International Journal of Psychophysiology 81 (2011) 152–158

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International Journal of Psychophysiology

j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / i j p s yc h o

Performing music can induce greater modulation of emotion-related

psychophysiological responses than listening to music
Hidehiro Nakahara a,⁎, Shinichi Furuya b, 1, Tsutomu Masuko c, 2, Peter R. Francis d, Hiroshi Kinoshita e, 3
a
Morinomiya University of Medical Sciences, 1-26-16, Nankokita, Suminoe, Osaka 559-8611, Japan
b
Human Media Research Center, Kwansei Gakuin University, 2-1, Gakuen, Sanda, Hyogo 669-1337, Japan
c
Department of Music, Mukogawa Women's University, 6-46, Ikebiraki, Nishinomiya, Hyogo, 663-8558, Japan
d
Department of Exercise and Nutritional Sciences, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182, USA
e
Biomechanics and Motor Control Laboratory, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, 1-17, Machikaneyama, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-0043, Japan

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The present study investigated the differential effects of music-induced emotion on heart rate (HR) and its
Received 30 December 2010 variability (HRV) while playing music on the piano and listening to a recording of the same piece of music.
Received in revised form 2 May 2011 Sixteen pianists were monitored during tasks involving emotional piano performance, non-emotional piano
Accepted 5 June 2011
performance, emotional perception, and non-emotional perception. It was found that emotional induction
Available online 24 June 2011
during both perception and performance modulated HR and HRV, and that such modulations were
Keywords:
significantly greater during musical performance than during perception. The results confirmed that musical
Emotion performance was far more effective in modulating emotion-related autonomic nerve activity than musical
Music perception in musicians. The findings suggest the presence of a neural network of reward-emotion-associated
Performance autonomic nerve activity for musical performance that is independent of a neural network for musical
Perception perception.
Heart rate © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Music is universally enjoyed by both performers (instrumentalists
and/or singers) and those who perceive musical performances (active
or passive listeners). Changes in emotions generated by exposure to
music undoubtedly involve interactions with the central neural
network responsible for autonomic nerve functions, which can in
turn affect peripheral cardiovascular functions. A number of in-
vestigators have reported that musical perception is associated with
modulations in heart rate (HR) as well as its variability (HRV), blood
pressure (BP), body temperature, perspiration, respiration and muscle
tension (Allen et al., 2001; Bernardi et al., 2006, 2009; Blood and
Zatorre, 2001; Iwanaga et al., 2005; Khalfa et al., 2002; Ravaja and
Kallinen, 2004; Sammler et al., 2007; White, 1999). For example,
Blood and Zatorre (2001) reported that individuals who listened to
self-selected music that consistently elicited intensely pleasant
emotional responses, experienced elevated HR and respiration rate.
The HR of subjects listening to the music with the highest valence was
⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +81 6 6616 6911, +81 6 6616 6914; fax: +81 6 6616
6912.
E-mail addresses: nakahara@morinomiya-u.ac.jp (H. Nakahara), sfuruya@umn.edu
(S. Furuya), tomasuko@hotmail.com (T. Masuko), peterfrancis@cox.net (P.R. Francis),
hkinoshita@moted.hss.osaka-u.ac.jp (H. Kinoshita).
1
Tel./fax: +81 079 565 786.
2
Tel./fax: +81 722 37 0067.
3
Tel.: +81 6 6850 6034; fax: +81 6 6850 6030.
about 30 beats per min (bpm) greater than when the same individuals
listened to music that they perceived to be non-emotional. The
authors also used a positron emission tomography (PET) technique to
monitor the activation of the central neural network associated with
these emotional responses. Activation was observed in the ventral
striatum, midbrain, amygdala, orbito-frontal, and medial prefrontal
cortex. They concluded that music recruited neural systems of reward
and emotion similar to those known to respond specifically to
biologically relevant stimuli, such as food and sex, and those that are
artificially activated by drugs of abuse. Khalfa et al. (2002) monitored
skin conductance responses, a measure of sympathetic nerve activity,
in subjects listening to musical excerpts that could induce different
kinds of emotions (fear, happiness, sadness, and peacefulness). They
reported that fear and happiness produced greater sympathetic
activity than sadness and peacefulness. Using a fast Fourier transform
analysis of HRV, Iwanaga et al. (2005) observed that its high-
frequency (HF) component, which reflects the activity of parasym-
pathetic nerves, was decreased in subjects who listened to an
excitative type of music. Conversely, when the same subjects listened
to a sedative type of music, the HF component increased.
Bernardi et al. (2006) used autoregressive power spectrum
analysis to examine the HRV, ventilation, BP, and mid-cerebral artery
flow velocity of individuals listening passively to music of different
tempi and structures (harmony, melody, and rhythm). They reported
that, when compared with baseline measurements, the ventilation,
BP, HR, the ratio of low-frequency (LF) and HF (LF/HF) increased at

