Music Valence and Genre Influence Group Creativity

Previous studies on the effects of music listening on cognitive and affective functioning has focused on individuals, and the influence of back ground music (BMG) on group creativity is yet to be explored. Here, based on the meditative impact of music on emotion and communication, we hypothesized the possible influence of BGM on indices of group creativity, and specifically investigate the effects of two factors of music, valence and genre, on cooperation and divergent creativity. In our study, 15 pairs of participants conducted Alternative Uses Task (AUT)-based communication while listening to four combination of instrumental music tracks or no music. To probe into the mechanism of group creativity enhancement, we assessed the interbrain synchrony using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)-based hyperscanning, and the non-verbal communication by using accelerometers to measure head movements synchronization (HMS) of dyads. Our results suggested that positive valence music enhance cooperation, while upbeat genre enhance cooperation to converge the ideas.