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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.

Sec. Performance Science

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1544069

This article is part of the Research TopicWomen in Performance ScienceView all 10 articles

Enhanced Subjective Performance Achievement in Wind Instrument Playing through Positive Memory Recall: Effects of Sympathetic Activation and Emotional Valence

Provisionally accepted
  • 1Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University Shonan Fujisawa Campus, Fujisawa, Japan
  • 2Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University Shonan Fujisawa Campus, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan
  • 3Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), Tokyo, Japan

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Controlling physiological and psychological states before a performance is essential for professional musicians to realize their full potential. However, the characteristics of the optimal pre-performance state remain unclear. While an increase in sympathetic nervous system activity is typically observed before performance, when associated with anxiety, it can degrade the performance quality. This study examined whether recalling positive autobiographical performance memories enhances subjective performance achievement, accompanied by increased emotional arousal, valence, and autonomic nervous system activity. Thirty-six professional wind instrument players participated in the study.Prior to performing musical pieces, participants engaged in one of three conditions: (1) recalling positive autobiographical memories, (2) recalling negative autobiographical memories, or (3) imagining routine pre-performance activities (no-memory condition). During the memory recall phase, heart rate was measured. After each performance, participants rated their subjective arousal, valence, and performance achievement. We calculated the heart rate variability indices, specifically SD1 (reflecting parasympathetic nervous system activity) and SD2/SD1 (used as a relative indicator of sympathetic predominance). The results showed that performance achievement, arousal, and valence were significantly higher in the positive than in the negative condition. Our path analysis further revealed that an increase in SD2/SD1 did not directly predict performance achievement; instead, it was associated with an increase in emotional valence, which in turn led to improved performance. These findings suggest that recalling positive performance memories activates sympathetic nervous system activity and fosters positive emotions, thereby enhancing the performance achievement of professional musicians.

Keywords: musical expression, professional musicians, Performance achievement, Autonomic Nervous System, autobiographical memories, Heart rate variability

Received: 12 Dec 2024; Accepted: 01 Aug 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Watanabe, Kondoh, Samma and Fujii. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Shinya Fujii, Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University Shonan Fujisawa Campus, Fujisawa, 252-0882, Kanagawa, Japan

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