A1 Journal article (refereed)
Beauty and the brain : Investigating the neural and musical attributes of beauty during naturalistic music listening (2025)
Brattico, E., Brusa, A., Dietz, M.J., Jacobsen, T., Fernandes, H.M., Gaggero, G., Toiviainen, P., Vuust, P., & Proverbio, A.M. (2025). Beauty and the brain : Investigating the neural and musical attributes of beauty during naturalistic music listening. Neuroscience, 567, 308-325. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2024.12.008
JYU authors or editors
Publication details
All authors or editors: Brattico, E.; Brusa, A.; Dietz, M.J.; Jacobsen, T.; Fernandes, H.M.; Gaggero, G.; Toiviainen, P.; Vuust, P.; Proverbio, A.M.
Journal or series: Neuroscience
ISSN: 0306-4522
eISSN: 1873-7544
Publication year: 2025
Publication date: 09/12/2024
Volume: 567
Pages range: 308-325
Publisher: Elsevier
Publication country: United Kingdom
Publication language: English
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2024.12.008
Publication open access: Openly available
Publication channel open access: Partially open access channel
Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/99893
Abstract
Beauty judgments are common in daily life, but rarely studied in cognitive neuroscience. Here, in three studies, we searched for the neural mechanisms of musical beauty using a naturalistic free-listening paradigm applied to behavioral and neuroimaging recordings and validated by experts’ judgments. In Study 1, 30 adults continuously rated the perceived beauty of three musical pieces using a motion sensor. This served to identify the musical passages that were inter-subjectively judged as more or less beautiful (‘beautiful’ vs. ‘not-beautiful’ passages). For identifying the consistent neural determinants of the perception of musical beauty, we utilized these ratings to Study 2, where 36 adults were recorded with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while they listened attentively to the same pieces of Study 1. In Study 3, to identify the musicological features characterizing the beautiful and not-beautiful passages of Studies 1–2, we collected post-hoc questionnaires from 12 music-composition experts. Results from Study 2 evidenced focal activity in the orbitofrontal cortex when listening to beautiful passages whereas the not-beautiful passages were associated with bilateral supratemporal activity. Effective connectivity analysis discovered inhibition of auditory activation and neural communication with the right orbitofrontal cortex for listening to beautiful passages vs. intrinsic activation of auditory cortices and decreased coupling to orbitofrontal cortex for not-beautiful passages. Experts’ questionnaires indicated that the beautiful passages were more melodic, calm, sad, slow, tonal, traditional, and simple than the ones rated negatively. In sum, we identified neural and psychological underpinnings of musical beauty, irrespectively of individual taste and listening biography.
Keywords: music research; aesthetics; aesthetics of music; cognitive musicology; functional magnetic resonance imaging; cognitive neuroscience; neurosciences
Contributing organizations
Ministry reporting: Yes
VIRTA submission year: 2024
Preliminary JUFO rating: 2