A Comparative Study of the Effects of Music on Emotional State in Normal Adults and Those with High-Functioning Autism
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Title A Comparative Study of the Effects of Music on Emotional State in Normal Adults and those with High-functioning Autism Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of London Rory Allen Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London February, 2010 1 Certification of originality I certify that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Signed ………………………………………. Date …….. 24 February 2010……………….. 2 Abstract It has been assumed that the social deficits inherent in autism imply that individuals with the condition will be unable fully to appreciate the emotional content of music. My aim was to test this assumption, and to explore more widely the similarities and differences between the experience of music in the normal population and those with autism. My first study used musically-induced mood changes and a behavioural measure to show that mood music has measurable effects on cognitive processes in a control group. The second study focused on high-functioning adults on the autism spectrum, using semi-structured interviews to investigate the part that music plays in their everyday lives, concluding that autism is no bar to a full appreciation of the emotional uses of music, though also suggesting a degree of impoverishment in the language they use to describe the emotions. The final set of experiments compared control and autism groups directly, using physiological (GSR) measures of arousal together with self-report of the emotions evoked by a set of musical items. Standardized questionnaires were employed to measure alexithymia (difficulty in identifying and describing feelings) in individuals. Although the autism group experienced comparable levels of physiological arousal to music, they used fewer words than controls to describe their emotional responses, a difference which correlated strongly with their level of alexithymia. My results are consistent with the hypothesis that in autism, the basic physiological and emotional component of their reactivity to music is functioning normally, but their ability to translate these reactions into conventional emotional language is reduced, in line with their degree of alexithymia. These results suggest that the preserved ability of music to generate emotional arousal in autism may lead to clinical applications for the treatment of alexithymia in autism and other conditions. 3 Table of contents Title ...................................................................................................................................1 Certification of originality ................................................................................................2 Abstract .............................................................................................................................3 Table of contents...............................................................................................................4 List of figures ....................................................................................................................9 List of tables....................................................................................................................10 Acknowledgements.........................................................................................................11 Dedication .......................................................................................................................12 Chapter 1. Music, emotion and autism: current perspectives .........................................14 1.1 SUMMARY ..........................................................................................................14 1.2 AUTISM ...............................................................................................................14 1.2.1 Diagnostic classification ................................................................................14 1.2.2 Early theories of ASD ....................................................................................15 1.2.3 Social cognition accounts of ASD .................................................................16 1.2.4 Perceptual and neurological accounts of ASD...............................................20 1.2.5 Environmental and genetic factors in ASD....................................................24 1.2.6 Autism and alexithymia .................................................................................25 1.2.7 Conclusion: whither autism research? ...........................................................27 1.3 EMOTION AND EMPATHY ..............................................................................29 1.3.1 Historical basis for theories of emotion .........................................................29 1.3.2 Emotion and empathy ....................................................................................32 1.3.3 Empathy and alexithymia: similarities...........................................................35 1.3.4 Empathy and alexithymia: differences and perceptual abnormalities............36 1.3.5 Experimental testing of alexithymia in ASD .................................................37 1.4 MUSIC ..................................................................................................................38 1.4.1 The origins of music ......................................................................................38 1.4.2 Music and emotion.........................................................................................41 1.4.3 Music and ASD..............................................................................................44 1.5 THESIS STRUCTURE AND AIMS ....................................................................45 4 Chapter 2. The validity of music as an empathic stimulus in a control group................47 2.1 SUMMARY ..........................................................................................................47 2.2 ABSTRACT..........................................................................................................47 2.3 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................48 2.3.1 Musical mood induction and empathy ...........................................................48 2.3.2 Empathy as “mindreading” ............................................................................49 2.3.3 Evidence for ST vs. TT in Goldman and Sripada ..........................................51 2.3.4 Further discussion of the ST paradigm and its implications..........................53 2.3.5 The “Mozart Effect”, and possible effects on reaction times ........................63 2.4 THE PILOT STUDY ............................................................................................64 2.5 THE MAIN STUDY: METHOD..........................................................................66 2.5.1 Participants.....................................................................................................66 2.5.2 Design ............................................................................................................66 2.5.3 Materials.........................................................................................................66 2.5.4 Procedure........................................................................................................67 2.6 RESULTS .............................................................................................................68 2.6.1. Face responses...............................................................................................68 2.6.2 RT data...........................................................................................................69 2.7 DISCUSSION .......................................................................................................72 Chapter 3. Exploring the subjective experience of music, and emotional responsiveness to it, in ASD. ...................................................................................................................78 3.1 SUMMARY ..........................................................................................................78 3.2 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................79 3.2.1 Music and autism: conjectures and deductions..............................................79 3.2.2 Music and autism: empirical studies..............................................................81 3.3 METHOD..............................................................................................................84 3.3.1 Participants.....................................................................................................84 3.3.2 Materials and Methods...................................................................................85 3.3.3 Procedure........................................................................................................87 3.4 RESULTS .............................................................................................................88 3.4.1 Development of musical interests ..................................................................88 3.4.2 Why did participants engage with music: Motivations..................................88 3.4.3 What music did participants engage with: Characteristics ...........................93 5 3.5 DISCUSSION .......................................................................................................95