[Press Release] From Memory to Melody: How Positive Memories Elevate Musical Performance
2025.09.17Researchers explore the role of positive performance memories in fostering positive emotions that can enhance future recitals in professional musicians.
A professional musician's ability to regulate their emotional state plays an important role in guaranteeing a successful performance. Previous studies have explored how anxiety affects the nervous system, leading to lower performance quality. However, the characterization of the optimal pre-performance state was unclear and required further exploration. Now, however, researchers have examined the role of unique, positive life events in modulating nervous system activities of musicians and how they positively influence performances.
In order to maintain a long-term career and consistently deliver high-quality performances, professional musicians are required to exercise control over their psychological state before and during the performance. However, managing emotions can be challenging, as they are often influenced by a range of uncontrollable factors, including fellow performers and audience, venue, and the nature of the program. The part of our nervous system that unconsciously regulates involuntary bodily functions like heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, etc., is known as the autonomous nervous system (ANS). A part of the ANS--known as the sympathetic nervous system (SNS)--prepares our body for stressful situations by triggering the stress response, commonly known as the "fight or flight" response.
Prior research in this area suggests that SNS activation can improve musical performances, however the precise mechanism remains unknown. Some studies suggest that positive emotions impact and influence SNS activities, reducing stress, boosting confidence, and enhancing performance in general. Recollection of positive past memories, evoking happy emotions, might activate the SNS, enhance emotional valence, and lead to an enhanced performance.
Inspired by the desire to unravel strategies that can help boost musical performances under pressure on stage, Aiko Watanabe, a saxophonist, set out to undertake further investigation. "As a saxophonist, I have long been interested in understanding what allows musicians to perform at their best, especially under the pressure of the stage," says Watanabe, a Ph.D. candidate at the Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, and this study's main researcher. The study was led by Associate Professor Shinya Fujii, and was published in Volume 16 of Frontiers in Psychology on September 03, 2025. Sotaro Kondoh, a JSPS Research Fellow, and Tomohiro Samma, a Ph.D. student, both from Keio University, were also a part of the research team.
The team evaluated thirty-six active and experienced professional classic wind instrumentalists. The instruments played by the participants included flute, horn, trombone, etc. The performers were asked to recall either a positive autobiographical memory, or a negative autobiographical memory, or no memories at all, prior to the performance. Electrocardiogram (ECG) measurement was done during the memory recollection phase of the participants. The same musical piece was played by all instrumentalists for five minutes after this memory recollection phase. All the participants had to do a subjective evaluation, where they evaluated their own performance, and an objective evaluation, during which they evaluated the performance of the other thirty-five performers. The subjective evaluation depended on valence, which represents the positive or negative quality of an emotion; arousal, reflecting the intensity or activation level of an emotion; and performance achievement.
The researchers observed that performance achievement score, along with valence and arousal scores, was higher in participants who recollected positive memories before the performance. SD2/SD1 ratio - an indicator of SNS activity - exhibited a higher change in participants with positive memory recollection compared to the rest, indicating an increased SNS activity.
These findings indicate that positive performance memories, accompanied by SNS activation, enhance valence and increase arousal during performance, ultimately contributing to improved performance. As Dr. Fujii explains, "This means that what matters is not simply physiological arousal itself, but how musicians interpret and regulate their bodily state. Positive memory recall is one effective strategy to foster such positive interpretations."
These findings can have implications beyond theory, in a way that musicians can benefit during their performance. Strategies like positive memory recollection can help reframe their physiological arousal before going on stage. Deliberate recollection of positive performance memories can shift the interpretation of heightened arousal from "anxiety" to "readiness." Performers can feel more confident and expressive during their performances. This approach may also be applied in music education, helping students in stage fright management, and developing healthier performance habits.
Sharing her concluding thoughts, Watanabe adds, "These findings highlight the importance of individualistic interpretation of physiological arousal in high-pressure situations. Such reframing strategies can also benefit athletes, public speakers, and other performers." Going ahead, these findings can pave the way for developing strategies to incorporate in training methods that reduce performance anxiety, support the performers' well-being, and ultimately enable optimal on-stage performance.
