Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 19, 2026
A Plate-Based Assay for the Measurement of Endogenous Monoamine Release in Acute Brain Slices
Published on: August 11, 2021
Frightening music triggers rapid changes in brain monoamine receptors: a pilot PET study
Ying Zhang1, Qiaozhen Chen, Fenglei Du
1Department of Nuclear Medicine, Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China. hzhang21@gmail.com
Unlabelled:
Frightening music can rapidly arouse emotions in listeners that mimic those from actual life-threatening experiences. However, studies of the underlying mechanism for perceiving danger created by music are limited.
Methods:
We investigated monoamine receptor changes induced by frightening music using (11)C-N-methyl-spiperone ((11)C-NMSP) PET. Ten healthy male volunteers were included, and their psychophysiologic changes were evaluated.
Results:
Compared with the baseline condition, listening to frightening music caused a significant decrease in (11)C-NMSP in the right and left caudate nuclei, right limbic region, and right paralimbic region; a particularly significant decrease in the right anterior cingulate cortex; but an increase in the right frontal occipital and left temporal lobes of the cerebral cortex.
Conclusion:
Transient fright triggers rapid changes in monoamine receptors, which decrease in the limbic and paralimbic regions but increase in the cerebral cortex.
