Effects of Relaxing Music on Mental Fatigue Induced by a Continuous Performance Task: Behavioral and ERPs Evidence

Guo, Wei; Ren, Jie; Wang, Biye; Zhu, Qin · 2015 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0136446

archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified

Get this paper ↗ (DOI — opens at the source; we link to it, we don't host it)

Summary

This study investigated whether listening to relaxing music could alleviate mental fatigue induced by prolonged cognitive activity and maintain neurobehavioral performance. Mental fatigue, defined as the subjective feeling of exhaustion following sustained mental effort, is known to impair attention, increase reaction times, and elevate error rates. While previous research has explored interventions like nutrient ingestion or exposure to natural settings, the specific effects of relaxing music on fatigue from enduring cognitive-motor tasks remained unclear. The authors hypothesized that relaxing music would reduce subjective feelings of fatigue and mitigate negative impacts on cognitive-motor performance. The experiment involved 36 undergraduate students randomly assigned to a music group or a control group. Participants underwent three phases: a pre-fatigue evaluation, a 60-minute fatigue-inducing phase using an AX-continuous performance task, and a post-fatigue evaluation. During the inducing phase, the music group listened to instrumental folk music (60–80 beats per minute, 40 dB), while the control group worked in silence. Fatigue and performance were assessed using a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for subjective feelings and a Go/NoGo task to measure behavioral performance and event-related potentials (ERPs). EEG data were recorded during the Go/NoGo tasks to analyze N2 and P3 components, which index conflict monitoring and attentional resource allocation, respectively. Results indicated that the fatigue-inducing task successfully increased subjective fatigue in both groups, but the music group reported significantly lower levels of anxiety, irritability, and sleepiness, and higher levels of alertness, energy, and confidence compared to the control group. Behaviorally, reaction times for Go trials significantly increased in the control group post-task, whereas the music group’s reaction times remained stable. Accuracy did not differ significantly between groups. ERP analysis revealed that the control group showed decreased Go-P3 and NoGo-P3 amplitudes after fatigue, indicating reduced attentional resource allocation and inhibition control. In contrast, the music group maintained larger Go-P3 and NoGo-P3 amplitudes, suggesting preserved cognitive resources. NoGo-N2 amplitudes increased for both groups, indicating heightened conflict monitoring, but no significant group differences were found for this component. The study concludes that listening to relaxing music during sustained cognitive tasks alleviates mental fatigue and helps maintain cognitive-motor performance. The preservation of P3 amplitudes in the music group suggests that music helps sustain the allocation of attentional resources and inhibitory control, which are typically degraded by fatigue. These findings imply that relaxing music is an effective, non-invasive intervention for mitigating the detrimental effects of mental fatigue, with potential applications in settings requiring prolonged concentration, such as education, sports, and occupational environments.

Provenance

The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed.

Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-26; verification: verified.

Topics

Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.

• music audio mood