2026/07/30 by Zhaoyang Sun, Qianqian Zhang, Qingwen Hu
Arts and Humanities · Neuroscience · Psychology · #Diverse Music Education Insights #Flow Experience in Various Fields #Mediation #Metronome #Music perception #Musical #Neuroscience and Music Perception #Perception #Quality (philosophy)
paper · doi:10.1177/02762374261473199
published in Empirical Studies of the Arts (SAGE Publishing)
crossref issued 2026/07/30 · crossref published 2026/07/30 · crossref published-online 2026/07/30 · openalex publication_date 2026/07/30 · crossref created 2026/07/30 · openalex created_date 2026/07/31 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31 · crossref deposited 2026/08/02 · crossref indexed 2026/08/02
The integration of artificial intelligence into music education has enabled the development of adaptive tools that may simulate selected aspects of human musical collaboration. Nevertheless, the psychological mechanisms through which such tools influence the immediate quality of musical practice remain insufficiently understood. This study examined the short-term psychological and aesthetic effects of an interactive AI-mediated accompaniment condition versus a metronome condition during trombone practice. Using a within-subjects design, 36 trombonists completed two counterbalanced sessions, yielding 72 complete session-level observations. Participants in the AI accompaniment condition reported higher flow, positive affect, self-regulated learning, and aesthetic perception, and lower music performance anxiety, heart rate, and electrodermal activity than in the metronome condition. Blind expert ratings showed higher musical expressiveness, whereas technical accuracy did not differ significantly. A moderated mediation analysis indicated that AI accompaniment was associated with higher aesthetic perception through reduced music performance anxiety, and this indirect effect was stronger among musicians with higher technology acceptance. These findings suggest that interactive accompaniment may create a more engaging and less anxiety-provoking practice environment that fosters aesthetic engagement.