How does background music tempo work for online shopping?

This research examines the impact of background music tempo, an emotional stimulus, on consumer attitude in online shopping. The authors conducted two empirical studies based on the same experimental design. The results of both studies supported the study’s main hypothesis: background music tempo positively affects consumer arousal. It also suggests that product category moderates the influence of arousal on pleasure such that a positive effect occurs when shopping online for hedonic products but not for utilitarian products. In addition, consumer trust mediates the positive influence of pleasure on purchase intention. The authors also discuss the managerial implications of the empirical results.     

The effects of music tempo and loudness level on treadmill exercise

This study examined the effects of loudness and tempo of background music on exercise performance. A total of 30 volunteers performed five 10-min exercise sessions on a treadmill. The music listened to whilst exercising was either fast/loud, fast/quiet, slow/loud, slow/quiet or absent. Measures of running speed, heart rate, perceived exertion and affect were taken. Significant effects and interactions were found for running speed and heart rate across the different music tempo and loudness levels. More positive affect was observed during the music condition in comparison to the ‘no music’ condition. No significant differences for perceived exertion were found across conditions. These results confirm that fast, loud music might be played to enhance optimal exercising, and show how loudness and tempo interact.     

The effects of music tempo and loudness level on treadmill exercise

This study examined the effects of loudness and tempo of background music on exercise performance. A total of 30 volunteers performed five 10-min exercise sessions on a treadmill. The music listened to whilst exercising was either fast/loud, fast/quiet, slow/loud, slow/quiet or absent. Measures of running speed, heart rate, perceived exertion and affect were taken. Significant effects and interactions were found for running speed and heart rate across the different music tempo and loudness levels. More positive affect was observed during the music condition in comparison to the 'no music' condition. No significant differences for perceived exertion were found across conditions. These results confirm that fast, loud music might be played to enhance optimal exercising, and show how loudness and tempo interact.     

A review of: “Indoor air pollutants: exposure and health effects; Euro Reports and Studies 78” (1983)

This study investigated whether gradual or abrupt music change towards more calming music is most effective in calming drivers during high-demand driving situations. Twenty-eight participants were subjected to two types of music change (gradual, abrupt) in a within-subject design. First, a relatively happy mood was induced with personally selected music during an eight-minute simulated high-demand drive. The drive then continued and the mood was changed either gradually or abruptly. Subjective results showed successful music mood induction irrespective of gradual or abrupt changes. The results further showed lower skin conductance (less arousal) and more facial corrugator muscle tension (more sadness) during the abrupt music change. Fewer accidents occurred during the abrupt music mood change. To conclude, the results support the abrupt way of changing music type to down-regulate one's mood: during high-demand driving, abrupt changes in music led to more physiological calmness and improved driving performance, and were thus safer and more effective.

Practitioner Summary: The current study shows that during high-demand drives, drivers are calmed more effectively using abrupt music changes compared to gradual music changes. This is illustrated by reductions in physiological arousal and improved driving behaviour. Hence, in-car music presentation can be used as a tool to improve driver's mood and behaviour.     

The effects of work pace on within-participant and between-participant keying force,electromyography, and fatigue

A laboratory study was conducted to determine the effects of work pace on typing force, electromyographic (EMG) activity, and subjective discomfort. We found that as participants typed faster, their typing force and finger flexor and extensor EMG activity increased linearly. There was also an increase in subjective discomfort, with a sharp threshold between participants' self-selected pace and their maximum typing speed. The results suggest that participants self-select a typing pace that maximizes typing speed and minimizes discomfort. The fastest typists did not produce significantly more finger flexor EMG activity but did produce proportionately less finger extensor EMG activity compared with the slower typists. We hypothesize that fast typists may use different muscle recruitment patterns that allow them to be more efficient than slower typists at striking the keys. In addition, faster typists do not experience more discomfort than slow typists. These findings show that the relative pace of typing is more important than actual typing speed with regard to discomfort and muscle activity. These results suggest that typists may benefit from skill training to increase maximum typing speed. Potential applications of this research includes skill training for typist.     