0167-8760/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2011.06.003
 H. Nakahara et al. / International Journal of Psychophysiology 81 (2011) 152–158
faster tempi and with simpler rhythmic structures. Conversely, mid-
cerebral artery flow and an index of baroreflex decreased under these
same conditions. The authors also observed that musicians had greater
respiratory sensitivity to music tempo than did non-musicians.
Subsequently, Bernardi et al. (2009) examined dynamic cardiovascular
and respiratory responses to various classical and operatic music
selections. Vocal and orchestral crescendos produced significant
correlations between cardiovascular or respiratory signals and musical
profile, particularly skin vasoconstriction and BP, in proportion to
crescendo. In contrast, uniform emphasis induced skin vasodilation and
reduction in BP. It was also noted that the cardiovascular autonomic
variables were entrained by 10-s period rhythmic phrases. In addition,
the authors observed that these phenomena occurred in all subjects
examined, regardless of musical training, practice, or personal taste,
even in an absence of emotional responses. The investigators concluded
that music could be sensed and processed at a subconscious level,
closely mirrored by autonomic cardiovascular responses.
In contrast to the numerous published reports of responses to
musical perception, a review of the literature revealed few in-
vestigations of the emotion-associated autonomic cardiovascular
responses of musicians during their own performances. Parr (1988)
monitored the HR, BP, cardiac output and forearm blood flow of
trained pianists while they performed four-octave, bilateral scales at
various tempi. HR progressively increased from 88 bpm to 120 bpm.
Other cardiac measures also increased with increasing keystroke
tempo. However, due to the fact that the bilateral-scale is undoubt-
edly not a task that would induce strong emotions in trained pianists,
it must be assumed that the observed changes largely reflected the
effect of physiological load. We have recently compared expression-
related physiological and biomechanical changes in trained pianists
while they played the same musical piece with and without
expression (Nakahara et al., 2010). Expressive and emotional
performance resulted in increased HR and sweat rate, and decreased
para-sympathetic nerve activity estimated from HRV.
The apparent dearth of information about the emotion-related
autonomic and physiological responses to music performance is
surprising. From a psycho-neurophysiological perspective, such infor-
mation may be potentially more valuable than information concerning
musical perception, especially to performers who have professional
and economic interests in these matters. Such information is also of
potential value for music therapists who prescribe activities involving
the playing of musical instruments and singing as treatment modalities
for their patients. Musical performance is distinctly different from
musical perception because the performer can integrate voluntary
sensorimotor actions that convey his or her unique artistic expression
and emotions during the performance of a musical piece. This suggests
that the levels of emotion attainable with musical performance are
necessarily higher than those experienced during musical perception.
Therefore, during the course of the present study we examined the
effects of emotions on the autonomic functions associated with musical
perception and performance. Specifically, using highly trained pianists
as subjects, we investigated the effects of emotional input on HR and
HRV when listening to a J.S. Bach prelude. These parameters were also
monitored when the same subjects performed the same musical piece
on the piano. During both the perception and performance conditions
two contrasting conditions of emotion were examined. Under one of the
conditions subjects were requested to respond expressively or
emotionally to the music. Under the other condition subjects were
requested to inhibit emotional feeling in a voluntary manner.
2. Methods
2.1. Subjects
Sixteen active, healthy Japanese classical pianists (12 females and
4 males), all of whom had at least 17 years of piano training, served as
153
the subjects for this investigation. Their ages ranged from 22 to
33 years (mean ± SD = 24.8 ± 4.9 years). Eight of the subjects were
professional performers, and the remaining 8 were graduate students
who were majoring in piano performance at the School of Music at
two universities in the Kansai (middle-west) region of Japan. These
latter students were aspiring to be professional pianists. All subjects
reported that within the past three years they had undergone
standard medical health checkups which included the measurement
of resting ECG, BP, chest X-ray, haemogram, and liver function, and all
were classified as being “healthy”.
It was recognized that the validity of the present investigation was
dependent upon each subject's ability to monitor his or her own
emotions during performance. This was facilitated in part by the
selection of a piece of music that was not technically challenging for
highly skilled and experienced performers (see below). Subsequently,
the procedure for subject selection was rigorous. Initially a group of 25
highly skilled pianists residing in the Kansai region was identified
from lists of participants who had appeared in recent major domestic
and international competitions. A letter describing the general nature
of our proposed psycho-physiological study was sent to each member
of the group in order to solicit interest in participating in the
investigation. Seventeen pianists who expressed interest were then
interviewed telephonically, and voluntarily provided information
about their piano education backgrounds and performance careers.
Those who were actively performing, had more than 15 years of piano
