Playlist Specifications

Ten playlists, one clear job each. Every design rule traces to a verdict in 01-evidence-review.md (cited as §-references).

Two kinds of spec:

• [ENGINE] - rendered by the CognitionFM generative engine (recipes/*.yaml implements the parameter block). These are also the publishable mix formats.
• [PERSONAL] - built from commercial streaming music for personal use. The engine can't fake vocals or your personal history with a song, and shouldn't try.

Global rules (all playlists): - Volume: background music means background - just above audibility for work playlists. Salience scales distraction (§1.3). - Familiarity: work playlists should be familiar (novelty captures attention, §1.2); emotional and creative playlists can afford novelty. - Don't mix jobs. The moment a focus playlist becomes emotionally interesting, it has failed at its job.

1. Deep Work - Verbal [ENGINE] - writing, reading, hard debugging

The strictest spec. Verbal working memory must be protected: unpredictable sound and lyrics disrupt it even when ignored (Salamé & Baddeley 1982; Perham & Currie 2014; §1.2, §2.1).

• No lyrics, no vocal samples, ever
• High self-similarity: slow harmonic drift, no dramatic melodic contour
• Attack times ≥ 150 ms (no percussive transients)
• Narrow dynamic range; no section that makes you look up
• Honest alternative: silence or broadband noise may beat it for you - test (§3.5)

# recipe parameters
tempo_bpm: null            # unpulsed; motion from slow LFO drift only
mode: ionian_or_lydian     # consonant, low-tension
attack_floor_ms: 150
dynamic_range_max_db: 6
melodic_salience: minimal  # no foreground melody
texture: 2-3 sustained layers (pad, sub drone, sparse shimmer)
lufs_target: -23

[PERSONAL] equivalents / search terms: "ambient drone," "textural ambient," Stars of the Lid, Eluvium, Brian Eno's ambient series, Max Richter's quieter work, "deep focus instrumental." Avoid "epic study music" - cinematic dynamics violate the spec.

2. Deep Work - Analytical [ENGINE] - routine coding, math, spreadsheets

Lower verbal load tolerates a steady pulse; the pulse aids time-on-task feel. Evidence status: extrapolated from the task-complexity findings (Gonzalez & Aiello 2019, JEP: Applied); there is no strong coding-specific literature (§2.2).

• Steady 95-115 BPM pulse, soft-attack percussion only
• Instrumental, repetitive 8/16-bar cycles, gradual filter evolution
• Switch to Playlist 1 (or silence) when reading unfamiliar code

tempo_bpm: 95-115
mode: dorian_or_aeolian
attack_floor_ms: 30       # soft ticks allowed, no sharp snares
dynamic_range_max_db: 8
texture: pulse + bass + pad, one slowly-evolving voice
section_change_every_bars: 32   # slow, predictable evolution
lufs_target: -20

[PERSONAL] equivalents: minimal techno (Kompakt label), dub techno, Tycho, Bonobo instrumentals, "minimal techno focus," "dub techno mix."

3. Admin / Shallow Work [PERSONAL] - email, chores, expense reports

The one work context where stimulating music with lyrics is evidence-aligned: salient music helps simple, boring tasks (Gonzalez & Aiello 2019; Kämpfe et al. 2011; §2.3).

• Upbeat, familiar favorites; lyrics welcome
• Choose energy just above the task's boredom level
• Search terms: your existing favorites; "feel good," decade playlists you know cold.

4. Creative / Diffuse Thinking [PERSONAL, ENGINE-assisted]

Mood scaffolding around ideation, not during verbal drafting. Evidence status: mixed; background music has even impaired verbal insight problem-solving (Threadgold et al. 2019, Applied Cognitive Psychology; §2.4).

• Moderately novel instrumental music between thinking bouts; anything goes on breaks
• During actual verbal ideation: drop to Playlist 1 rules or silence
• Search terms: "modern classical," "fourth world," "jazz ambient," Jon Hassell, Alice Coltrane, Floating Points.

5. Downshift - Stress Reduction [ENGINE]

The strongest clinical literature: slow, predictable, low-dynamic music reduces physiological and psychological stress (de Witte et al. 2020 meta-analyses, Health Psychology Review; §2.5).