Effects of age-related gait changes on the biomechanics of slips and falls

A laboratory study was conducted to examine gait changes associated with aging and the effect of these changes on initiation of slips and frequency of falls utilizing newly defined biomechanical parameters of slips and falls. Twenty-eight participants from two age groups (young and old) walked around a circular track at a comfortable pace wearing a safety harness. A slippery floor surface was placed on the walking track over the force plate at random time intervals without the participants' awareness. Synchronized kinetic and kinematic measurements were obtained on both slippery and non-slippery walking surfaces. The results indicated that older participants' horizontal heel contact velocity was significantly faster, step length was significantly shorter, and transitional acceleration of the whole body centre-of-mass (COM) was significantly slower than younger participants. Older participants' initial friction demand, as measured by required coefficient of friction (RCOF), was not significantly different than their younger counterparts. Additionally, older participants slipped longer and faster, and fell more often than younger participants. A comparison of horizontal heel contact velocity for participants who fell with participants who did not fall indicated that, in general, fallers' horizontal heel contact velocity was faster than non-fallers. However, a comparison of RCOF for participants who fell with participants who did not fall suggested that RCOF was not a totally deterministic factor influencing actual fall events. These findings suggest that gait changes associated with aging (especially higher horizontal heel contact velocity and slower transition of the whole body COM) affect initiation of slip-induced falls.     

Effects of age-related gait changes on the biomechanics of slips and falls

A laboratory study was conducted to examine gait changes associated with aging and the effect of these changes on initiation of slips and frequency of falls utilizing newly defined biomechanical parameters of slips and falls. Twenty-eight participants from two age groups (young and old) walked around a circular track at a comfortable pace wearing a safety harness. A slippery floor surface was placed on the walking track over the force plate at random time intervals without the participants' awareness. Synchronized kinetic and kinematic measurements were obtained on both slippery and non-slippery walking surfaces. The results indicated that older participants' horizontal heel contact velocity was significantly faster, step length was significantly shorter, and transitional acceleration of the whole body centre-of-mass (COM) was significantly slower than younger participants. Older participants' initial friction demand, as measured by required coefficient of friction (RCOF), was not significantly different than their younger counterparts. Additionally, older participants slipped longer and faster, and fell more often than younger participants. A comparison of horizontal heel contact velocity for participants who fell with participants who did not fall indicated that, in general, fallers' horizontal heel contact velocity was faster than non-fallers. However, a comparison of RCOF for participants who fell with participants who did not fall suggested that RCOF was not a totally deterministic factor influencing actual fall events. These findings suggest that gait changes associated with aging (especially higher horizontal heel contact velocity and slower transition of the whole body COM) affect initiation of slip-induced falls.     

The atmospheric factors of online storefront environment design: An empirical experiment in Taiwan

The purpose of our study was to identify the effect of atmospheric factors such as music and color on participants’ emotional responses and subsequent shopping behavior in an online store setting. In this study, a laboratory experiment was conducted to test our hypotheses. The experiment was a 2 (music: fast/slow) × 2 (color: warm/cool) between-subjects factorial design with one control group. The results indicated that both music and color factors had a significant effect on participants’ emotional response, which in turn influenced their intention to purchase. Specifically, participants felt more aroused and experienced greater pleasure when they were exposed to fast-tempo music and a warm color website than those people who experienced slow-tempo music and cool colors. In addition, both pleasure and arousal emotions were significant predictors of approach–avoidance intention. We expected that a well-designed website with adequate music and color attributes would create a desired environment and thus entice and retain target customers. Our findings should help in deciding on ambient factors in online website design. Although studies on atmospheric effects in traditional stores have been abundant, knowledge of their effect in the online retail context has been sparse.     

节拍跟踪模型

当一个人随着音乐跺脚或拍手的时候,他就是在进行节拍跟踪。节拍跟踪是理解音乐结构的基础,因此它也是任何试图表现对音乐理解的系统的最重要的能力。该论文提出了一种从音乐信号中提取出节拍的算法。这个算法能够分析出音乐行进的速度以及每一拍出现的时刻,并且能够分辨出其中的强拍与弱拍。这个算法首先采用共振器的方法分析出音乐中最可能存在的两个备选的节拍速度和出现的时刻,然后使用音乐知识最终确定出最可能的节拍,并分辨出其中的强拍与弱拍。     

Music is as distracting as noise: the differential distraction of background music and noise on the cognitive test performance of introverts and extraverts

Previous research has found that introverts' performance on complex cognitive tasks is more negatively affected by distracters, e.g. music and background television, than by extraverts' performance. This study extended previous research by examining whether background noise would be as distracting as music. In the presence of silence, background garage music and office noise, 38 introverts and 38 extraverts carried out a reading comprehension task, a prose recall task and a mental arithmetic task. It was predicted that there would be an interaction between personality and background sound on all three tasks: introverts would do less well on all of the tasks than extraverts in the presence of music and noise but in silence performance would be the same. A significant interaction was found on the reading comprehension task only, although a trend for this effect was clearly present on the other two tasks. It was also predicted that there would be a main effect for background sound: performance would be worse in the presence of music and noise than silence. Results confirmed this prediction. These findings support the Eysenckian hypothesis of the difference in optimum cortical arousal in introverts and extraverts.     

