Passive music listening spontaneously engages limbic and paralimbic systems

TLDR

The study builds on prior neuroimaging work on aesthetic music responses and interprets the observed activity pattern within a model that integrates emotional and cognitive reactions to music. In this PET study, non‑musicians passively listened to unfamiliar instrumental music that later elicited strongly pleasant feelings. Passive listening to unfamiliar but liked instrumental music spontaneously activated limbic and paralimbic regions—including the subcallosal cingulate, anterior cingulate, retrosplenial cortex, hippocampus, anterior insula, and nucleus accumbens—as well as primary and secondary auditory cortices, marking the first observation of such spontaneous responses.

Abstract

In this PET study, non-musicians passively listened to unfamiliar instrumental music revealed afterward to elicit strongly pleasant feelings. Activations were observed in the subcallosal cingulate gyrus, prefrontal anterior cingulate, retrosplenial cortex, hippocampus, anterior insula, and nucleus accumbens. This is the first observation of spontaneous responses in such limbic and paralimbic areas during passive listening to unfamiliar although liked music. Activations were also seen in primary auditory, secondary auditory, and temporal polar areas known to respond to music. Our findings complement neuroimaging studies of aesthetic responses to music that have used stimuli selected by subjects or designed by experimenters. The observed pattern of activity is discussed in terms of a model synthesizing emotional and cognitive responses to music.