Musical program context effects : The effect of music-induced arousal on memory and evaluation

In this study we investigated the effect of music-induced arousal on the evaluation of a subsequently presented informative program, as well as memory for the program. We conducted an experiment in which participants listened to either medium or high arousing music and then watched an informative video. Results showed that participants in the medium arousal condition reported more positive evaluations of the video. Furthermore, their memory for the video was better when compared to memory of participants in the high arousal condition. In the discussion section implications of the findings are discussed.