Measuring emotional music experience: Spreading activation and BRECVEMA mechanisms

Spreading activation in the cognitive network explains why music is experienced as familiar or likable. It might also be a premise for the emotion-inducing mechanisms of the BRECVEMA framework (Brain stem reflexes, Rhythmic entrainment, Evaluative conditioning, Contagion, Visual imagery, Episodic memory, Musical expectancy, Aesthetic judgment). Both perspectives constitute important aspects of music experience and are influenced by individual differences. In two studies ( n = 125 and n = 153), potential indicators for spreading activation and BRECVEMA mechanisms for single instances of music listening were assessed with a new questionnaire. The results indicated that Typicality of music, Liking, and attentional Engagement underlie spreading activation. The mechanisms Evaluative conditioning and Contagion in unison (Conditioning/Contagion), as well as Visual imagery and Episodic memory could be reliably assessed. Findings revealed that (a) Engagement, Conditioning/Contagion, and Visual imagery increased with musical expertise; (b) spreading activation and mechanisms were stronger when listening to self- rather than pre-selected music; (c) sad music evoked stronger Engagement, Conditioning/Contagion, and Episodic memory when it was self-selected; (d) spreading activation and mechanisms were associated with music empathizing and systemizing and the emotion regulation strategy reappraisal; and finally, (e) regulating sadness with sad music was associated with habitual suppression and stronger Conditioning/Contagion.

Acute Respiratory Failure From Hypermagnesemia Requiring Prolonged Mechanical Ventilation

Electrolyte abnormalities are an underrecognized cause of respiratory failure in the intensive care unit. One such abnormality is a relatively rare phenomenon of hypermagnesemia resulting in paralysis. A 73-year-old Caucasian male patient presented to the emergency department with diffuse abdominal pain of 2-day duration. He received magnesium citrate and gastrointestinal cocktail for his constipation after initial imaging showed constipation. In view of acute worsening, follow-up computed tomography of the abdomen was done, which showed free air in upper abdomen along with free fluid. Hence, he was taken for emergent laparotomy with repair of pyloric ulcer perforation with omental patch. Post procedure course was complicated by sepsis, acute kidney injury, and respiratory failure with hypoxemia and hypercapnia. On physical examination the patient had flaccid paralysis in all his extremities along with absent brain stem reflexes. Extensive workup including imaging of brain failed to reveal diagnosis. On postoperative day 1, the patient was noted to have magnesium level of 9.2 mg/dL (1.6-2.3 mg/dL), which was thought to be cause of flaccid paralysis and respiratory failure. In view of his acute oliguric kidney injury, he was initiated on intermittent hemodialysis, until his magnesium levels were back to its physiologic limits. His paralysis gradually improved over next 48 to 72 hours and he was liberated from ventilator successfully.

Personalising music for more effective mood induction: Exploring activation, underlying mechanisms, emotional intelligence, and motives in mood regulation

The present studies investigated the effects of personal (i.e., self-selected) music and music pre-selected by the researcher on the induction of sadness and joy while taking into consideration the influences of perceptual and individual factors in line with a reciprocal-feedback model (RFM). Regarding music perception, spreading activation in the cognitive network triggered by music and the BRECVEMA (Brain stem reflexes, Rhythmic entrainment, Evaluative conditioning, Contagion, Visual imagery, Episodic memory, Musical expectancy, Aesthetic judgement) mechanisms underlying musical emotions were explored using quantitative and qualitative self-reports. For individual factors, trait and ability emotional intelligence and motives in mood regulation were controlled. Results from the pilot study (Study 1, N = 66) confirm that music chosen by participants exerts stronger effects on reported mood, and that sadness and joy are evoked primarily by contagion and episodic memory associated with music. Study 2 ( N = 149) replicated and extended these findings. Reports of a conscious marker for spreading cognitive activation (e.g., familiarity or engagement with the music) was higher when listening to personal music, yet also when inducing joy. When sadness was induced, higher activation was also related to participants’ more frequent reports of BRECVEMA mechanisms. For emotional intelligence, clarity of emotions promotes joy while management of emotions promotes sadness. Emotion recognition impairs induction of both moods. Motives of discharge, mental work, and solace influence inductions of sadness, and diversion influences inductions of joy. Finally, the RFM provides a comprehensive conceptualisation of mood induction, integrating situation, music, and listener.

Get Into the Groove

This chapter considers a psychological mechanism that can arouse musical emotions called rhythmic entrainment. If brain stem reflexes focus on music as sound and sensation, entrainment focuses on rhythm. This is a primary feature of life. After all, we live in a rhythmic environment (e.g. seasons of the year, periods of daylight and dark), and our bodies are ‘symphonies of rhythm’, as reflected in processes such as heart rate, brain waves, and sleeping patterns. Rhythmic entrainment refers to a process whereby an emotion is evoked by a piece of music because a powerful, external rhythm in the music influences some internal bodily rhythm of the listener (e.g. heart rate), such that the latter rhythm adjusts towards and eventually ‘locks in’ to a common periodicity.

