Enhanced response to music in pregnancy THOMAS HANS FRITZ, 1,2,3 MARIAN CIUPEK, 1 AMBIKA KIRKLAND, 1 KLAS IHME, 4 ANIKA GUHA, 1 JANA HOYER, 1 and ARNO VILLRINGER 1 1 Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Science, Leipzig, Germany 2 Institute for Psychoacoustics and Electronic Music, University of Ghent, Ghent, Belgium 3 Department of Nuclear Medicine, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany 4 Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany Abstract Given a possible effect of estrogen on the pleasure-mediating dopaminergic system, musical appreciation in participants whose estrogen levels are naturally elevated during the oral contraceptive cycle and pregnancy has been investigated (n = 32, 15 pregnant, 17 nonpregnant; mean age 27.2). Results show more pronounced blood pressure responses to music in pregnant women. However, estrogen level differences during different phases of oral contraceptive intake did not have any effect, indicating that the observed changes were not related to estrogen. Effects of music on blood pressure were independent of valence, and dissonance elicited the greatest drop in blood pressure. Thus, the enhanced physiological response in pregnant women probably does not reflect a protective mechanism to avoid unpleasantness. Instead, this enhanced response is discussed in terms of a facilitation of prenatal conditioning to acoustical (musical) stimuli. Descriptors: Conditioning, Children/Infants, Blood pressure Music is capable of exerting a powerful influence on emotions, and in turn on physiological parameters such as heart rate (Iwanaga & Moroki, 1999; Krumhansl, 1997; Salimpoor, Benovoy, Longo, Cooperstock, & Zatorre, 2009; Sammler, Grigutsch, Fritz, & Koelsch, 2007), respiration (Iwanaga & Moroki, 1999), tempera- ture (Krumhansl, 1997; Salimpoor et al., 2009), skin conductance (Krumhansl, 1997; Salimpoor et al., 2009), blood volume pulse amplitude (Krumhansl, 1997; Salimpoor et al., 2009), and systolic and diastolic blood pressure (Krumhansl, 1997; Iwanaga & Moroki, 1999). Previous studies of the physiological effects of music listening have found that heart rate responds to the perceived valence of music. Specifically, pleasant music has been shown to raise heart rate, which varies dynamically over time with the degree of subjective pleasure experienced by the listener (Salimpoor et al., 2009), whereas music that has been rendered unpleasant due to spectral dissonance lowers heart rate (Sammler et al., 2007). Evidence has been shown that suggests the mediation of valence experience during music listening is closely linked to the dopaminergic system. More specifically, two important regions of the dopaminergic system were shown to be involved in the experi- ence and anticipation of musical pleasantness in humans: the nucleus accumbens and the ventral tegmental area (Blood and Zatorre, 2001; Menon & Levitin, 2005; Salimpoor, Benovoy, Larcher, Dagher, & Zatorre, 2011). Given the link between estro- gen and the dopaminergic system as described in animal literature (Hruska & Silbergeld, 1980; Joyce, Montero, & Van Hartesveldt, 1984; Lammers et al., 1999), differences in estrogen levels in humans could potentially influence musical appreciation. This issue can be addressed with two strategies: either modulating estro- gen levels by an administration of drugs or comparing different groups of participants who have naturally modulated levels of estrogen. A substantial natural change in estrogen levels in humans occurs both during pregnancy (in addition to other hormonal changes) and, to a lesser degree, during the oral contraceptive cycle. Note that, during pregnancy, a physiological reaction to acous- tical environments (such as music) has been proposed to play a crucial role for the fetus. Information from the mother’s acoustic environment is thought to contribute to the development of a “mother schema” (Parncutt, 2009), a multimodal cognitive repre- sentation of physiological responses of the mother in relation to sensory perception of the baby (which is, to a large extent, audi- tory). This is thought to serve an adaptive function in early infancy and may help to explain the powerful effects of music in humans (Parncutt, 2005). Given a possible modulation of the dopaminergic system by high estrogen levels, it is conceivable that physiological responses of the mother to acoustic stimuli may be enhanced, and accordingly this prenatal mechanism of auditory (and also musical) evaluative conditioning (Juslin & Västfjäll, 2008) facilitated. On the other hand, an altered response to music in pregnant women might also be part of a general mechanism for protecting the fetus against sources of stress. Not only do maternal stress and anxiety directly affect fetal behavior, they also appear to be linked to later cognitive, emotional, and behavioral problems in children (Van den Bergh, Mulder, Mennes, & Glover, 2005). Pregnant women have already been shown to display increased sensitivity to aversive smells and odors (Gilbert & Wysocki, 1991; Nordin, Address correspondence to: Dr. Thomas Fritz, Dept of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Stephanstrasse 1a, 04103 Leipzig, Germany. E-mail: fritz@cbs.mpg.de Psychophysiology, •• (2014), ••–••. Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Printed in the USA. Copyright © 2014 Society for Psychophysiological Research DOI: 10.1111/psyp.12228 1