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Thursday 27 August 2015

Claude-Achille Debussy ( 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918)

Cortex
Volume 49, Issue 3, March 2013, Pages 702–710
Research report

The effect of music on corticospinal excitability is related to the perceived emotion: A transcranial magnetic stimulation study


doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2012.01.013
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Abstract

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and neuroimaging studies suggest a functional link between the emotion-related brain areas and the motor system. It is not well understood, however, whether the motor cortex activity is modulated by specific emotions experienced during music listening. In 23 healthy volunteers, we recorded the motor evoked potentials (MEP) following TMS to investigate the corticospinal excitability while subjects listened to music pieces evoking different emotions (happiness, sadness, fear, and displeasure), an emotionally neutral piece, and a control stimulus (musical scale). Quality and intensity of emotions were previously rated in an additional group of 30 healthy subjects. Fear-related music significantly increased the MEP size compared to the neutral piece and the control stimulus. This effect was not seen with music inducing other emotional experiences and was not related to changes in autonomic variables (respiration rate, heart rate). Current data indicate that also in a musical context, the excitability of the corticomotoneuronal system is related to the emotion expressed by the listened piece.

Keywords

  • Emotion;
  • Music;
  • Corticospinal excitability;
  • Transcranial magnetic stimulation
Corresponding author. U.O. di Neurologia, Azienda Sanitaria di Firenze, Ospedale San Giovanni di Dio, Via di Torregalli, 3, 50143 Firenze, Italy.
1
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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