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Preferential Activation For Emotional Western Classical Music Versus Emotional Environmental Sounds In Motor, Interoceptive, And Language Brain Areas, Rebecca J. Lepping, Jared M. Bruce, Kathleen M. Gustafson, Jinxiang Hu, Laura E. Martina, Cary R. Savage, Ruth Ann Atchley

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Recent meta analyses suggest there is a common brain network involved in processing emotion in music and sounds. However, no studies have directly compared the neural substrates of equivalent emotional Western classical music and emotional environmental sounds. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging we investigated whether brain activation in motor cortex, interoceptive cortex, and Broca’s language area during an auditory emotional appraisal task differed as a function of stimulus type. Activation was relatively greater to music in motor and interoceptive cortex – areas associated with movement and internal physical feelings – and relatively greater to emotional environmental sounds in Broca’s area. …