Image
Title: Striking the right chord: Memory-driven emotional waves elevate wind instrument skills
Caption: For musical instrument performers, regulating emotional conditions is of the utmost importance, as it helps them deliver high-quality performances consistently. In this study, led by researchers from Keio University, Japan, researchers tried to understand if recollection of positive emotions plays a role in emotional regulation and helps in enhancing the performance. (Pictured far left: first author, Aiko Watanabe)
Credit: Shinya Fujii from Keio University
License type: Original Content
Usage restrictions: Cannot be reused without permission
Reference
Title of original paper: Enhanced subjective performance achievement in wind instrument playing through positive memory recall: effects of sympathetic activation and emotional valence
Journal: Frontiers in Psychology
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1544069
Research Center for Music Science
The Research Center for Music Science (RCMuS) is a research center dedicated to the scientific study of music. Guided by the principle "For the Future of Music, For the Music of the Future," the RCMuS aims to scientifically elucidate the origins and evolution of music, its universality and diversity, the principles underlying the perception, cognition, generation, and creation of music, the effects of music on the brain, mind, and body of living organisms, and the impact of music on individuals, groups, and society. The center seeks to advance research and education in music science and to disseminate the knowledge gained to the broader public.
Website: https://www.kgri.keio.ac.jp/en/project/research-centers/2025/A25-27.html
NeuroMusicLab at Keio SFC Neurosciences and Music Laboratory at Keio University Shonan Fujisawa Campus
The NeuroMusicLab at Keio SFC is dedicated to research in Neurosciences and Music (NeuroMusic), seeking to understand the fundamental role of music in human life. The research is founded on the premise that music provides a unique probe for identifying higher-order brain functions, including skilled motor control, learning, perception, cognition, memory, emotion, and creativity. The laboratory aims to elucidate the neural origins of human musicality, thereby enhancing the potential of music to contribute to a harmonious future. While interest in the Neurosciences of Music has surged globally in recent decades, Japan had a notable lack of laboratories in this field. Recognizing the growing need to explore the neural basis of human musicality, Dr. Shinya Fujii founded the NeuroMusicLab at Keio SFC to fill this gap.
Website: https://neuromusic.sfc.keio.ac.jp
About Associate Professor Shinya Fujii from Keio University
Dr. Shinya Fujii obtained MS and Ph.D. degrees in Human and Environmental Studies from Kyoto University in 2007 and 2010, respectively. He currently serves as an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University. He is also the Director of the Neurosciences and Music Laboratory at Keio University and the Research Center for Music Science at Keio University Global Research Institute. Dr. Fujii specializes in perception neuroscience and its relationship with music. He has over 75 papers credited to his name.
https://neuromusic.sfc.keio.ac.jp
https://www.kgri.keio.ac.jp/en/project/research-centers/2025/A25-27.html
https://www.k-ris.keio.ac.jp/html/100012635_en.html
https://researchmap.jp/7000025148?lang=en
About Aiko Watanabe from Keio University
Aiko Watanabe is a Ph.D. candidate at the Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University. Her research in cognitive neuroscience investigates how physiological responses such as heartbeat and autonomic nervous system activity, together with emotional states, influence musical performance. In addition to her academic work, she is an active professional saxophonist, performing in solo, chamber, and orchestral settings, and a certified Alexander Technique instructor supporting musicians in their performance practice.
Funding information:
This work was supported by the Taikichiro Mori Memorial Research Grants and the JST SPRING Grant (No. JPMJSP2123) (to AW), by the JST COI-NEXT Grant (No. JPMJPF2203), the JST Moonshot R&D Grant (No. JPMJMS2215), and the JSPS KAKENHI Grant (No. 24H02199) (to SF).
[Enquiry]
Contact: Prof. Shinya Fujii
E-mail: fujii.shinya@keio.jp
Contact: Ms. Aiko Watanabe
E-mail: aikow@keio.jp
