Dissonance does not influence visuospatial skills or emotions of healthy college students

Abstract

There is evidence that music properties could modulate mood and improve the performance of visuospatial skills. Dissonances in music are interpreted as unpleasant by untrained listeners. We investigated whether dissonances are capable of modulating emotions and altering the performance of a visuospatial task. Twenty-five healthy university students participated, divided into the Control Group (n=10), the Consonance Group (n=8) and the Dissonance Group (n=7). All were screened for current psychiatric symptoms, underwent a visuospatial test before and after the music listening period, and were also evaluated by the OASIS, which investigates emotions. The results showed no effect caused by dissonance in music, both on emotions and on visuospatial skills, in young people with little previous musical contact. These results suggest that the tempo and mode of music, in addition to melody itself, are the only known factors capable of modulating visuspatial performance.