Abstract
The mechanism of music effects on pain perception remains to be elucidated. To determine
which component (mood or valence) of music is more important in music-induced hypoalgesia,
we compared the effects of 2 melodies with different moods (happy vs sad) but with
the same degree of valence (pleasant vs unpleasant) to an affective neutral lecture
and a control (baseline) on the objective and subjective responses to tonic heat pain.
Our hypothesis was that if mood was the key component, the happy melody would reduce
pain, whereas the sad one would exacerbate pain; and if valence is the key component,
the 2 melodies would both alleviate pain. Twenty females participated in this study
which consisted of 4 conditions (baseline, happy melody, sad melody, and lecture).
Pain tolerance time (PTT), pain intensity, and distress dynamics and the characteristics
of pain were measured. A newly devised multiple affective rating scale (MARS) was
employed to assess the subjective experience of auditory perception. Both happy and
sad melodies of equal valence resulted in significant lower pain ratings during the
pain test and were in contrast to the mood prediction. These results indicate that
the valence of music, rather than the mood it induced, appears to be the most likely
mediator of the hypoalgesic effect of the different music.
Perspective
This article provides new evidence that the valence of music is more crucial than
mood in affective pain modulation. This finding gives impetus for health professionals
to manage pain more effectively in patients with proper music.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: July 13, 2009
Accepted:
March 10,
2009
Received in revised form:
February 22,
2009
Received:
November 14,
2008
Footnotes
Supported by several grants respectively from the Chinese National Science Foundation for a project on Brain and Anesthesia NSF-30770691, Beijing Municipal Government for Advancement of Sciences, and Capital Medical University for Innovation Awards.
Identification
Copyright
© 2009 American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
