Music boosts the recovery of attention after mental fatigue in healthy young male subjects: A human auditory event-related potential study

• Published in: Behavioural brain research Vol. 485; p. 115539
• Main Authors: Wang, Zhiding, Xu, Wenhao, Zhang, Cheng, Zhang, Chaoyue, Liu, Yinji, Chen, Pinhong, Han, Gencheng, Wang, Lubin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 08.05.2025
• Subjects: Acoustic Stimulation; Adult; Attention - physiology; Auditory Perception - physiology; Brain - physiology; Brain - physiopathology; CNV; Contingent Negative Variation - physiology; EEG; Electrocardiography; Electroencephalography; Evoked Potentials, Auditory - physiology; Humans; Male; Mental Fatigue; Mental Fatigue - physiopathology; Mental Fatigue - therapy; Music; Music - psychology; Music Therapy - methods; Young Adult; CNV; Mental Fatigue; Music; EEG
• ISSN: 0166-4328; 1872-7549; 1872-7549
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2025.115539

Daily life faces continuous cognitive tasks. Several methods could lessen cognitive fatigue including music. To find out how music functions in recovering cognitive fatigue, twenty-seven participants were randomly assigned to the rest group (N = 12) and the music group (N = 15). To evaluate the effects of Mozart K488 music on attention function after a continuous cognitively demanding task. Participants completed subjective questionnaires and the contingent negative variation (CNV) task before fatigue, after fatigue, and after the rest/musical intervention. EEG and ECG data were also collected during the experiment. The results showed that 5 min of Mozart K488 music resulted in improved CNV task performance in the musical intervention group. For EEG data, recoveries of the initial CNV and terminal CNV amplitude in Cz and CPz electrodes were observed and compared with the values after Mental Fatigue, which music increased the iCNV and tCNV. Alpha-ERD was lower after listening to music than after resting. Moreover, during music playing, compared to other brain regions the EEG alpha power of participants was significantly high in the central frontal region. This study demonstrates a short-term musical intervention can effectively boost the recovery of attention after Mental Fatigue.