University Biology and Music Majors' Emotional Ratings of Musical Stimuli and Their Physiological Correlates of Heart, Rate, Finger Temperature, and Blood Pressure

Abstract

Physiological responses associated with the ratings of musical stimuli were investigated. For 101 university music and biology students in the experimental group, heart rate, blood pressure, and finger temperature were measured before and after listening to about 10 min. of music (Venus and Jupiter from Holst's The Planets) in an anechoic chamber. They also served as their own controls by sitting in silence for about 10 min. No significant differences were found on the three measures for the two musical stimuli between the musical or control conditions or between the two majors.