Electrophysiological correlates underlying the use of generated affective music to regulate stress in individuals with elevated anxiety

Recent advances in generative music systems offer new opportunities for supporting stress regulation in individuals experiencing psychological distress. However, the degree to which music should reflect the desired relaxation state, and the neural dynamics underlying music-based regulation, are not well understood. The present study investigated the electrophysiological correlates of stress reduction using generated music that expresses different degrees of relaxation. Twenty-seven adults (10M, age: 31.33 ± 9.65 years) with elevated anxiety (measured by the Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale-21) completed three blocks of a stress-inducing arithmetic task, each followed by three minutes of silence, Low-relaxation music (Low-RM), or High-relaxation music (High-RM). Low-RM anchored musical characteristics near participants’ post-stress affect ratings; High-RM shifted these parameters 30% toward positive-valence and low-arousal. Following stress induction, subjective valence increased in both music conditions but arousal decreased only in High-RM and silence. Relative to silence, frontal delta suppression was observed in both music conditions, with additional parietal delta suppression in Low-RM. Exploratory analyses identified parieto-occipital alpha suppression during High-RM. Across conditions, greater frontal delta reduction was associated with lower Anxiety scores. These findings provide new insights for the efficacy of affective generated music in modulating neurophysiological processes implicated in stress regulation for individuals with elevated anxiety.