Beauty and the brain - Investigating the neural and musical attributes of beauty during naturalistic music listening

E Brattico ¹, A Brusa ², M Dietz ³

⁰Center for Music in the Brain (MIB), Institute of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University & Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg, Aarhus, Denmark; Department of Education, Psychology, Communication, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy.

Neuroscience +

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December 11, 2024

View abstract on PubMed

Summary

Neuroscience reveals the brain

Area Of Science

Cognitive Neuroscience
Neuroaesthetics
Auditory Perception

Background

Beauty judgments are ubiquitous but understudied in cognitive neuroscience.
Understanding the neural basis of aesthetic experiences, particularly musical beauty, is crucial.

Purpose Of The Study

To investigate the neural mechanisms underlying the perception of musical beauty.
To identify brain regions and connectivity patterns associated with beautiful versus non-beautiful musical passages.
To correlate musicological features with subjective beauty ratings.

Main Methods

A naturalistic free-listening paradigm using behavioral ratings and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
Continuous beauty ratings of musical pieces via motion sensors (Study 1).
fMRI recordings during attentive listening (Study 2) and post-hoc musicological analysis by experts (Study 3).

Main Results

Beautiful passages elicited focal activity in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC).
Non-beautiful passages were linked to bilateral supratemporal activity.
Effective connectivity analysis revealed inhibited auditory activation and enhanced OFC coupling for beautiful music, contrasting with non-beautiful music.

Conclusions

The study identified distinct neural signatures for musical beauty perception, involving the orbitofrontal cortex and auditory pathways.
Musical beauty is characterized by specific musicological features like melody, calmness, and simplicity.
These findings offer insights into the neural and psychological underpinnings of aesthetic appreciation in music, independent of personal taste.