Music is as distracting as noise: the differential distraction of background music and noise on the cognitive test performance of introverts and extraverts

Previous research has found that introverts' performance on complex cognitive tasks is more negatively affected by distracters, e.g. music and background television, than extraverts' performance. This study extended previous research by examining whether background noise would be as distracting as music. In the presence of silence, background garage music and office noise, 38 introverts and 38 extraverts carried out a reading comprehension task, a prose recall task and a mental arithmetic task. It was predicted that there would be an interaction between personality and background sound on all three tasks: introverts would do less well on all of the tasks than extraverts in the presence of music and noise but in silence performance would be the same. A significant interaction was found on the reading comprehension task only, although a trend for this effect was clearly present on the other two tasks. It was also predicted that there would be a main effect for background sound: performance would be worse in the presence of music and noise than silence. Results confirmed this prediction. These findings support the Eysenckian hypothesis of the difference in optimum cortical arousal in introverts and extraverts.     

VirSchool: The effect of background music and immersive display systems on memory for facts learned in an educational virtual environment

Game technology has been widely used for educational applications, however, despite the common use of background music in games, its effect on learning has been largely unexplored. This paper discusses how music played in the background of a computer-animated history lesson affected participants’ memory for facts. A virtual history lesson was presented to participants with different background stimuli (music or no-music) to test the effect of music on memory. To test the role of immersion on memory and its possible relationship to the music, two different display systems (3-monitor display system or immersive Reality Center) were used in the study. Overall, participants remembered a significantly higher number of facts using the 3-monitor display system, particularly if no background music was played in the second half of the history lesson. Conversely, for participants using the Reality Center, significantly higher recall of facts was found when participants listened to music in the second half of the history lesson. Cognitive load/overload and (un-)familiarity with the technology are offered as explanations.     

Mozart or metallica,who makes you more attractive? A mediated moderation test of music,gender, personality,and attractiveness in cyberspace

Computer-mediated communication environments such as personal websites enable users to use multimedia to construct their self-identities. How these multimedia elements in the cyberspace such as audios influence interpersonal impressions is somewhat unclear in the literature. Based on Brunswik’s lens model, this research aims to examine the impact of audio information on impression formation by testing: (a) how the background music of a personal website affects perceived attractiveness of the website owner and how gender moderates this effect, and (b) whether such an effect is mediated by perceived personality. A 2 × 2 full factorial experiment was conducted where participants (N = 122) were randomly assigned to view a cross-gender personal website with either classical or heavy metal background music. The experimental findings suggested a significant mediated moderation effect: gender moderated the relationship between music type and perceived attractiveness of the website owner such that male participants perceived the female website owner with classical background music as more attractive while female participants considered the male website owner with heavy metal background music to be more attractive, and this moderation was mediated by the website owner’s perceived agreeableness.     

Performance on driving-related tasks during music

The effect of music on driving-related tracking and vigilance tasks was examined. Participants carried out the tasks either singularly (low demand) or together (high demand) under conditions of silence, low-intensity music of high intensity music. The results indicated that while the relatively simple tracking task was not affected by the music, response time to centrally located visual signals was improved under both music conditions and under both low- and high-demand situations. High-intensity music was associated with an increase in response time to peripheral signals under high-demand conditions. The results are discussed in relation to increased selectivity of attention with music-induced arousal.     

Musical performance analysis in terms of emotions it evokes

Finding pieces with a similar emotional distribution throughout the same composition was the aim of this work. A comparative analysis of musical performances by using emotion tracking was proposed. A dimensional approach of dynamic music emotion recognition was used in the analysis. Music data annotation and regressor training were done. Values of arousal and valence, predicted by regressors, were used to compare performances. The obtained results confirm the validity of the assumption that tracking and analyzing the values of arousal and valence over time in different performances of the same composition can be used to indicate their similarities. Detailed results of analyzing different performances of Prelude No.1 by Frédéric Chopin were presented. They enabled to find the most similar performances to the performance by Arthur Rubinstein, for example. The author found which performances of the same composition were closer to each other and which were quite distant in terms of the shaping of arousal and valence over time. The presented method gives access to knowledge on the shaping of emotions by a performer, which had previously been available only to music professionals.     

