ABSTRACT
Familiarity research commonly cites Berlyne, who advocated the concept of an inverted U-shaped relationship between liking for musical stimuli and their arousal potential. The more moderate the arousal potential, the more the music is preferred. The subjective complexity of music is important and, with more exposure to music, subjective complexity decreases, with moderate, optimal complexity levels leading to greater liking for the stimulus. The use of music in a clinical setting may be appropriate in three possible contexts: in conjunction with the normal treatment of a patient; in situations in which medication may be 'less effective' and therefore an adjunctive treatment may be beneficial; on occasions when medication does not have time to take effect or is not desired, such as in childbirth. Physiologically, the benefits of music have been demonstrated intra-operatively, post-operatively and with laboratory-induced pain, acute pain and chronic pain.
