{"id":1487,"date":"2021-03-14T02:00:39","date_gmt":"2021-03-14T02:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/?p=1487"},"modified":"2021-03-14T13:37:58","modified_gmt":"2021-03-14T13:37:58","slug":"dissonant-chords-and-unpleasant-pictures-tickle-the-same-brain-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/index.php\/dissonant-chords-and-unpleasant-pictures-tickle-the-same-brain-area\/","title":{"rendered":"Dissonant chords and unpleasant pictures tickle the same brain area"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Title of paper under discussion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emotional responses to pleasant and unpleasant music correlate with activity in paralimbic brain regions<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authors<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anne J. Blood, Robert J. Zatorre, Patrick Bermudez and Alan C. Evans<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Journal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nature Neuroscience, volume 2 no 4, April 1999, pp382-387<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Link to <\/a>paper<\/a> (free access)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Above – Anne Blood PhD, lead author<\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anne Blood and her colleagues at McGill University, Montreal set out to examine the human brain\u2019s emotional response to music. By monitoring cerebral blood flow as participants listened to music they were able to locate changes in neural activity associated with hearing varying degrees of consonance and dissonance – and perceiving degrees of pleasantness and unpleasantness – in a series of ever more dissonant short musical extracts.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dissonance, it turned out, was generally described as sounding \u2018unpleasant\u2019. Certain brain areas – including parts of the paralimbic cortex – commanded higher blood flow according to the emotion induced by the music, with activity in some such regions associated with \u2018pleasant\u2019 harmony, and activity in others with \u2018unpleasant\u2019 harmony. These particular \u201cmusic emotion\u201d brain regions – which were noted as being separate from \u201cmusic perception\u201d regions – were similar to \u2018pleasantness\u2019 and \u2018unpleasantness\u2019 regions in previous experiments where the stimulus was visual<\/em>, not musical.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Above – PET scanner<\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Method<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ten volunteers, five men and five women, listened to a novel melody on synthesised piano whilst in a brain scanner (using positron emission tomography, or PET). The same melody was heard six times, but each time with a different accompaniment: major triads, dominant 7ths, 9ths, 11ths, 13ths and flatted 13ths. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Above – the most consonant (top) and most dissonant (bottom) harmonisations of the melody used in the study<\/span><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

After each hearing of the melody the participant was asked to rate it in terms of pleasantness (up to +5 points) or unpleasantness (down to -5 points).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the series of melodies, \u2018noise bursts\u2019 – excerpts of white noise of similar length and loudness to the melody – were played to the participants as a control procedure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brain activity throughout the experiment was monitored by the scanner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Results<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The higher the level of dissonance, the more likely a participant was to judge that harmonised melody as unpleasant:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Distinct areas of the brain saw changes in activity depending on whether the music was more consonant or more dissonant. Specifically, activity in the right parahippocampal gyrus<\/em> and the precuneus<\/em> regions was correlated with musical dissonance: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Above: brain activity in response to dissonance: right parahippocampal gyrus (figs ‘a’ and ‘b’) and the precuneus (fig ‘c’)<\/span><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

whereas activity in orbitofrontal, subcallosal<\/em> and frontal polar cortex<\/em> was associated with musical consonance:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Above: brain activity in response to consonance: orbitofrontal cortex (fig ‘d’) subcallosal cortex (figs ‘d’ and ‘e’) and right frontal <\/i>polar cortex (fig ‘f’)<\/span><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

[Our researchers analysed the imaging data in three different ways – correlation<\/em> between brain activity and consonance\/dissonance levels (as depicted above), subtraction<\/em> of brain activity during consonance from brain activity during dissonance, and covariation<\/em> of dissonance\/consonance-related brain activity between different brain regions. All three approaches supported the brain activity location patterns described above]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unsurprisingly, an analysis of the correlation between brain activity and perceived \u2018unpleasantness\u2019 or \u2018pleasantness\u2019 yielded a similar pattern of results. ‘Musical unpleasantness’ correlated with brain activity in the right parahippocampal gyrus<\/em> (and the posterior cingulate cortex<\/em>):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Above: brain activity in association with musical unpleasantness: right parahippocampal gyrus (figs ‘a’ and ‘b’) and left posterior cingulat<\/i>e cortex (figs ‘b’ and ‘c’)<\/i><\/span><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

