Music Modulates the Strength of Vection

Abstract

We presented four types of music (two fast tempo and two slow tempo types) during illusory self-motion perception (vection). Vection was induced by expansional dots (optic flow), and participants estimated its strength via magnitude estimation and by pressing a button. Our purpose of this study is to examine whether music alter vection strength. Results showed that vection was facilitated by two fast tempo types and one slow tempo type of music in lieu of a no-music condition. We speculated that fast tempo, active music might induce higher arousal levels in participants compared with a no-music condition, and that higher arousal levels might induce stronger vection. We speculated that this auditory method of modulating vection strength can be utilized in the virtual reality environment.