Jumping at Shadows

This chapter introduces a psychological mechanism that involves a close link between perception and motor behaviour. It focuses on a mechanism called the brain stem reflex, which refers to a process whereby an emotion is aroused in a listener because an acoustic feature — such as sound intensity or roughness of timbre — exceeds a certain cut-off value for which the auditory system has been designed by natural selection to quickly alert the brain. It is a kind of ‘override’ system, which is activated when an event seems to require first-priority attention. Brain stem reflexes are said to be ‘hard-wired’: they are quick, automatic, and unlearned.

Determination of Imminent Brain Death Using the Full Outline of Unresponsiveness Score and the Glasgow Coma Scale: A Prospective, Multicenter, Pilot Feasibility Study

Purpose: To evaluate the accuracy of the imminent brain death (IBD) diagnosis in predicting brain death (BD) by daily assessment of the Full Outline of Unresponsiveness (FOUR) score and the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) with the assessment of brain stem reflexes. Materials and Methods: Prospective multicenter pilot study carried out in 5 adult Italian intensive care units (ICUs). Imminent brain death was established when the FOUR score was 0 (IBD-FOUR) or the GCS score was 3 and at least 3 among pupillary light, corneal, pharyngeal, carinal, oculovestibular, and trigeminal reflexes were absent (IBD-GCS). Results: A total of 219 neurologic evaluations were performed in 40 patients with deep coma at ICU admission (median GCS 3). Twenty-six had a diagnosis of IBD-FOUR, 27 of IBD-GCS, 14 were declared BD, and 9 were organ donors. The mean interval between IBD diagnosis and BD was 1.7 days (standard deviation [SD] 2.0 days) using IBD-FOUR and 2.0 days (SD 1.96 days) using IBD-GCS. Both FOUR and GCS had 100% sensitivity and low specificity (FOUR: 53.8%; GCS: 50.0%) in predicting BD. Conclusions: Daily IBD evaluation in the ICU is feasible using FOUR and GCS with the assessment of brain stem reflexes. Both scales had 100% sensitivity in predicting IBD, but FOUR may be preferable since it incorporates the pupillary, corneal, and cough reflexes and spontaneous breathing that are easily assessed in the ICU.

Brain Death: Assessment, Controversy, and Confounding Factors

When brain injury is refractory to aggressive management and is considered nonsurvivable, with loss of consciousness and brain stem reflexes, a brain death protocol may be initiated to determine death according to neurological criteria. Clinical evaluation typically entails 2 consecutive formal neurological examinations to document total loss of consciousness and absence of brain stem reflexes and then apnea testing to evaluate carbon dioxide unresponsiveness within the brain stem. Confounding factors such as use of therapeutic hypothermia, high-dose metabolic suppression, and movements associated with complex spinal reflexes, fasciculations, or cardiogenic ventilator autotriggering may delay initiation or completion of brain death protocols. Neurodiagnostic studies such as 4-vessel cerebral angiography can rapidly document absence of blood flow to the brain and decrease intervals between onset of terminal brain stem herniation and formal declaration of death by neurological criteria. Intracranial pathophysiology leading to brain death must be considered along with clinical assessment, patterns of vital signs, and relevant diagnostic studies.

Emotional responses to music: The need to consider underlying mechanisms

Research indicates that people value music primarily because of the emotions it evokes. Yet, the notion of musical emotions remains controversial, and researchers have so far been unable to offer a satisfactory account of such emotions. We argue that the study of musical emotions has suffered from a neglect of underlying mechanisms. Specifically, researchers have studied musical emotions without regard to how they were evoked, or have assumed that the emotions must be based on the “default” mechanism for emotion induction, a cognitive appraisal. Here, we present a novel theoretical framework featuring six additional mechanisms through which music listening may induce emotions: (1) brain stem reflexes, (2) evaluative conditioning, (3) emotional contagion, (4) visual imagery, (5) episodic memory, and (6) musical expectancy. We propose that these mechanisms differ regarding such characteristics as their information focus, ontogenetic development, key brain regions, cultural impact, induction speed, degree of volitional influence, modularity, and dependence on musical structure. By synthesizing theory and findings from different domains, we are able to provide the first set of hypotheses that can help researchers to distinguish among the mechanisms. We show that failure to control for the underlying mechanism may lead to inconsistent or non-interpretable findings. Thus, we argue that the new framework may guide future research and help to resolve previous disagreements in the field. We conclude that music evokes emotions through mechanisms that are not unique to music, and that the study of musical emotions could benefit the emotion field as a whole by providing novel paradigms for emotion induction.