Psychological and psychophysiological effects of music intensity and lyrics on simulated urban driving

Costas I. Karageorghis; Garry Kuan; William Payre; Elias Mouchlianitis; Luke W. Howard; Nick Reed; Andrew M. Parkes

doi:10.1016/j.trf.2021.05.022

Psychological and psychophysiological effects of music intensity and lyrics on simulated urban driving

Costas I. Karageorghis, Garry Kuan, William Payre, Elias Mouchlianitis, Luke W. Howard, Nick Reed, Andrew M. Parkes

School of Art and Design

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

10 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

The main aim of this study was to investigate the effect of musical characteristics (i.e., presence of lyrics and loudness) in the context of simulated urban driving. Previous work has seldom isolated musical characteristics and examined these both singularly and interactively. We investigated the potentially distracting effects of processing lyrics through exposing young drivers to the same piece of music with/without lyrics and at different sound intensities (60 dBA [soft] and 75 dBA [loud]) using a counterbalanced, within-subjects design (N = 34; M_age = 22.2 years, SD = 2.0 years). Six simulator conditions were included that comprised low-intensity music with/without lyrics, high-intensity music with/without lyrics, plus two controls – ambient in-car noise and spoken lyrics. Between-subjects variables of driving style (defensive vs. assertive) and sex (women vs. men) were explored. A key finding was that the no lyrics/soft condition yielded lower affective arousal scores when compared to the other music conditions. There was no main effect of condition for HRV data (SDNN and RMSSD). Exploratory analyses showed that, for assertive drivers, NASA-TLX Performance scores were lower in the no lyrics/soft condition compared to the lyrics/loud condition. Moreover, women exhibited higher mean heart rate than men in the presence of lyrics. Although some differences emerged in subjective outcomes, these were not replicated in HRV, which was used as an objective index of emotionality. Drivers should consider the use of soft, non-lyrical music to optimise their affective state during urban driving.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	329-341
Number of pages	13
Journal	Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour
Volume	81
Early online date	4 Jul 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2021.05.022
Publication status	Published - Aug 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This study was funded by a UKRI Economic and Social Research Council grant awarded to the first and last authors (ES/R005559/1). The study was also supported by a research grant from the Direct Line Group (UK).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors

Keywords

Affect
Attention
Cluster analysis
Distraction
Safety
Sound intensity

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Civil and Structural Engineering
Automotive Engineering
Transportation
Applied Psychology

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10.1016/j.trf.2021.05.022Licence: CC BY

Karageorghis_et_al_Transportation Research FFinal published version, 694 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Psychological and psychophysiological effects of music intensity and lyrics on simulated urban driving",

abstract = "The main aim of this study was to investigate the effect of musical characteristics (i.e., presence of lyrics and loudness) in the context of simulated urban driving. Previous work has seldom isolated musical characteristics and examined these both singularly and interactively. We investigated the potentially distracting effects of processing lyrics through exposing young drivers to the same piece of music with/without lyrics and at different sound intensities (60 dBA [soft] and 75 dBA [loud]) using a counterbalanced, within-subjects design (N = 34; Mage = 22.2 years, SD = 2.0 years). Six simulator conditions were included that comprised low-intensity music with/without lyrics, high-intensity music with/without lyrics, plus two controls – ambient in-car noise and spoken lyrics. Between-subjects variables of driving style (defensive vs. assertive) and sex (women vs. men) were explored. A key finding was that the no lyrics/soft condition yielded lower affective arousal scores when compared to the other music conditions. There was no main effect of condition for HRV data (SDNN and RMSSD). Exploratory analyses showed that, for assertive drivers, NASA-TLX Performance scores were lower in the no lyrics/soft condition compared to the lyrics/loud condition. Moreover, women exhibited higher mean heart rate than men in the presence of lyrics. Although some differences emerged in subjective outcomes, these were not replicated in HRV, which was used as an objective index of emotionality. Drivers should consider the use of soft, non-lyrical music to optimise their affective state during urban driving.",

keywords = "Affect, Attention, Cluster analysis, Distraction, Safety, Sound intensity",

author = "Karageorghis, {Costas I.} and Garry Kuan and William Payre and Elias Mouchlianitis and Howard, {Luke W.} and Nick Reed and Parkes, {Andrew M.}",

note = "Funding Information: This study was funded by a UKRI Economic and Social Research Council grant awarded to the first and last authors (ES/R005559/1). The study was also supported by a research grant from the Direct Line Group (UK). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 The Authors",

year = "2021",

month = aug,

doi = "10.1016/j.trf.2021.05.022",

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AU - Karageorghis, Costas I.

