Volume 268, 30 May 2014, Pages 102–111
Professional musicians listen differently to music
Highlights
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- Professional musicians show mid-frontal theta activity during music perception.
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- During high arousal professional musicians show an increase in posterior alpha activity.
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- Professional musicians show different patterns of emotion when compared to amateurs.
Abstract
Introduction:
Experience-based adaptation of emotional responses is an important
faculty for cognitive and emotional functioning. Professional musicians
represent an ideal model in which to elicit experience-driven changes in
the emotional processing domain. The changes of the central
representation of emotional arousal due to musical expertise are still
largely unknown. The aim of the present study was to investigate the
electroencephalogram (EEG) correlates of experience-driven changes in
the domain of emotional arousal. Therefore, the differences in perceived
(subjective arousal via ratings) and physiologically measured (EEG)
arousal between amateur and professional musicians were examined. Procedure:
A total of 15 professional and 19 amateur musicians listened to the
first movement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s 5th symphony
(duration = ∼7.4 min), during which a continuous 76-channel EEG was
recorded. In a second session, the participants evaluated their
emotional arousal during listening. In a tonic analysis, we examined the
average EEG data over the time course of the music piece. For a phasic
analysis, a fast Fourier transform was performed and covariance maps of
spectral power were computed in association with the subjective arousal
ratings. Results: The subjective arousal ratings of the
professional musicians were more consistent than those of the amateur
musicians. In the tonic EEG analysis, a mid-frontal theta activity was
observed in the professionals. In the phasic EEG, the professionals
exhibited an increase of posterior alpha, central delta, and beta rhythm
during high arousal. Discussion: Professionals exhibited
different and/or more intense patterns of emotional activation when they
listened to the music. The results of the present study underscore the
impact of music experience on emotional reactions.
Abbreviations
- ACC, anterior cingulate cortex;
- BOLD, blood-oxygen-level dependent;
- EEG, electroencephalogram;
- SPL, sound pressure level;
- TANCOVA, topographic analysis of covariance;
- TANOVA, topographic analysis of variance
Key words
- music;
- EEG;
- neuroplasticity;
- emotion;
- arousal
- Correspondence
to: C. Mikutta, University Hospital of Psychiatry, University of Bern,
Bolligenstrasse 111, 3000 Bern, Switzerland. Tel:
+41-031-930-9111; fax: +41-031-930-9404.
Copyright © 2014 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
