An entire car-boot-load ofresearch now existson justwhatcan happen to uswhile listening to m usic behind the wheel. Studiesusing driving sim ulatorshave shown,for exam ple,thatm otoristslistening to energetic,exciting m usicbyartistssuch asM ötleyCrüe,M etalicaand Em inem drifted from theirlanesm ore often and tended to have les controloverthe vehicle.A recent studybyresearchersatthe UniversityofZagreb in Croatia found thatdriverslistening to fast,aggres ive m usic,such asM etalica’sM asterofPuppets,m ade m ore erorsthan those listening to other,calm erform s ofm usic.Interestinglytheydon’tdrive anyfasterthan those who do so in silence,buteye-scanning technologyshowed theylookaround farles . “M usicrepresentsa form ofdistraction that‘takes away’apartofouratention,”saysDario Babic,an as istantprofes orin traficscience atthe Universityof Zagreb and one ofthose who conducted the research. Thisincrease in m entalload in astres fuldriving environm entcould lead to mistakes. Rhythm isgonnagetyou Butthere are othertheoriesforwhysom e form sof m usiclead to potentialydangerousdriving behaviours.A fastrhythm ,forexam ple,m ightincrease am otorist’sheartbeat,leading to am ore aggres ive driving style;orthe rebeliousnature ofheavym etal and rap could lead listenersto engage in theirown form ofdelinquentbehaviourwhile in the driving seat. “The efectsofthe m usicon the driver’sm entalstate and driving behaviourcan be atributed to abroad range ofm echanism s,”saysCostasKarageorghis,a psychologistatBrunelUniversityLondon,who has studied the efectsofm usicon driving behaviour. “Acros the studieswe undertook,itwasclearthat,in adriving context,the m ostpotentefectofm usicwas on drivers’em otions.Iftheyare prone to feeling angry and frustrated while driving in an urban environm ent, the use ofcalm ing m usicin atem po range 90–110bpm can be helpful.Using aggres ive rap orthrash m etalis unlikelyto optim ise m entalstate and driving behaviour in an urban context.” Certainly,there issom e evidence thatm usiccan m ake usquickerto angerifdriving conditionschange in a waythatwe find frustrating.O ne group ofaround 100 volunteerstaking partin astudyatLiverpoolJohn M ooresUniversityhad theirheartrate,blood pres ure and reactionsm onitored during a12-m inute sim ulated
journeyto pickup achild from school.Theyalseem ed sim ilar– untiltheyhita virtualtraficjam . Those who had been listening to Linkin Park,Slipknot orhardcore techno before the traficjam suddenlysaw theirheartratessoarcom pared to otherslistening to HansZim m er,Depeche M ode orThe Tem ptations. W ith blood pum ping fasteraround theirbodies,the m etaland techno group were also found to be angrier than the otherswhen theirm ood wastested afterwards. Som e even expres ed theirangerverbalywhile behind the wheel.The researchersconcluded thatthe intense, energeticm usichad prim ed theircardio-vascular system sto pum p blood fasterwhen theyencountered a frustrating situation. “O nlylow-activation m usic,like jaz trio orgentle strings,lowered blood pres ure during their experience,”explainsStephen Fairclough,aprofes or ofpsychologyatLiverpoolJohn M ooresUniversitywho led the study.These people,however,didn’treport feeling anycalm erthan those listening to othertypesof m usic.“Thissuggeststhatthe efectsofm usicon cardiovascularphysiologyare achieved withoutour consciousawarenes .”
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