Effect of relaxation stimuli on mental task performance

Mental Stress is the psychological condition experienced when an individual confronts a situation, where the demands are beyond one's capabilities. Over the years, researchers analysed many relaxation techniques by which stress levels could be reduced. In this work, an attempt has been made to analyse the effect of one of the relaxation stimuli (Alpha music) in the mental task performance. The participants are identified as Normal or Stressed based on the Stress scores in Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS). The Stroop task is provided to the participants and the reaction times for congruent and incongruent stimuli were calculated. The task performance measures such as Omission and Commission errors in the mental task were analysed, before and after providing Alpha music. Fourteen participants were identified as normal participants and fourteen participants were identified as stressed participants using DASS. The reaction time was found to be significantly higher (p<0.05) for incongruent stimuli than for the congruent stimuli for both group of participants. The Omission and Commission errors significantly reduced (p<0.05) after the provision of relaxation stimuli. This finding suggests that under the influence of alpha music, reduction in the feelings of stress and increased sense of relaxation is observed.