Can background music help to relieve stress? An EEG analysis

This study is designed to investigate the effect of music on the human subjects when they are under stress. Stroop color-word test is implemented to create stressful environment. Three different stroop tests, congruent, incongruent and mix exhibit low, high and moderate stress levels respectively. The participants performed the stroop tests with and without background music and their EEG was recorded. The participants were categorized into three stress groups based on the perceived stress scale questionnaire. Absolute alpha power from EEG is computed and analyzed. For congruent and mix stroop test higher alpha power is observed in the presence of music indicating a positive effect of music under low and moderate stress conditions. For incongruent case the alpha power is reduced in the presence of music indicating negative effect of the music under high stress. From ANOVA results a significant change is observed in resting state alpha power vs mix (p=0.031) and a marginally significant change between resting state vs incongruent (p=0.088) in the presence of music.