Neural dynamics of emotionally expressive piano performance: a single-case study

Understanding how expert performers translate expressive intent into sound remains a central question in the neuroscience of music. We recorded continuous 128-channel EEG from a professional, internationally active concert pianist during a concert-like, uninterrupted performance (~27 min) of six works by Bach, Beethoven, and Chopin.

From the continuous recording, 99 two-second clean EEG segments were extracted and assigned to one of six previously validated performance-emotion categories based on independent listener evaluations (Joy, Peacefulness, Melancholy, Argumentative, Tension, Power). Each 2-s fragment contained 1,024 time points per channel, yielding 131,072 EEG data points. Cortical and subcortical source generators were reconstructed with standardized weighted Low-Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography (swLORETA), and activation was quantified both as frequency of occurrence and as dipole magnitude across three macro-regions (anterior, posterior, subcortical).

A chi-square test on activation frequencies showed a significant association between cortical/subcortical region and emotional category. Repeated-measures ANOVAs revealed significant region- and emotion-dependent differences in dipole magnitude. Across virtually every emotional category, the left basal ganglia, left thalamus, and left precentral gyrus (BA4) emerged as the most consistently recruited generators, indicating a stable left-lateralized fronto-striato-thalamic axis subserving fine motor control within this performance. Superimposed on this stable motor substrate, emotion-specific modulations emerged: Joy was associated with the highest subcortical activation magnitude, while Melancholy showed the lowest subcortical magnitude together with a selective recruitment of right-hemisphere generators (right BA10, right somatosensory cortex, right insula), consistent with valence-based hemispheric asymmetry accounts. Pearson correlations further linked activation of the left basal ganglia, left thalamus, and left premotor cortex (BA6) to objective performance parameters (gestures per second, notes per phrase, acoustic intensity), suggesting that neurofunctional engagement scales with the motor complexity of the material performed.

These findings provide a performer-side perspective complementary to models of music-evoked emotion largely derived from listeners, and suggest that, in this elite performer, expressive intent was instantiated in a specialized, left-dominant sensorimotor-limbic network modulated by affective valence. The study is complemented by animated audiovisual materials that dynamically trace the moment-to-moment evolution of LORETA source activity in synchrony with the unfolding musical passage.