training, and had no history of cardiovascular or neurological
problems, were then given additional information about the purpose
of the study, and the experimental tasks to be performed during the
experiment.
Approximately one month before data were collected, each of the
17 volunteers came to the laboratory and performed the experimental
music using an upright piano (U1, YAMAHA Co., Japan). In particular,
they were asked to report whether they could successfully play the
piece in the laboratory using their usual expressive manner, and also
perform the same piece without expressing their emotions during the
performance. With only a single exception, the prospective subjects
adamantly indicated that they could comply with these requests. The
individual who indicated that she was not confident that she could
comply was not included as a subject in the investigation. Written
informed consent was then obtained from each subject, and the Ethics
Committee of Osaka University graduate school of medicine approved
all procedures.
2.2. Experimental music
The music selected for the present study was the well-tempered
Clavier, Vol. I, prelude No. 1 written by J. S. Bach in 18th century. This
music was chosen for several reasons. First, in order to maintain a
constant respiratory rate it was necessary to avoid music with
irregularities in tempo and/or rhythm (i.e. rubato). Baroque piano
music is suitable in this respect because it is generally incompatible
with rubato, and it encourages performers to maintain constant
playing tempo with relatively constant loudness. Second, this piece
can be performed predominately by hand and finger movements, and
this helps to prevent excessive body movement. Third, all of the
subjects had in fact played it prior to participation in the investigation,
and were capable of playing it without technical concerns. This was
important to avoid confounding effects on autonomic activity due to
playing unfamiliar and/or technically demanding pieces. Fourth, vocal
and orchestral music may be suitable for eliciting stronger emotion-
related cardiovascular responses in the listeners than solo uniform music
(Bernardi et al., 2009). However recording of the same physiological
measures in performers during naturalistic vocal and orchestral perfor-
mance is quite difficult.
In our earlier survey of valence and arousal resulting from listening
to different types of music, music-major students (N = 34) as well as
154 H. Nakahara et al. / International Journal of Psychophysiology 81 (2011) 152–158
non-music-major students (N = 29) nearly equally rated this music
with high valence (pleasant and happy: average ± SD = 8.3 ± 1.6
point) and with relatively low arousal (calm: 2.3 ± 1.5 point) on a 10-
point scale (Nakahara et al., 2010).
2.3. Experimental tasks
Six experimental tasks were examined in the present study. These
were, (1) playing the experimental prelude in the performer's usual
artistic and expressive manner with instructions to voluntarily
minimize ancillary movements of the head, trunk, and upper arms
(the emotional performance task), (2) playing the same piece without
emotions and without ancillary movements (the non-emotional
performance task), (3) playing the same music on the piano without
emotion and throughout using a forte-touch (the non-emotional
forte-performance task), (4) listening to a recording of the musical
performance that was obtained when the same subject performed
the emotional performance task (the emotional perception task),
(5) listening to the recording obtained while the subject performed
the non-emotional performance task (the non-emotional perception
task), and (6) resting in a stationary sitting position (the control task).
It has been recommended that segments of HR should be at least 5 min
in duration for purposes of HRV analysis (Task Force, 1996). Therefore,
each task lasted for 5 min during which time the prelude was performed
two and half times. Musical tempo for all conditions was regulated using a
metronome and performed at 60 bpm. During the performance of the
perception tasks, subjects were requested to listen to the music with the
same level of attention that they utilized when they were engaged in
the emotional performance task or the non-emotional performance task.
During perception tasks subjects listened to their own music performance
recorded prior to the experiment. This methodology was selected on the
basis of a pilot study using 9 pianists as subjects. During this latter
investigation we examined the differential psychological effects of
listening to the current experimental music recorded by the performer
him/her self and listening to the same piece played by other professional
pianists. Seven of the 9 subjects (78%) reported that listening to the other
players' performance differed clearly from their own in terms of musical
expression (touch, loudness, tempo etc.). These subjects stated that the
experimental music was an easy piece for them to play without any errors,
and that they preferred to listen to their own musical performance in
order to become fully involved at the emotional level, rather than
attempting to do so when listening to the recordings of other performers.
The music selected for this experiment did not require significant
motions of the body beyond the limited actions of the upper extremities
necessary to perform the piece. However, subjects were requested to
avoid non-essential movements of the body during performance tasks.
Comparable restrictions on movement of the trunk, head, and upper
extremity during the emotional and non-emotional conditions was
requested because movements of the large segments of the body
(mainly the trunk and head) can significantly modulate the HR
response, especially during emotional performance. Nevertheless,
increased physical load due to higher muscular tension may occur
when playing the piano with emotions. To assess this effect, we added
