Responses of high- and low-emotional deficit patients to exciting, grating, and neutral stimuli

The preferences of high- and low-anhedonia and sensation-seeking psychiatric hospital groups for music rated as exciting, grating, and neutral, and the tendencies of these groups to modify the volume level at which they were exposed to these pieces, were compared. Volume-level choice was unrelated to anhedonia and sensation-seeking, which casts doubt on the theory that these affective deficits are mediated by efforts to reduce the quantity of incoming emotional stimulation. Anhedonia scores were not related to preferences for the three types of music. However, in contrast to high sensation-seekers, low sensation-seekers tended to dislike all types of music, and especially those rated as grating.