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Electroencephalogram Analysis

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The cerebral cortex contains huge numbers of neurons. Activity of these neurons is to some extent synchronized in regular firing rhythms known as brain waves. Electrodes placed on the scalp can detect variations in electrical potential that are derived from the underlying cortical activity. The recording of this electrical activity in the brain is known as an electroencephalogram (EEG). The EEG waveform contains component waves of different frequencies. The specific brain wave type indicates the type of brain activity occurring. Alpha waves, for example are more synchronous in the occipital region of the brain when a person is awake but relaxed, with his or her eyes closed, and are indicative of a relaxed mental state (Teplan, 2002; Sammler, …show more content…

Pacemaker cells rhythmically produce electrical signals that will traverse through the heart and ultimately excite contractile cells. These electrical currents produced by pacemaker cells are large enough to be detected by recording electrodes on the skin, and thus an electrocardiogram (ECG) can be created. An ECG is made of three distinct components: the P-wave produced by atrial depolarization, the QRS complex produced by ventricular depolarization, and the T-wave produced by ventricular repolarization. Because the QRS complex has the largest amplitude and is easiest to detect, it was the ECG component chosen to be measured throughout the present experiment. Additionally, the rate at which QRS complexes are produced by the pacemaker cells in a given interval can be used to determine heart rate. Like the electrical activity of the brain, cardiac activity can vary in response to a multitude of different factors such as autonomic activity. In attempt to further explore the correlation between autonomic activity and emotion evoked by musical listening suggested by previous studies (Iwanaga et al., 2005; Orini et al., 2010), we measured heart rate and QRS complex amplitude as various music genres were being listened to. These experiments were conducted in order to better understand the physiological properties and mechanisms used by the human body to influence cardiac activity in response to various music genres being listened

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