the third experimental condition in which subjects were asked to play
the experimental music at a higher (fortissimo) tone level without
emotions, and this condition was compared with the non-emotional
performance condition. During the perception tasks, the subjects were
required to place their hands on the piano keys and assume the same
body position they had adopted during the performance tasks. They
were also requested to keep their eyes open and to attempt to minimize
motions of any portion of the body.
2.4. Apparatus
The apparatus used for data collection was assembled in a
laboratory that provided a comparable environment to an acoustically
controlled and temperature-controlled recording studio. The exper-
imental set-up consisted of a three-lead electrocardiogram (ECG, DS-
2150, Fukuda Denshi Co., Japan), a sound-level meter (NL-20, Rion Co.,
Japan), a compact stereo DAT recorder (TCD-D100, Sony Co., Japan), a
stereo-sound amplifier (PMA-201SA, Denon co., Japan), a set of
speakers (SS-K10ED, Sony Co., Japan), an automatic respiratory gas
analyzing system (AE-280S, Minato Med Sci. co., Japan), a position
sensor system (C-5049, Hamamatsu photonics co., Japan), and an
upright piano. A microphone connected to a sound-level meter was
hung from the ceiling at a height of 1 m above the keyboard surface of
the piano. The level of sound pressure was then obtained from the
sampled peak sound data. The speakers were placed on the side of the
piano. The gain of the sound amplifier during the listening tasks was
adjusted for each subject to provide a similar level of sound pressure
measured in the vicinity of the performer's head during the performance
tasks.
2.5. Procedures
One week before scheduled data collection, each subject came to
the experimental room in the laboratory. The subject was then given
the opportunity to play the experimental music and become
accustomed to the laboratory piano. They also practiced breathing
while maintaining a constant respiration rate of 15 bpm with the
guidance of a metronome during all tasks. The subjects were also
given additional instructions, including avoidance of strenuous
exercise and maintaining customary diet for 24 h preceding the day
of data collection, and to refrain from ingesting food, alcohol and
caffeine for at least 2 h preceding the data collection session. Subjects
were also asked to practice playing the piece at home until they were
able to play without viewing the score, and to be confident that they
could play the piece while inhibiting their emotional involvement,
avoiding ancillary body motions, and maintaining the same constant
respiration rate. A few days prior to the data collection session, each
subject visited the lab to record his/her performance of the emotional
and non-emotional tasks using a DAT recorder. Subsequently, subjects
were asked to practice the listening tasks utilizing the recordings of
their own performances.
After arriving at the experimental room on the day of data collection,
Ag/AgCL disposable ECG electrodes were attached to the chest to
measure HR, and the subject was fitted with a mask which covered the
nose and mouth during respiratory gas analysis. Subsequently LEDs
were mounted on the skin over the spinous processes of vertebra
prominens and the fifth lumbar vertebra, and the centers of the right
coracoid process and the most superficial point on the great trochanter.
The subject was then requested to maintain a seated position in front of
the piano for approximately 15 min to achieve a stable and calm
cardiovascular status. The subject then performed each of the six
experimental tasks. Task order was randomly assigned for each of the
subjects. Adaptation periods of approximately 5–8 min between the
tasks allowed HR to return to baseline.
2.6. Subjective evaluation measures
At the conclusion of data collection for each of the tasks the subject
was asked to provide a subjective rating for his or her responses to the
experimental music using 10-point rating scales. The scales were used
to designate the levels of valence (1 = very unpleasant, and 10 = very
pleasant) and arousal (1 = lowest arousal, and 10 = highest arousal).
In addition, subjects were asked to report if they were able to elicit
emotions in response to the emotional performance and perception
tasks. They were also requested to identify the portion or measures
where the highest pleasant emotions were perceived, and finally they
were asked if they felt they were successful in inhibiting emotional
arousal during each of the non-emotional tasks.
 H. Nakahara et al. / International Journal of Psychophysiology 81 (2011) 152–158
2.7. Heart rate and its variability
2.7.1. Heart rate data treatment
From the onset of each experimental task, ECG and sound were
continuously monitored and recorded using a personal computer via an
A/D converter at a sampling rate of 1000 Hz. Occasional ectopic beats
such as irregularity of the heart rhythm involving extra or skipped heart
beats were visually identified and manually replaced with interpolated
adjacent R–R interval values. ECG data were translated into bpm data for
each R–R interval. They were then re-sampled using cubic-spline
interpolation to obtain an equally sampled time series.
2.7.2. HRV analysis
A series of 256 consecutive R–R intervals were extracted for 5 min
HR data, re-sampled at 2 Hz, and then subjected to the autoregressive
method of HRV analysis. Using this method, an autoregressive spectrum
was calculated by fitting a 12th-order autoregressive model into the R–R
data. The autoregressive model parameters were solved using a
forward–backward least squares method, while the autoregressive
spectrum was obtained from the estimated autoregressive parameters.
The frequency bands for LF, HF, and total frequency (TF) were 0.04–
0.15 Hz, 0.15–0.40 Hz, and 0.01–0.4 Hz, respectively. HF/TF has been
recognized as a parameter to assess the level of vagal modulation. LF/HF
