Hyperventilation in anticipatory music performance anxiety.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES AND METHODS:

Self-report studies have shown an association between music performance anxiety (MPA) and hyperventilation complaints. However, hyperventilation was never assessed physiologically in MPA. This study investigated the self-reported affective experience, self-reported physiological symptoms, and cardiorespiratory variables including partial pressure of end-tidal CO(2) (Petco(2)), which is an indicator for hyperventilation, in 67 music students before a private and a public performance. The response coherence between these response domains was also investigated.

RESULTS:

From the private to the public session, the intensity of all self-report variables increased (all p values < .001). As predicted, the higher the musician's usual MPA level, the larger were these increases (p values < .10). With the exception of Petco(2), the main cardiorespiratory variables also increased from the private to the public session (p values < .05). These increases were not modulated by the usual MPA level (p values > .10). Petco(2) showed a unique response pattern reflected by an MPA-by-session interaction (p < .01): it increased from the private to the public session for musicians with low MPA levels and decreased for musicians with high MPA levels. Self-reported physiological symptoms were related to the self-reported affective experience (p values < .05) rather than to physiological measures (p values > .17).

CONCLUSIONS:

These findings show for the first time how respiration is stimulated before a public performance in music students with different MPA levels. The hypothesis of a hyperventilation tendency in high-performance-anxious musicians is supported. The response coherence between physiological symptoms and physiological activation is weak.

• Authors: Regina Katharina Studer, Brigitta Danuser, Horst Hildebrandt, Marc Arial, Pascal Wild, Patrick Gomez
• Journal: Psychosomatic medicine (Psychosom Med) Vol. 74 Issue 7 Pg. 773-82 (Sep 2012) ISSN: 1534-7796 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 22826290 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Topics

• Adolescent
• Adult
• Capnography
• Female
• Humans
• Hyperventilation (metabolism, physiopathology)
• Male
• Music
• Performance Anxiety (metabolism, physiopathology)
• Respiratory Function Tests
• Self Report