AU - Kuan, Garry

AU - Payre, William

AU - Mouchlianitis, Elias

AU - Howard, Luke W.

AU - Reed, Nick

AU - Parkes, Andrew M.

N1 - Funding Information: This study was funded by a UKRI Economic and Social Research Council grant awarded to the first and last authors (ES/R005559/1). The study was also supported by a research grant from the Direct Line Group (UK). Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors

PY - 2021/8

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N2 - The main aim of this study was to investigate the effect of musical characteristics (i.e., presence of lyrics and loudness) in the context of simulated urban driving. Previous work has seldom isolated musical characteristics and examined these both singularly and interactively. We investigated the potentially distracting effects of processing lyrics through exposing young drivers to the same piece of music with/without lyrics and at different sound intensities (60 dBA [soft] and 75 dBA [loud]) using a counterbalanced, within-subjects design (N = 34; Mage = 22.2 years, SD = 2.0 years). Six simulator conditions were included that comprised low-intensity music with/without lyrics, high-intensity music with/without lyrics, plus two controls – ambient in-car noise and spoken lyrics. Between-subjects variables of driving style (defensive vs. assertive) and sex (women vs. men) were explored. A key finding was that the no lyrics/soft condition yielded lower affective arousal scores when compared to the other music conditions. There was no main effect of condition for HRV data (SDNN and RMSSD). Exploratory analyses showed that, for assertive drivers, NASA-TLX Performance scores were lower in the no lyrics/soft condition compared to the lyrics/loud condition. Moreover, women exhibited higher mean heart rate than men in the presence of lyrics. Although some differences emerged in subjective outcomes, these were not replicated in HRV, which was used as an objective index of emotionality. Drivers should consider the use of soft, non-lyrical music to optimise their affective state during urban driving.

AB - The main aim of this study was to investigate the effect of musical characteristics (i.e., presence of lyrics and loudness) in the context of simulated urban driving. Previous work has seldom isolated musical characteristics and examined these both singularly and interactively. We investigated the potentially distracting effects of processing lyrics through exposing young drivers to the same piece of music with/without lyrics and at different sound intensities (60 dBA [soft] and 75 dBA [loud]) using a counterbalanced, within-subjects design (N = 34; Mage = 22.2 years, SD = 2.0 years). Six simulator conditions were included that comprised low-intensity music with/without lyrics, high-intensity music with/without lyrics, plus two controls – ambient in-car noise and spoken lyrics. Between-subjects variables of driving style (defensive vs. assertive) and sex (women vs. men) were explored. A key finding was that the no lyrics/soft condition yielded lower affective arousal scores when compared to the other music conditions. There was no main effect of condition for HRV data (SDNN and RMSSD). Exploratory analyses showed that, for assertive drivers, NASA-TLX Performance scores were lower in the no lyrics/soft condition compared to the lyrics/loud condition. Moreover, women exhibited higher mean heart rate than men in the presence of lyrics. Although some differences emerged in subjective outcomes, these were not replicated in HRV, which was used as an objective index of emotionality. Drivers should consider the use of soft, non-lyrical music to optimise their affective state during urban driving.

KW - Affect

KW - Attention

KW - Cluster analysis

KW - Distraction

KW - Safety

KW - Sound intensity

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VL - 81

SP - 329

EP - 341

JO - Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour

JF - Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour

ER -

Psychological and psychophysiological effects of music intensity and lyrics on simulated urban driving

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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Psychological and Psychophysiological Effects of Music Intensity and Lyrics on Simulated Urban Driving

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