whereas ‘musical pleasantness’ correlated with activity in orbitofrontal<\/em> and subcallosal cortex<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Above: brain activity in association with musical pleasantness: orbitofrontal cortex (fig ‘d’) and subcallosal cortex (fig ‘e’) <\/span><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Finally, by comparing the brain scans taken during both consonant and<\/em> dissonant melody examples with those taken during \u2018noise bursts\u2019, Blood and her colleagues found that the superior temporal cortex<\/em> was active during \u2018music perception\u2019 (that is, whilst listening to the melody) but not during \u2018noise perception\u2019 (listening to the \u2018noise bursts\u2019).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discussion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Above – Parahippocampal gyrus (in red) – associated with musical dissonance<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The authors highlight the parahippocampal gyrus<\/em> as an area consistently associated with dissonant and \u2018unpleasant\u2019 music, and note – intriguingly – that previous research has identified the same region as active when participants view unpleasant pictures:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Above: Unpleasant pictures (c\/o Jukka Hy\u00f6n\u00e4<\/a><\/em>)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Also discussed is the subcallosal cortex<\/em>, an area associated with musical consonance and pleasantness. Dr Blood notes that this region has been identified in previous research as underactive in people with depression, a finding that accords with this paper \u201cbecause activity in the subcallosal region decreased with unpleasantness, whereas it increased with pleasantness [of the music].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Above – Subcallosal gyrus (in red) –<\/em> associated with musical consonance<\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Another important finding was, according to the authors, the distinction between brain activity during \u201cmusic perception\u201d (centred around the superior temporal gyrus<\/em>) and \u201cmusic emotion\u201d (the areas described in the scans above). They do, however, suggest that \u201ccircuitry related to the emotional components of music may be anatomically proximal [close] to that used during more perceptual processes.\u201d They go on to postulate that most of the increase in brain activity revealed in this study was found in the right hemisphere because most emotional processing is thought to take place on that side of the brain. And they note that one important emotional response nucleus, the amygdala, did not feature as showing increased activity in this particular research; however the amygdala is especially implicated in the processing of fear, so its \u2018silence\u2019 in this study of pleasantness\/unpleasantness demonstrates, according to our researchers, how different emotions are specific to different brain regions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Above – McGill University, Montreal<\/span><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In summary, writes Dr Blood, \u201cThe findings of this study not only begin to define a neural network associated specifically with emotional responses to music, but also demonstrate dissociations from other important cognitive processes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coda<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Partitions, for piano (1957) – Milton Babbitt<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

piano – Augustus Arnone<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Title of paper under discussion Emotional responses to pleasant and unpleasant music correlate with activity in paralimbic brain regions Authors Anne J. Blood, Robert J. Zatorre, Patrick Bermudez and Alan C. Evans Journal Nature Neuroscience, volume 2 no 4, April 1999, pp382-387 Link to paper (free access) Overview Anne Blood and her colleagues at McGill …<\/p>\n

