VAT and its Effects on Mood

VAT and its Effects on Mood

By Walters, C L,

Center for Music Research, Florida State University

This study looked at the mood of 29 college students before and after they experienced one of three current popular songs vibrotactily via a viboacoustic equipment: 1) “Vibeology” by Paula Abdul, 2) “So Hard to Say 15 Goodbye” by Boys 2 Men, and 3) “Songbird” by Kenny G. Readings of the student’s finger temperatures were taken throughout their experience as a measure of stress levels. Overall finger temperature was found to increase during the vibrotactile experience. Increases in finger temperature have been reported to be a physiological indicator of reduced levels of stress. The increase in finger temperature was found to be statistically significant for each of the three songs used (p<0.05) suggesting that these particular musical selections were found to be relaxing by college students when experienced using Somatron equipment.