[Neuroarchitecture of musical emotions]

The emotional response to music, or musical emotion, is a universal response that draws on diverse psychological processes implemented in a large array of neural structures and mechanisms. Studies using electroencephalography, functional magnetic resonance, lesions and individuals with extent musical training have begun to elucidate some of these mechanisms. The objective of this article is reviewing the most relevant studies that have tried to identify the neural correlates of musical emotion from the more automatic to the more complex processes, and to understand how these correlates interact in the brain. The article describes how the presentation of music perceived as emotional is associated with a rapid autonomic response in thalamic and subthalamic structures, accompanied by changes in the electrodermal and endocrine responses. It also explains how musical emotion processing activates auditory cortex, as well as a series of limbic and paralimbic structures, such as the amygdala, the anterior cingulate cortex or the hippocampus, demonstrating the relevant contribution of the limbic system to musical emotion. Further, it is detailed how musical emotion depends to a great extent on semantic and syntactic process carried out in temporal and parietofrontal areas, respectively. Some of the recent works demonstrating that musical emotion highly relies on emotional simulation are also mentioned. Finally, a summary of these studies, their limitations, and suggestions for further research on the neuroarchitecture of musical emotion are given.