Music and Physiological Arousal Flashcards
What studies have shown that music can module activity in brain structures associated with emotion?
fMRI studies
Functional Neuroimaging studies
What brain structure is involved with the perception of emotion in general?
Amygdala
What brain structure is involved with motivation, reward, and positive behavioural reinforcement?
Nucleus Accumbens
What neurotransmitter is associated with motivation, pleasure, reward, and ‘chills’ or ‘thrills’?
Dopamine
Which brain structure is associated with emotion and memory?
Orbitofrontal cortex
Which brain structure is associated with emotional regulation, as well as blood pressure and heart rate?
Cingulate cortex
What is the amygdala involved with?
The perception of emotion in general
What study found that music has an effect on amygdala activity?
Koelsch et al. (2008)
Explain findings of Koelsch et al. (2008) study regarding harmony, emotion, and brain activity?
Unexpected chord functions modulated amygdala activity
Irregular chord sequences were perceived as less pleasant
What did Gosselin et al. (2007) find regarding impaired amygdala function/patients with amygdala damage?
Deficits in recognising emotion
What emotion did Koelsch (2014) identify as being associated with the amygdala?
Amygdala associated with emotion regulation
Amygdala recognises joy, in particular
What is the nucleus accumbens linked with in terms of emotion?
Motivation
Reward
Positive behavioural reinforcement
What did Mavridis (2015) look at?
Reward values of music associated with activity in the nucleus accumbens
What did Mavridis (2015) find in terms of activity in the nucleus accumbens and musical reward?
There was an increase in connectivity between the NA and regions of brain associated with auditory perception as a result of musical reward
Dopamine in also implicated in musical reward
What did Salimpoor et al. (2013) find about activity in the NA?
NA activity was the best predictor of value in an auction paradigm
The greater the NA activity, the more participants were willing to bid on a piece of music that they were hearing for the first time
What did Salimpoor et al.’s (2013) study look at?
Got participants to bet in an auction activity.
Participants bet on the piece of music that they wanted/liked
What did Koelsch (2014) find about the NA?
Nucleus accumbens was associated with ‘the chills’
What does the hypothalamus do?
Regulates the body’s internal balance (releases hormones, regulates body temperature)
What did Li et al. (2019) look at?
Participants looked at music when paired with scenes, both differing in emotional valence
Subjective report of emotional valence
What did Li et al. (2019) find regarding music and the hypothalamus?
Hypothalamus is responsive to presence of music
Found that music guided the intensity of what people felt was being conveyed in the video shots
Subjective reports of emotion intensified by the presence of music
What did Hou et al. (2017) find regarding the hypothalamus and music and emotion?
Evidence that hypothalamus is implicated in emotion regulation
Hypothalamus may also be important in therapy for emotion dysregulation
What is dopamine associated with?
Reward
Motivation
Pleasure
What does dopamine do?
Interacts with various brain structures and systems
How does music affect dopamine?
Music increases dopamine activity in various brain structures and systems
Causes feelings of pleasure
What did Blood & Zatorre (2001) find regarding pleasure, music, and brain activity?
Intense pleasure from listening to music correlates with activity in brain structures and systems that are associated with reward and emotion
What did Gold et al. (2013) find about reinforcement/punishment and pleasurable music?
Pleasurable music affects how we learn the role of reinforcement or avoid punishments
What neurotransmitter activity increases when listening to music?
Dopamine activity increases when listening to music (anticipation of a peak reward - the chills)
What 2 brain systems have been shown to be activated in the presence of music, in particular?
Dopamine
Nucleus accumbens
Could be an interaction between both.
What regions are associated with the chills or thrills when listening to music?
Dopamine and NA - illustrates the interplay between neurotransmitters and brain structures
What do the chills refer to?
Physical reaction to music in the form of goosebumps or shivers, most prevalent in happy or sad music
What supports the physical-emotion reaction to music?
Multiple modalities of physiological response (e.g., skin conductance, heart rate, blood pressure, facial electromyography all change when we feel different types of emotions)
Does music produce a physiological response?
Yes - all over the brain and in the parts that deal with emotion too
Dopamine, NA