is considered to mirror the sympathovagal balance or to reflect the
sympathetic modulations (Task Force, 1996).
2.8. Trunk movement and oxygen uptake
In order to determine the relative success with which subjects
were able to inhibit significant movements of the body during the
performance tasks, the movement of the trunk in the frontal, and
sagittal planes, and the arm in the sagittal plane were monitored
throughout the performances. The movements of the trunk and arm
were recorded using a position sensor camera (sampling freq.
= 150 Hz) located 1.5 m from the dorsal side and 3.5 m to the right
side of the subject. The data were digitally smoothed at a cut-off
frequency of 10 Hz using a second-order Butterworth digital filter.
Frontal and sagittal plane angles were then generated using an inner
product method. The total angular excursion of the trunk in both
sagittal and frontal planes, and upper arm in the sagittal plane, during
the entire playing period were then computed.
During all experimental tasks, oxygen uptake (VO2) was measured
using a gas analysis system interfaced with a laboratory personal
computer. The data were continuously monitored on a breath-by-
breath basis during the experimental period, and were continuously
stored in the computer. The calibration of O2 and CO2 was performed
with a standard gas of known concentration before each test. VO2
relative to body weight was computed for the evaluation of energy
expenditure during the task period.
2.9. Statistical analysis
Depending on the purpose of the comparison, we used either a
two-way or a one-way ANOVA with repeated measures. Independent
variables were task (perception versus performance), and emotion
(emotional versus non-emotional). If the sphericity assumption was
violated, then Greenhouse–Geisser degrees of freedom corrections
were applied. Post-hoc analyses were conducted using Tukey's
procedure. Statistical significance was accepted at P b 0.05.
3. Results
3.1. Subjective measures
The mean values of the valence and arousal levels of all conditions
for all subjects are reported in Table 1. ANOVA revealed a significant
155
task × emotion interaction for the mean value of arousal level,
indicating a higher emotion-induced arousal level during perfor-
mance than during perception. A task × emotion interaction for the
mean value of valence level was, however, not significant. Significant
main effects of task and emotion were also found for both arousal and
valence levels. The highest level of pleasant feeling was commonly
reported to have been experienced during the 28th and 29th
measures after the onset of the music (see Fig. 1). Some reported
the highest level of pleasant feeling at the 21st and 22nd bars, and
some at the 33rd bar.
3.2. Heart rate and its variability
HR and HRV data were evaluated using 5-min data from the entire
experimental period. Fig. 1 shows changes in the 10-s mean values of
HR for all subjects during 5 min for five experimental tasks. The
emotional performance task produced constantly higher HR than the
other tasks, while the rest and non-emotional perception tasks
consistently produced the lowest HR values during the entire testing
period. It was observed that HR was already high at the beginning of
the performance tasks, but this phenomenon was not apparent for the
perception tasks. The findings suggested that there was an anticipa-
tory elevation of HR associated with playing the piano. The mean
values of HR for the entire 5 min, expressed as a percentage of the
corresponding rest value, for all subjects are given in Table 1. ANOVA
revealed a significant task × emotion interaction, and their main
effects, for this relative value of HR (Table 1). The phase fluctuation
was also greater during the emotional performance task than the
other tasks, and thus it had the largest range of HR (Fig. 1).
Table 1 also gives the results of the HRV analyses. The group means
of HF/TF and LF/HF obtained from the autoregressive analysis are
plotted in Fig. 2. There was a significant task × emotion interaction
effect, as well as main effects of task and emotion for HF/TF and LF/HF
(Table 1).
The mean values of the sound pressure level of the piano tone were
virtually identical for emotional (79.2 ± 1.5 dB) and non-emotional
(79.4 ± 1.5 dB) tasks of musical performance.
3.3. Oxygen uptake, and movements of the trunk and arm
The mean values of VO2 for all subjects for all experimental tasks
are shown in Table 2. The values were higher for the performance
tasks compared with the perception tasks. ANOVA revealed a
significant difference only for the task (Table 2). Table 2 also shows
the mean values of total angular excursion of the trunk in the frontal
(medio-lateral movement) and sagittal (fore-aft movement) planes,
and the upper arm in the sagittal plane during the perception and
performance tasks. For all of these excursion values, ANOVA revealed
a significant task effect, but neither the task × emotion interaction
effect nor the emotion effect was significant. The magnitudes of the
differences in the mean values of energy expenditure, and movement
of the trunk and arm between the emotional and no-emotional
performance conditions were negligible, indicating that the effect
of body movement on HR and HRV was of little or no practical
significance.
3.4. Playing at a louder volume
The mean value of sound pressure measured during the entire
period for the non-emotional fortissimo performance was 83.3 ±
1.4 dB, which was significantly higher than 79.4 ± 1.5 dB observed
during the non-emotional and regular (= less forceful) performance
(F1, 15 = 117.2, p b 0.001). The mean value of HR for all subjects during
the 5-min period for non-emotional forte performance was 81.7 ±
5.9 bpm, which did not significantly differ from 81.5 ± 6.8 bpm for the
non-emotional regular performance. None of the HRV-parameter
156 H. Nakahara et al. / International Journal of Psychophysiology 81 (2011) 152–158

