Computer scientists, neuroscientists and psychologists from the University of Southern California shared the results of an interesting study aimed at finding out how music affects the brain, body and emotions of people.
One experiment involved 40 volunteers. The team selected three pieces of music ranging from 168 to 515 seconds long, which did not contain lyrics and were not well known to the participants. Thus, associative memory could not influence the reaction of the listeners. Moreover, the selected fragments had their own emotional coloring - sad or happy.
While the volunteers listened to music, the researchers scanned their brains using magnetic resonance imaging.
Another experiment measured the physical response of 60 people. While they listened to music with headphones, the scientists monitored their heart activity and an indicator known as the electrical activity of the skin (which is associated with the activity of the sweat glands).
The same group of participants also rated the intensity of their emotions (happy or sad) caused by the music on a scale of one to ten.
The team also looked at 74 musical characteristics that might have influenced the perception of the volunteers.
Scientists entrusted the processing of the data obtained to artificial intelligence algorithms.
As a result, it was found that dynamics, register, rhythm and harmony played a key role in predicting the listener's response.
Promotional video:
The results of MRI scans showed that music had a particularly noticeable effect on the parts of the brain that process information from the hearing organs, the transverse temporal gyrus (also known as the Heschl gyrus) and the superior temporal gyrus.
In particular, the brain reacted to the clarity of the pulsation, or the force of the impact. (The rhythm is built on the basis of the metric pulsation.)
The authors also found that changing dynamics, rhythm and timbre, as well as the introduction of new instruments, causes a surge in response in the indicated convolutions. In other words, this or that contrast is important.
So listening to an entire black metal album that sounds consistently loud probably won't get as powerful a reaction as, say, Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit, where there are clear contrasts, researchers cite.
Meanwhile, the galvanic skin reaction of the volunteers intensified with the introduction of a new instrument or with an increase in the strength of sound (crescendo).
In addition, the most stimulating (including emotions) moments were preceded by an increase in the level of complexity of the work. In fact, the more instruments sounded, the more people showed an emotional response (associated with sadness or joy, depending on the "mood" of the piece).
At the same time, changes in volume, rhythm and tonality correlated with an increase in the heart rate of the listeners.
And one more curious observation: the saddest emotions of the participants were caused by music in the key of G minor, and the saddest note in this key was F sharp (F #).
Yulia Vorobyova
