Live music creates stronger emotions than ‘canned music’

Passionate concertgoers will not be surprised by this finding: live music evokes more emotions than ‘canned’ music, such as a CD. In several brain areas important for processing emotions, researchers from Zurich measured significantly higher activity during live music compared to recorded music.

Previous studies have shown how listening to recorded music stimulates brain dynamics for emotional and imaginative processes. However, it has not yet been investigated whether this is the same at a live event – ​​such as an open-air concert, at the opera or at a folk music event. A team from the University of Zurich led by Sascha Frühholz, professor of cognitive and affective neuroscience, investigated this question.

For the study, music was played for a group of 27 test subjects, according to a statement from the University of Zurich (UZH) on Tuesday: once live by a pianist and once as a pre-recorded audio recording. The researchers measured brain activity using magnetic resonance imaging.

During the tests, the pianist could see on a screen how the brain activity of his listeners changed. Just as musicians unconsciously and consciously respond to the audience during a live concert, the pianist could also adjust the tempo, harmony or pitch to the reaction of the subjects.

For comparison, the same pieces of music were played to the test subjects as a recording by the same pianist, but without a feedback loop. It was found that live music caused much higher and more consistent activity in the amygdala than recorded music. The amygdala is an important part of the brain involved in processing emotions.

“The live performance also stimulated a more active exchange of information throughout the brain, indicating strong processing of emotions at the affective and cognitive levels of the brain,” said study leader Frühholz, according to the statement.

The research team also analyzed how the listeners’ brain activity coordinated and synchronized with the piano playing. The result: only in live music was there a strong synchronization between the subjective emotional experience of the audience and the auditory brain system, which judges the music based on its acoustic quality.

Moreover, only in live music did the characteristics of the musical performance closely match the brain activity of the listeners – so there was some kind of link between the audience and the musician. The results have been published in the journal “Pnas”. (mr/sda)