Table 1
Five-minute data for HR, HRV and subjective evaluation measures.

Task Performance Perception ANOVA F-values

Emotion Non-emotional Emotional Non-emotional Emotional Task × emotion Task Emotion

Arousal level 1.9 ± 1.0 4.0 ± 1.6 1.8 ± 0.9 2.8 ± 1.3 5.5⁎ 9.9⁎⁎ 38.8⁎⁎⁎
Valence level 4.3 ± 1.8 8.8 ± 0.9 3.1 ± 1.7 7.8 ± 1.3 0.2 13.9⁎⁎ 105.3⁎⁎⁎
HR (%) 110.6 ± 8.6 117.8 ± 9.4 103.3 ± 4.4 106.0 ± 4.8 9.5⁎⁎ 24.0⁎⁎⁎ 44.1⁎⁎⁎
HF/TF 23.4 ± 14.8 15.6 ± 9.6 33.4 ± 18.6 31.5 ± 18.0 6.5⁎ 5.1⁎ 8.5⁎
LF/HF 5.0 ± 4.0 6.8 ± 5.5 2.3 ± 1.7 2.5 ± 1.6 13.5⁎⁎ 5.7⁎ 17.5⁎⁎⁎

The values are the mean and standard deviations for all subjects.
⁎ P b 0.05.
⁎⁎ P b 0.01.
⁎⁎⁎ P b 0.001

values were significantly different during these two conditions. The
mean value of VO2 was 4.8 ± 0.7 ml/min/kg for the fortissimo
performance. This also did not differ from the mean value obtained
during the regular performance (see Table 2).
The mean values of total angular excursion of the trunk in
the frontal and sagittal planes obtained while playing at a louder
volume were 35.5 ± 12.8 and 34.2 ± 19.0 rad, respectively, and the
corresponding movements of the upper arm in the sagittal plane
was 43.6 ± 15.0 rad. ANOVA revealed that the means for the trunk
(F1, 15 =10.3, pb 0.01) and arm (F1, 15 =30.8 pb 0.001) in the sagittal
plane were significantly larger than those during the non-emotional
condition (see the mean values for the non-emotional condition in
Table 2).
4. Discussion
(see Introduction). In the present investigation we utilized expert
pianists to investigate the effect of emotion induction. Uniquely, we
compared the emotion-induction condition with the non-emotion-
induction condition while subjects listened to a Bach prelude
performed on the piano and while the same subjects actually played
the same music on the piano. It was found that HR during emotional
musical perception was significantly higher than during non-
emotional musical perception. In addition, the HR response during
non-emotional musical perception was approximately equal to that
observed during a resting condition. The indices of autonomic nerve
activity suggested that this response was caused both by the decrease
in parasympathetic nerve activity and the increase in sympathetic
nerve activity when the subjects performed an emotional task. All
subjects also reported that emotion-induction gave them a higher

The results of the present investigation yielded two novel findings: A

(1) emotion induction during perception of the selected piece of
( rest% ) %HR
music as well as during performance of the same music modulated HR
and indices of autonomic nerve activity, and (2) such modulations 130
were much greater during performance than during perception.
120 Performance task
4.1. The effects of emotion induction 110
Perception task
The effect of music on emotion-related autonomic nerve activities 100
or brain activity has been monitored in the course of many studies
that have examined expressiveness or attention to musical emotions 90
non-emotional emotional

a b c d B HF / TF
94 (ratio)
60
e e
90
40
Perception task
HR ( beats / min )

