The audio-visual integration effect on music emotion: Behavioral and physiological evidence

Previous research has indicated that, compared to audio-only presentation, audio-visual congruent presentation can lead to a more intense emotional response. In the present study, we investigated the audio-visual integration effect on emotions elicited by positive or negative music and the role of visual information presentation durations. The participants were presented with audio-only condition, audio-visual congruent condition, and audio-visual incongruent condition and then required to judge the intensity of emotional experience elicited by the music. Their emotional responses to the music were measured using self-ratings and physiological aspects, including heart rate, skin temperature, EMG root mean square and prefrontal EEG. Relative to the audio-only presentation, the audio-visual congruent presentation led to a more intense emotional response. More importantly, the audio-visual integration occurred both in the positive music and in the negative music. Furthermore, the audio-visual integration effect was larger for positive music than for negative music; meanwhile the audio-visual integration effect was strongest with the visual information presented within 80s for negative music, which indicated that this integration effect was more likely to occur in the negative music. These results suggest that when the music was positive, the effect of audio-visual integration was greater. When the music was negative, the modulation effect of the presentation durations of visual information on the music-induced emotion was more significant.