337:Autonomic Agents