86 20
Performance task
0
82 non-emotional emotional

78 C LF / HF
(ratio)

74 16

12
70
-60 0 60 120 180 240 300 8 Performance task
Time ( second ) 4 Perception task
Fig. 1. Time course of the 10-s mean value of HR during the pre-and experimental 0
non-emotional emotional
period for all experimental conditions. ○, emotional performance; ●, non-emotional
performance; □, emotional perception; ■, non-emotional perception; –, the control Emotion
task; a, a signal indicating 30 s remaining before the task onset; b, the task onset
moment; c, the end of the first round of music; d, the end of the second round of music; Fig. 2. The mean values of %HR (A), HF/TF (B) and LF/HF (C) for all subjects for each task.
e, the duration for the most frequent response of highest emotions. The vertical bar indicates the SD value.
 H. Nakahara et al. / International Journal of Psychophysiology 81 (2011) 152–158
Table 2
The mean values for oxygen uptake, and trunk and arm movements.
Task Performance
Emotion Non-emotional Emotional
VO2 (ml/min/kg) 4.7 ± 0.8 4.8 ± 0.8
Excursion (rad)
Trunk in frontal plane 34.0 ± 11.7 34.6 ± 7.4
Trunk in sagital plane 28.7 ± 15.5 29.8 ± 14.5
Arm in sagital plane 36.5 ± 12.3 40.0 ± 13.2
The values are the mean and standard deviations for all subjects.
⁎⁎⁎ P b 0.001.
level of arousal as well as valence (pleasant feeling) than non-
emotional-induction during both performance and perception of
the Bach's prelude, indicating that the subjects must have received a
higher level of reward and positive emotions under the current
emotion-induction conditions. The present findings suggest that
emotional arousal accompanied with peripheral physiological and
autonomic nerve activity modulations with musical stimuli seem to
require an active effort to rouse stimuli-associated emotions. Recent
brain imaging studies have provided evidence that the basal forebrain
and certain brainstem nuclei, along with cortical areas involved in
emotional evaluation, such as the orbitofrontal and insular regions,
may play an important role in processing of conscious intense
emotional experience with music, which may elicit sensation of chills
(Blood and Zatorre, 2001; Koelsch et al., 2008; Menon and Levitin,
2005). Janata et al. (2002) reported that attentive listening to music
requires the contribution of the superior temporal cortex, several
regions in the frontal cortex, and inferior parietal cortex. These brain
areas are therefore most likely the location of the central neural
mechanism for the emotion-related modulation in HR and associated
autonomic nerve activity during performance and perception.
The effect of active emotion induction and the corresponding
cardiovascular changes observed in the present study were most likely
initiated by a conscious level of autonomic nerve activity. However, a
recent report by Bernardi et al. (2009) has provided evidence that there
can also be subconscious reflex autonomic responses, possibly involving
respiration and cardiovascular parameters. They demonstrated
that music with vocal or orchestral progressive crescendos (Puccini's
“Turandot” and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony adagio, respectively)
produced significant correlations between cardiovascular or respiratory
signals and musical profiles, particularly skin vasoconstriction and BP.
These autonomic responses were more apparent than those associated
with music characterized by stability and uniformity (Bach's cancata),
which induced vasodilation and a reduction in BP. They also found that
some music has phrasing with similar rhythm (6 cycles/min) to the
spontaneous waves in BP and other circulatory variables. The authors
concluded that phrases at this periodicity entrains spontaneous
cardiovascular fluctuations to the music rhythm and modifies cardio-
vascular control. Their findings support the concept that cardiovascular
modulation by music may not only be a result of emotions, but instead
may in turn influence emotions, likely in a bidirectional manner. This
latter concept needs to be examined in a future study using musical
pieces that include effective use of crescendos to evoke stronger arousal
responses.
4.2. Musical performance is more effective in inducing autonomic nerve
response to emotion than listening to music
The results of the present study indicate that playing the piano
induced a greater increase in HR and decrease in parasympathetic
activity during emotional performance than was observed during
emotional perception. This observation is in agreement with the
findings of our preliminary investigation (Nakahara et al., 2009). The
157
Perception ANOVA F-values
Non-emotional Emotional Task × emotion Task Emotion
4.1 ± 0.9 4.0 ± 0.5 1.1 34.7⁎⁎⁎ 0.1
29.2 ± 13.9 27.0 ± 8.6 1.9 17.5⁎⁎⁎ 0.3
15.9 ± 4.4 15.3 ± 3.8 1.4 62.6⁎⁎⁎ 0.1
19.0 ± 4.9 18.8 ± 5.1 2.3 60.2⁎⁎⁎ 1.4
present investigation involved more detailed psycho-physiological
and biomechanical analyses of piano performance with a larger
number of highly trained pianists.
One may question whether the greater increase in HR and LF/HF,
and decrease in HF/TF during emotional performance was due to
greater movement of the trunk, arms, and hands. The subjects in this
study were instructed to attempt to maintain comparable restrictions
on movements of the trunk, head, and upper extremity during the
emotional and non-emotional conditions. The finding that there was
no emotion × task interaction effect on trunk and arm movement, as
well as on energy expenditure, appears to confirm that subjects were
able to effectively comply with the instructions. Therefore, it may be
concluded that emotion-related body movement and its associated
physiological cost were not greater during performance than during
perception. In addition, the increased level of physical activity during
non-emotional fortissimo performance was not accompanied by
meaningful increases in metabolic and autonomic nerve activity.
These results suggested that muscular activity due to movements of
the trunk, arms, and hands was not a factor for the increased HR and
the HRV parameter modulation observed during emotional perfor-
mance compared to non-emotional performance. These changes are
more likely attributable to a higher level of emotional arousal with
playing the music compared to that with listening to the music. The
data generated from the performers' subjective evaluations of the
attainment of emotional arousal provide some support for this
assumption; there was a higher level of pleasant feeling when playing
with emotions compared to when listening (see Table 1, task × emo-
tion interaction) although the subjects reported that they made their
