Psychological and psychophysiological effects of music intensity and lyrics on simulated urban driving

Nick Reed,Costas I Karageorghis,Luke W Howard,William Payre,Garry Kuan,Andrew M Parkes,Elias Mouchlianitis

doi:10.1016/j.trf.2021.05.022

Abstract

The main aim of this study was to investigate the effect of musical characteristics (i.e., presence of lyrics and loudness) in the context of simulated urban driving. Previous work has seldom isolated musical characteristics and examined these both singularly and interactively. We investigated the potentially distracting effects of processing lyrics through exposing young drivers to the same piece of music with/without lyrics and at different sound intensities (60 dBA [soft] and 75 dBA [loud]) using a counterbalanced, within-subjects design (N = 34; Mage = 22.2 years, SD = 2.0 years). Six simulator conditions were included that comprised low-intensity music with/without lyrics, high-intensity music with/without lyrics, plus two controls – ambient in-car noise and spoken lyrics. Between-subjects variables of driving style (defensive vs. assertive) and sex (women vs. men) were explored. A key finding was that the no lyrics/soft condition yielded lower affective arousal scores when compared to the other music conditions. There was no main effect of condition for HRV data (SDNN and RMSSD). Exploratory analyses showed that, for assertive drivers, NASA-TLX Performance scores were lower in the no lyrics/soft condition compared to the lyrics/loud condition. Moreover, women exhibited higher mean heart rate than men in the presence of lyrics. Although some differences emerged in subjective outcomes, these were not replicated in HRV, which was used as an objective index of emotionality. Drivers should consider the use of soft, non-lyrical music to optimise their affective state during urban driving.

Highlights

The last two decades have seen increased interest in human factors, driver psychology, in the causation of road ac cidents (Brodsky, 2015; Parnell, Rand, & Plant, 2020)
The present study attempted to shine a light on the interactive effects of the musical dimensions of lyrics and loudness on a range of psychological, psychophysiological and behavioural outcomes
The experimental manipulations had no bearing on how participants responded to triggers during simulated urban driving

Summary

Introduction

The last two decades have seen increased interest in human factors, driver psychology, in the causation of road ac cidents (Brodsky, 2015; Parnell, Rand, & Plant, 2020). Despite a general trend towards road safety improvement, younger road users are overrepresented in fatality statistics and remain at heightened risk (Brodsky & Slor, 2013; Department for Transport, 2020; World Health Organization, 2020). Young, novice drivers are at a ten-time greater risk of non-fatal accidents than those over 20 years of age (see Brodsky & Slor, 2013). As we wait for the advance of autonomous vehicles, driver behaviour is the key determinant of road safety and a high priority in accident prevention (Department for Transport, 2010; IAM, 2010; Summala, 1996). Human factors, as opposed to environmental or mechanical factors, are the most important contributors to road accidents (Khattak, Ahmad, Wali, & Dumbaugh, 2021)

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Discussion

Conclusion