• ~60-80 BPM felt motion, descending energy arc across 20-30 min
• Warm consonance, no surprises, generous reverb tails

tempo_bpm: 60-80          # felt as slow swells, not a beat
mode: ionian
attack_floor_ms: 300
dynamic_range_max_db: 5
arc: descending           # spectral centroid + density fall over the render
duration_default_min: 25
lufs_target: -24

[PERSONAL] equivalents: "slow ambient," Hammock, Ólafur Arnalds' quiet pieces, Hiroshi Yoshimura, "60 bpm relaxation instrumental."

6. Emotional Processing [PERSONAL]

Deliberate, time-boxed listening - never background. Sad music reliably provides consolation and emotion regulation for many listeners, moderated by empathy and rumination tendency (Taruffi & Koelsch 2014, PLOS ONE; §2.6).

• Your music, your lyrics, your history; nostalgia does most of the work
• 20-40 minute sessions with a defined end; if you tend to ruminate, pair with journaling or a walk, and stop if mood sinks instead of settles
• No search terms needed - you already know these songs.
• Anger variant: when furious, match the arousal - your own aggressive/high-energy music - rather than forcing calm; shift toward Downshift only after the edge drops (the music-therapy "iso principle"; Sharman & Dingle 2015, small n=39 study, moderate evidence; §2.10).

7. Walk / Recover [PERSONAL]

The best-supported positive effect in the whole literature: better affect, performance, and lower perceived exertion across 139 studies (Terry, Karageorghis et al. 2020 meta-analysis, Psychological Bulletin; §2.7).

• Fast (115-140 BPM), personally motivational, familiar vocal music
• Save absolute favorites for the hardest part of the walk/workout
• Search terms: "running 120-140 bpm," your high-energy favorites.

8. Sleep Wind-Down [ENGINE]

Routine + relaxation, honestly framed: music improves subjective sleep quality in insomnia with moderate-certainty evidence (Jespersen et al. 2022 Cochrane review; §2.8). Part of a consistent pre-bed sequence, not an all-night stream.

• 30-45 min, played at the same point in the wind-down every night, low volume
• Slowest attack times in the system; energy arc falls to near-silence
• No claims about sleep stages - the Cochrane-supported outcome is subjective sleep quality

tempo_bpm: 50-65          # barely-felt motion
mode: ionian_low_register
attack_floor_ms: 500
dynamic_range_max_db: 4
arc: descending_to_silence
duration_default_min: 40
lufs_target: -28          # markedly quiet; player volume low too

[PERSONAL] equivalents: "sleep ambient no melody," Green-House, Grouper's quieter side, "drone sleep music" (skip anything labeled with Hz claims - see §3.2).

9. Mood Lift [PERSONAL]

Deliberate short-term mood raising. The evidence needs both halves: upbeat music and the intention to feel better; passive play didn't move mood (Ferguson & Sheldon 2013, two experiments; moderate evidence for lasting effects; §2.9).

• 15-25 min of genuinely upbeat music you love; use it on purpose ("I'm putting this on to shift gears"), then get on with the day - don't keep polling your mood
• Major-key, energetic, familiar; lyrics fine; great before social things or after a slump
• Search terms: your own feel-good history first; "good mood classics," upbeat playlists in genres you already love.

10. Intimacy [PERSONAL]

Honest evidence status: thin and this doc says so. One lab-demonstrated mechanism, excitation transfer (Marin et al. 2017, PLOS ONE), plus conditioning and self-consciousness masking; no validated genre/tempo prescription and absolutely no "aphrodisiac frequency" (§2.11).

• Shared history beats acoustics: music tied to your relationship outperforms any generic "sensual" playlist on the conditioning mechanism
• Otherwise: moderate arousal without attention capture - smooth timbres, warm bass, steady slow-to-mid grooves, no jarring transitions, no comedy shuffles; vocals fine, skip anything lyrically distracting or associated with other contexts
• Long enough not to think about it (60+ min), volume low; gapless > shuffle
• Search terms: "slow jams," "bedroom R&B," trip-hop, "late night soul" - as starting points for taste, not prescriptions
• Stays personal-use and off-channel: publishing this under CognitionFM would dilute the focus/recovery brand, and generative synthesis is weakest exactly where this playlist lives (vocals, groove, familiarity).

Quick-reference