Abstract
The present paper reviewed the autonomic nervous responses during music listening and outlined methods of measurements and analysis of heart rate (HR), especially used as indices of music response. The autonomic nervous responses vary according to the arousal dimension of musical emotion. The stimulative music activates the sympathetic nervous system, while the sedative one activates the parasympathetic nervous system. Strong emotion such as chills is related to activities of the sympathetic nervous system. HR, which is used in studies for music listening, is analyzed by level, time series changes, and variability. We especially explained outlines about indices of frequency-domain and time-domain analysis. It is important for selection and analysis of indices on demand to the research purpose.