best efforts to direct their emotional inflow during both performance
and perception tasks.
Why is musical performance more effective for modulating
emotion-induced autonomic nerve activity than listening to a
recording of the same self-performed music? One explanation for
this may be that for our highly skilled and experienced subjects,
musical rewards or pleasurable feelings stemming from playing the
piano exceed those that are generated from listening to recorded
music. As discussed above, it has been shown that a neural circuit for
rewards from the perception of pleasurable music involves the
mesolimbic, prefrontal, and temporal structures (Blood and Zatorre,
2001; Koelsch et al., 2008; Menon and Levitin, 2005; Sammler et al.,
2007). However, there is a dearth of information about a reward
circuit associated with musical performance. In a study by Parsons
et al. (2005), PET was used to identify and compare the areas of the
pianist's brain activated when playing a Bach concerto and those areas
activated during playing simple scales. They found that activations of
the temporal, parietal, and frontal cortical areas, as well as the
thalamus, basal ganglia, and the cerebellum in the subcortical areas
were more extensive while playing the concerto than they were while
playing scales. The particular areas subserving emotions and rewards
were, however, not appreciably active during the performance of the
concerto. A possible explanation for this observation was that subjects
were unable to actively express their emotions due to the restricted
158 H. Nakahara et al. / International Journal of Psychophysiology 81 (2011) 152–158
and unfamiliar physical conditions of a PET experimental environ-
ment (upright, limited body movements, the face being covered by a
plastic mask, etc.). Another possible explanation may be that the
expressive neural network for musical playing is different from that
for musical perception. Activations observed in the posterior
cingulate, insula, basal ganglia, and cerebellum may form the
expressive neural network for expressive musical playing. These
brain areas are portions of the so-called “sensorimotor-associated”
cortical and subcortical areas, and they also have a strong connection
with the autonomic nervous centers (Spyer, 1999). Therefore, there
can be a neural network of a reward-emotion processor for musical
playing that has firm neural connections with the sensorimotor-
associated cortical and subcortical structures, which can then
modulate cardiovascular and autonomic nerve activities, possibly
independent from that for musical perception. It is also safe to assume
that this network is extraordinarily well-developed in expert pianists
as a result of their many years of training, and thus it is plausible that
this network contributed to the higher HR and decreased parasym-
pathetic activity observed during playing than were observed during
listening.
It can also be argued that elevated HR during emotional musical
performance, together with high levels of HR observed at the onset of
performance, suggest involvement of a strong anticipatory cardiac
facilitation. However, we did not anticipate that this would occur
because the selected musical piece did not represent a demanding
task for our highly skilled subjects, and expressive-emotional playing
was a routine condition for them. Nevertheless, we confirmed some
elevation of HR about 30 s before the onset of playing, which was
followed by an additional marked increase immediately after a
“ready” call given about 10 s before the start of piano playing (see
Fig. 1). In the present experiment, therefore, there could also have
been a strong anticipatory increase in HR before the emotional
musical performance due possibly to the pianists being highly aroused
for the emotional performance, or strongly motivated for playing a
pleasurable music piece. This baseline shift of autonomic function
might have also contributed to the higher level of HR during the initial
performance period. The preparatory modulation of autonomic nerve
activity as well as a more dynamic modulation of HR during musical
performance merit more detailed examination in future investiga-
tions. This may be accomplished with the use of a recently introduced
method of bivariate-varying spectral analysis to examine dynamics of
the autonomic nerve activity during musical perception tasks
(Bernardi et al., 2009).
The observation that musical performance was far more effective
in modulating emotion-related neurophysiological responses than
musical perception should have implications for music therapy.
Emotion modulation is common in the psychotherapeutic use of
music to directly evoke emotions, to recall emotional memories, and
to learn more flexible emotional responses. Our data indicated that
greater effects of emotion modulation would be expected as a result of
playing an instrument, rather than listening to music. Although only
trained musicians were examined in the present study, we believe
that the potential for musical performance to evoke stronger
emotional responses than listening to music can be extended to the
general population.
Some limitations of the present study must be mentioned. First, we
instructed the participants to control their breathing rate throughout
the experiment across all subjects to minimize the effect of respiration
on HRV. Although we recorded a respiration signal to check the average
respiration rate after each test, it was not monitored to on-line check
whether the participants really adhered to the constant rate during task
performance. Second, we utilized a playing tempo that was controlled
by a metronome, rather than allowing each subject to perform at the
tempo of his or her own choice. We recognize that musicians tend to
synchronize their breathing with music during performances. There-
fore, in theory, playing at a given fixed rate might have altered their
natural musical performance. In fact, none of the subjects in any way
indicated that they were concerned about the selected tempo of 60 bpm.
Third, a Bach's prelude with relatively uniform emphasis was used in
this study. The use of other types of music that may contain many phases
of crescendos/decrescendos, and/or irregular tempi could induce
stronger arousal-related or biologically inherent cardiovascular re-
sponses (Bernardi et al., 2009). We therefore acknowledge that the
findings from the present study provided information about a very
specific musical condition. Lastly, the number of subjects used was
relatively low, which might have introduced type II errors in the
statistical results.
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