Dissonant chords and unpleasant pictures tickle the same brain area<\/span> Read More \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,25,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-emotion","category-musician","category-tonality"],"yoast_head":"\nDissonant chords and unpleasant pictures tickle the same brain area - ADRIAN BRADBURY cellist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discussion of a paper on Emotion, Tonality and Musician, hosted by cellist Adrian Bradbury\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/index.php\/dissonant-chords-and-unpleasant-pictures-tickle-the-same-brain-area\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dissonant chords and unpleasant pictures tickle the same brain area - ADRIAN BRADBURY cellist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Discussion of a paper on Emotion, Tonality and Musician, hosted by cellist Adrian Bradbury\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/index.php\/dissonant-chords-and-unpleasant-pictures-tickle-the-same-brain-area\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ADRIAN BRADBURY cellist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-14T02:00:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-03-14T13:37:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/para-bloodphoto_12.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"adrianbradbury\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"adrianbradbury\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/index.php\/dissonant-chords-and-unpleasant-pictures-tickle-the-same-brain-area\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/index.php\/dissonant-chords-and-unpleasant-pictures-tickle-the-same-brain-area\/\",\"name\":\"Dissonant chords and unpleasant pictures tickle the same brain area - ADRIAN BRADBURY cellist\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/index.php\/dissonant-chords-and-unpleasant-pictures-tickle-the-same-brain-area\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/index.php\/dissonant-chords-and-unpleasant-pictures-tickle-the-same-brain-area\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/para-bloodphoto_12.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-14T02:00:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-14T13:37:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/#\/schema\/person\/b59dba8d2c8bc572a890af7746449080\"},\"description\":\"Discussion of a paper on Emotion, Tonality and Musician, hosted by cellist Adrian Bradbury\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/index.php\/dissonant-chords-and-unpleasant-pictures-tickle-the-same-brain-area\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/index.php\/dissonant-chords-and-unpleasant-pictures-tickle-the-same-brain-area\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/index.php\/dissonant-chords-and-unpleasant-pictures-tickle-the-same-brain-area\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/para-bloodphoto_12.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/para-bloodphoto_12.jpg\",\"width\":220,\"height\":160},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/index.php\/dissonant-chords-and-unpleasant-pictures-tickle-the-same-brain-area\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Dissonant chords and unpleasant pictures tickle the same brain area\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/\",\"name\":\"ADRIAN BRADBURY cellist\",\"description\":\"cellist\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/#\/schema\/person\/b59dba8d2c8bc572a890af7746449080\",\"name\":\"adrianbradbury\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e845457d0fa388794825cef6831f525fc82ce3a37ef378e1436e39c26c86ce9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e845457d0fa388794825cef6831f525fc82ce3a37ef378e1436e39c26c86ce9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"adrianbradbury\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/index.php\/author\/adrianbradbury\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Dissonant chords and unpleasant pictures tickle the same brain area - ADRIAN BRADBURY cellist","description":"Discussion of a paper on Emotion, Tonality and Musician, hosted by cellist Adrian Bradbury","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/index.php\/dissonant-chords-and-unpleasant-pictures-tickle-the-same-brain-area\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Dissonant chords and unpleasant pictures tickle the same brain area - ADRIAN BRADBURY cellist","og_description":"Discussion of a paper on Emotion, Tonality and Musician, hosted by cellist Adrian Bradbury","og_url":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/index.php\/dissonant-chords-and-unpleasant-pictures-tickle-the-same-brain-area\/","og_site_name":"ADRIAN BRADBURY cellist","article_published_time":"2021-03-14T02:00:39+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-03-14T13:37:58+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/para-bloodphoto_12.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"adrianbradbury","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"adrianbradbury","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/index.php\/dissonant-chords-and-unpleasant-pictures-tickle-the-same-brain-area\/","url":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/index.php\/dissonant-chords-and-unpleasant-pictures-tickle-the-same-brain-area\/","name":"Dissonant chords and unpleasant pictures tickle the same brain area - ADRIAN BRADBURY cellist","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/index.php\/dissonant-chords-and-unpleasant-pictures-tickle-the-same-brain-area\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/index.php\/dissonant-chords-and-unpleasant-pictures-tickle-the-same-brain-area\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/para-bloodphoto_12.jpg","datePublished":"2021-03-14T02:00:39+00:00","dateModified":"2021-03-14T13:37:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/#\/schema\/person\/b59dba8d2c8bc572a890af7746449080"},"description":"Discussion of a paper on Emotion, Tonality and Musician, hosted by cellist Adrian Bradbury","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/index.php\/dissonant-chords-and-unpleasant-pictures-tickle-the-same-brain-area\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/index.php\/dissonant-chords-and-unpleasant-pictures-tickle-the-same-brain-area\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/index.php\/dissonant-chords-and-unpleasant-pictures-tickle-the-same-brain-area\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/para-bloodphoto_12.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/para-bloodphoto_12.jpg","width":220,"height":160},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/index.php\/dissonant-chords-and-unpleasant-pictures-tickle-the-same-brain-area\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Dissonant chords and unpleasant pictures tickle the same brain area"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/","name":"ADRIAN BRADBURY cellist","description":"cellist","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/#\/schema\/person\/b59dba8d2c8bc572a890af7746449080","name":"adrianbradbury","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e845457d0fa388794825cef6831f525fc82ce3a37ef378e1436e39c26c86ce9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e845457d0fa388794825cef6831f525fc82ce3a37ef378e1436e39c26c86ce9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"adrianbradbury"},"url":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/index.php\/author\/adrianbradbury\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1487"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1539,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1487\/revisions\/1539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicianscience.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}