Neural correlates of aesthetic tragedy: evidence for enhanced semantic processing and cognitive control in response to tragic versus joyful music
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View abstract on PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.This study used fMRI to explore how the brain processes tragic versus joyful music. Minor-mode music, often perceived as tragic, activated brain regions associated with meaning construction and emotion regulation more than major-mode music.
Area Of Science
- Neuroscience
- Psychology
- Music Theory
Background
- The paradox of enjoying negative emotions in art is a long-standing philosophical and psychological question.
- Neural mechanisms underlying the emotional impact of music, particularly negative emotions, require further investigation.
Purpose Of The Study
- To investigate the neural correlates of processing tragic (minor-mode) versus joyful (major-mode) musical themes.
- To examine how brain activity differs when listening to music associated with negative versus positive emotional connotations.
Main Methods
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to measure brain activity.
- Participants listened to opening phrases of major- and minor-mode musical themes during sonata form recapitulation.
- Qualitative analysis of participants' written responses was conducted.
Main Results
- Tragic (minor-mode) themes elicited significantly greater activation in the bilateral middle temporal gyrus (MTG), right lateral frontal pole (LFP), and right angular gyrus compared to joyful (major-mode) themes.
- Elevated MTG activation was linked to semantic processing and socio-affective meaning construction.
- Enhanced LFP activation suggested engagement of cognitive control and emotion regulation.
Conclusions
- Neuroscientific evidence supports the Distancing-Embracing model of enjoying negative emotions in art.
- Brain activity patterns reveal distinct processing for tragic versus joyful musical themes.
- Music's emotional impact is associated with specific neural pathways involved in meaning and regulation.
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