Personal orchestra: a real-time audio/video system for interactive conducting

We present the first multimedia system to conduct a realistic electronic orchestra. Users can control tempo, dynamics, and instrument emphasis of the orchestra through natural conducting gestures with an infrared baton. Using gesture recognition and tempo adjustment algorithms, the system plays back an audio and video recording of an actual orchestra that follows the users conducting in real time. A major achievement of this system is its ability to vary playback speed in real time while avoiding audio artifacts such as pitch changes. The system has been deployed as an exhibit and has become a major attraction of a large Vienna-based music exhibition center.An erratum to this article can be found at     

Unwind: a musical biofeedback for relaxation assistance

Unwind is a musical biofeedback interface which combines nature sounds and sedative music into a form of New-Age music for relaxation exercises. The nature sounds respond to the user’s physiological data, functioning as an informative layer for biofeedback display. The sedative music aims to induce calmness and evoke positive emotions. UnWind incorporates the benefits of biofeedback and sedative music to facilitate deep breathing, moderate arousal, and promote mental relaxation. We evaluated Unwind in a 2?×?2 factorial experiment with music and biofeedback as independent factors. Forty young adults performed the relaxation exercise under one of the following conditions after experiencing a stressful task: Nature sounds only (NS), Nature sounds with music (NM), and Auditory biofeedback with nature sounds (NSBFB), and UnWind musical biofeedback (NMBFB). The results revealed a significant interaction effect between music and biofeedback on the improvement of heart rate variability. The combination of music and nature sounds also showed benefits in lowering arousal and reducing self-report anxiety. We conclude with a discussion of UnWind for biofeedback and the wider potential of blending nature sounds with music as a musical interface.     

A Regression Approach to Music Emotion Recognition

Content-based retrieval has emerged in the face of content explosion as a promising approach to information access. In this paper, we focus on the challenging issue of recognizing the emotion content of music signals, or music emotion recognition (MER). Specifically, we formulate MER as a regression problem to predict the arousal and valence values (AV values) of each music sample directly. Associated with the AV values, each music sample becomes a point in the arousal-valence plane, so the users can efficiently retrieve the music sample by specifying a desired point in the emotion plane. Because no categorical taxonomy is used, the regression approach is free of the ambiguity inherent to conventional categorical approaches. To improve the performance, we apply principal component analysis to reduce the correlation between arousal and valence, and RReliefF to select important features. An extensive performance study is conducted to evaluate the accuracy of the regression approach for predicting AV values. The best performance evaluated in terms of the R ² statistics reaches 58.3% for arousal and 28.1% for valence by employing support vector machine as the regressor. We also apply the regression approach to detect the emotion variation within a music selection and find the prediction accuracy superior to existing works. A group-wise MER scheme is also developed to address the subjectivity issue of emotion perception.     

Modeling emotional content of music using system identification.

Research was conducted to develop a methodology to model the emotional content of music as a function of time and musical features. Emotion is quantified using the dimensions valence and arousal, and system-identification techniques are used to create the models. Results demonstrate that system identification provides a means to generalize the emotional content for a genre of music. The average R2 statistic of a valid linear model structure is 21.9% for valence and 78.4% for arousal. The proposed method of constructing models of emotional content generalizes previous time-series models and removes ambiguity from classifiers of emotion.     

An integrated music video browsing system for personalized television

In this paper, we propose an integrated music video browsing system for personalized digital television. The system has the functions of automatic music emotion classification, automatic theme-based music classification, salient region detection, and shot classification. From audio (music) tracks, highlight detection and emotion classification are performed on the basis of information on temporal energy, timbre and tempo. For video tracks, shot detection is fulfilled to classify shots into face shots and color-based shots. Lastly automatic grouping of themes is executed on music titles and their lyrics. With a database of international music videos, we evaluate the performance of each function implemented in this paper. The experimental results show that the music browsing system achieves remarkable performances. Thus, our system can be adopted in any digital television for providing personalized services.