Detection of the Electromagnetic Equivalents of the Emotional Characteristics of Words: Implications for the Electronic-Listening Generation

The audible energies associated with intense meaningful words significantly affect our experience and responses. Personal listening devices (such as music players) emit weak-intensity magnetic fields, that are shadowed by the sonic patterns, which have been associated with the induction of affective experiences experimentally within the laboratory. In the present study only the electromagnetic (EM) equivalents (1 to 5 microTesla) of emotional words as well as intensity-matched 60 Hz sine wave fields were presented across the temporal lobes. The EM equivalents were produced by converting a digital audio signal into an electromagnetic field. We found that subjects selected significantly more words with the same pleasantness as the target word presented as an EM equivalent. We also found an enhancement of the effect for the presentation of unpleasant-active words. These results suggest that the electromagnetic component of the spoken word from electronics may mediate emotional information that affects decision-making.