Live musical performances can evoke a significantly strong emotional response in listeners, activating brain areas that involve both the amygdala (the “emotional center” of the brain) and broader cognitive and affective networks, such as the ventral striatum and the pulvinar thalamic nucleus (a research study was recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Trost et al., 2024). By observing the brain activity of listeners to a piano performance using functional magnetic resonance imaging, it was discovered that the emotional stimulation of live music is able to trigger an active exchange of information throughout the brain and a complete processing of emotions, potentially improving the overall listening experience. [...by Eleonora Terenzi]
