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Updated: Aug 21, 2026

Driving Under the Influence: How Music Listening Affects Driving Behaviors
Published on: March 27, 2019
Passive music listening spontaneously engages limbic and paralimbic systems
Steven Brown1, Michael J Martinez, Lawrence M Parsons
1Research Imaging Center, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, 7703 Floyd Curl Dr. MSC 6240, San Antonio, TX 78229-3900, USA. browns1@uthscsa.edu
Abstract:
In this PET study, non-musicians passively listened to unfamiliar instrumental music revealed afterward to elicit strongly pleasant feelings. Activations were observed in the subcallosal cingulate gyrus, prefrontal anterior cingulate, retrosplenial cortex, hippocampus, anterior insula, and nucleus accumbens. This is the first observation of spontaneous responses in such limbic and paralimbic areas during passive listening to unfamiliar although liked music. Activations were also seen in primary auditory, secondary auditory, and temporal polar areas known to respond to music. Our findings complement neuroimaging studies of aesthetic responses to music that have used stimuli selected by subjects or designed by experimenters. The observed pattern of activity is discussed in terms of a model synthesizing emotional and cognitive responses to music.
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