GERO Lab 8_ music and the brain

Professor Walsh GERO 315 23 April 2023 Lab 8: Music and the Brain Lab Introduction: A human heart beat and rate typically responds to circumstances by either slowing down or speeding up. For instance, when one is in a dangerous encounter and is fearful, a person’s heart beat speeds accordingly. When there are stressful situations at play, it correlates to an increased heart rate because the brain signals to release adrenaline in the body which increases heart rate (Chu, B., Ayers, D., Sanvictores, T., & Marwaha, K., 2022). This effect is similar to how music changes a person’s heart rate depending on what type of music one is listening to. According to a 2022 study, listening to fast music increases heart rate, diastolic blood pressure, and systolic and the inverse occurs with calming music (Darki, C., Riley, J., Dadabhoy, D. P., Darki, A., & Garetto, J., 2022). In the same study, it was stated that: “Music affects the cardiovascular system through multiple potential mechanisms. One pathway includes brain signals responding to music rhythms through signal activations to organs of the body, including the heart, which then respond to the tempo of the song -- i.e., when the tempo is fast, the heart rate and blood pressure speed up, and when the tempo is slow the heart rate and blood pressure slow down” (Darki, C., Riley, J., Dadabhoy, D. P., Darki, A., & Garetto, J., 2022). The brainstem–which is the part of the brain responsible for processing sound– plays a leading factor in adjusting and maintaining the human rate of beats per minute. Due to the brainstem’s role in adjusting and maintaining heart rate, music is able to have the ability to increase heart rate or decrease it depending on what kind of music it is. In this lab, USC students will be participating in an experiment to determine the effects of music on the human heart rate (BPM). My hypothesis for this lab is that the faster/more exciting song played will cause an increase in the participants heart rate. Methods : To conduct this experiment, my peers and I were provided seven songs to listen to, each having a higher tempo than the previous one. I listened to each song with headphones on; I waited one minute before beginning to record my heartbeat for each song. To record my heartbeat, I placed three fingers on my neck to find my pulse and counted for 30 seconds. I then multiplied that number by 2 to see how many beats per minute I had for each song. I repeated this process for each song and then wrote all of my BPM amounts on a Google Form provided for me which automatically added my data to a Google Sheets with all of my classmates' data. I used the Google Sheets document with the class data to first create a summary statistics graphic which included the class average BPM and the standard deviation for each song played.

To do this, I used the features on Google Sheets to calculate both for each of the songs. I then created a table with all of the data I collected. This graphic was inserted in the Graphics section below. I created a scatter plot using the data given in the class Google Sheets document. To do this, I first created a list that included the BPM for each song, which was given to me by the data in the lab description. Then, I found the class averages BPM for each of the songs. I pressed “Insert”, then “Chart,” and created a scatter plot with the BPM for each song on the x-axis and the Class Average BPM for each song on the y-axis. I used the class average BPM of each song I collected for the summary statistics. I included a trendline and added an R^2 which were all features given to me by Google Sheets. This graphic was inserted in the Graphics section below. Considering part of my hypothesis desired to assess whether there is a significance between the BPM of a participant listening to a higher speed song and a lower speed song, I decided to create a t-test. To do so, I used the data from the class Google Sheets document. I typed (=TTEST) into Google Sheets and selected all of the data under the “Resting Heart Rate (HR)” column for range 1. Then, selected all of the data points for the fastest song for range 2, which was “Struck by Lightning” by Toto. I then predicted that there would be a difference in the data sets (the two ranges) because according to my hypothesis a faster song will increase heart rate. Considering my hypothesis predicted the data would change in a single direction, I included a 1 tailed T-TEST. Finally, the samples are paired because both groups and each row in the Google Sheets corresponds to the same participant. After inserting all of the components, I closed my parenthesis and got my p-value. This graphic was inserted in the Graphics section below. Results : *Note: all of the following values are rounded to the nearest hundredth For the resting heart rate (HR) in beats per minute (BPM), there was a class average heart rate of 70.69 BPM and a standard deviation of 10.17 BPM. For the first song, Karma Police – Radiohead (song bpm ~ 72), there was a class average heart rate of 74.44 BPM and a standard deviation of 51.41 BPM. For the second song, On the Nature of Daylight – Max Richter bpm (song ~ 86 bpm), there was a class average heart rate of 71.56 BPM and a standard deviation of 11.16 BPM. For the third song, Dreams – Fleetwood Mac (song bpm ~ 120), there was a class average heart rate of 77.92 BPM and a standard deviation of 14.94 BPM. For the fourth song, Carry On – Fun (song bpm ~ 145), there was a class average heart rate of 78.86 BPM and a standard deviation of 17.83 BPM. For the fifth song, Habit – Pearl Jam (song bpm ~ 152), there was a class average heart rate of 82.61BPM and a standard deviation of 20.18 BPM. For the sixth song, Want Me – Baby Queen (song bpm ~ 170), there was a class average heart rate of 84.94 BPM and a standard deviation of 23.88 BPM. For the seventh and final song, Struck by Lightning - Toto (song bpm ~ 175), there was a class average of 87.80 BPM and a standard deviation of 25.75 BPM. The scatter plot generated an R^2 of 0.881. The T-Test generated a P-value of 0.

Summary stats table: Resting heart rate (HR) in beats per minute (BPM) Karma Police - Radioh ead BPM~ 72 On the Nature of Daylight – Max Richter bpm ~ 86 bpm Dreams – Fleetwoo d Mac bpm ~ 120 Carry On – Fun. bpm ~ 145 Habit – Pearl Jam bpm ~ 152 Want Me – Baby Queen bpm ~ 170 Struck by Lightning - Toto bpm ~ 175 Class Average BPM 70.69461 078 74.4371 2575 71.55688 623 77.91616 766 78.85714 286 82.61077 844 84.94011 976 87.79640 719 Standard Deviation 10.168882 71 51.4061 9541 11.16071 25 14.93980 418 17.82639 995 20.18464 474 23.87560 65 25.75008 221 Column chart that compares the heart rate after a fast song to the heart rate after a slow song: Scatter plot with linear regression trendline comparing heart rate to beats per minute of the song: