Several factors associated with resilience as the maintenance of mental health despite stress exposure can be strengthened through participation in leisure time activities. Since many people listen to or make music in their leisure time, the aim of the present study was to provide insights into the architecture of how resilience relates to passive and active music engagement. 511 participants regularly listening to and/or making music completed an online survey on resilient outcomes (i.e., mental health and stressor recovery ability), different resilience factors (e.g., optimism, social support), quantitative music engagement (i.e., time spent with music listening/making) and qualitative music engagement (i.e., use of music listening/making for mood regulation). Bivariate correlations showed that subjects spending more time with music making reported better stressor recovery ability and less mental health problems, while partial correlational network analysis revealed no unique associations for quantitative music engagement. Regarding qualitative music engagement, people using music-based mood regulation reported lower mental health, mindfulness, and optimism, but also higher social support. A more heterogeneous pattern emerged for single music-based mood regulation strategies. Our findings highlight the importance of the individual (mal-)adaptive use of music, painting a more nuanced picture of music engagement and resilience.

Contextual information can shape the aesthetic judgements of music compositions. Recently, a study proposed the existence of an AI composer bias; namely, listeners tend to like music less when they think (or are told) that it was composed by an AI. In this online study ( N  = 120), we used a cross-over experimental design to verify whether such bias extends to audiovisual music performance. The participants rated three videos of classic piano music performances in two versions with identical audio: one with a professional pianist who pretended to play, and one with the piano playing automatically, allegedly thanks to an AI. As hypothesised, the participants rated the performances as more likeable, engaging, higher in emotional valence, and of higher quality when the pieces were “performed” by the pianist. Notably, these effects were insensitive to the participants’ musical expertise but moderated by their attitudes toward AI. Interestingly, when asked what differences they had found between the two renditions, the participants confabulated about differences in rhythm, tempo variations, dynamics, and dissonances, pointing to underlying psychological processes, such as expectations and beliefs about humanness. Implications for Aesthetics and the Psychology of Art are discussed.

Although patients in palliative care commonly report high emotional and spiritual needs, effective psychosocial treatments based on high quality studies are rare. First research provides evidence for benefits of psychosocial interventions in advanced cancer care. To specifically address end-of-life care requirements, life review techniques and creative-arts based therapies offer a promising potential. Therefore, the present study protocol presents a randomized controlled trial on the effectiveness of a newly developed music therapy technique that is based on a biographically meaningful song (“Song of Life”; SOL). In a design with two parallel arms, 104 patients at two palliative care units will be randomly assigned to three sessions of either SOL (experimental group) or relaxation exercises (control group). Improvements in the psychological domain of quality of life will be the primary endpoint, while secondary outcomes encompass spiritual well-being, ego-integrity, overall quality of life, and distress. Additionally, caregivers will be asked to provide feedback about the treatment. Assessment of biopsychological stress markers and qualitative analysis of perceived strengths and weaknesses will complement data collection. Based on the results of a previous pilot study, we dedicated considerable efforts to optimizing the intervention and selecting appropriate outcomes for the present trial. We are confident to have designed a methodologically rigorous study that will contribute to the evidence-base and help to develop the potential of psychosocial interventions in palliative care. German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS) – DRKS00015308 (date of registration: September 07th 2018).

Professional development (PD) both influences and is influenced by teachers’ emotions, yet emotions remain unaddressed in PD frameworks. This study pursues three objectives: (1) to offer a theoretical framework illustrating how PD processes influence and are influenced by teachers’ emotions, (2) to systematically review how empirical studies have assessed teacher emotions in PD, and (3) to synthesize recommendations on how teacher educators can attend to emotions in PD. The literature review identified 25 studies, most of which assessed emotions as secondary outcomes (e.g., general emotional experiences) without a consistent theoretical framework. Assessments predominantly relied on interviews and focused on emotions related to implementation objects or general job experiences. Emotions were typically captured as current or retrospective emotions, with limited focus on prospective emotions. Key recommendations included promoting emotional awareness, supportive environments, and collaboration. For future directions, we propose a more systematic approach to theorizing and measuring teacher emotions in PD.