A recent study conducted at the University of Zurich under the direction of Sascha Frühholz has revealed the reason why people are more emotionally affected by live music than by recorded music.
The News Scientist reports that 12 pieces were written for the study, half of which were intended to elicit negative feelings and the other half favorable ones.
Participants who were not trained musicians listened to recordings and live performances of these works while having MRI scans to track changes in their brain activity.
Live performances were consistently associated with increased activity in the left amygdala, a part of the brain that is closely related to emotion processing.
On the other hand, recorded music produced less and irregular amygdala activity, which was congruent with the emotional assessments of the individuals.
According to Frühholz, the flexibility of live music—performers can alter their performances in response to the audience’s response—probably heightens emotional responses more so than that of inflexible recorded versions.
The study contends that live music’s capacity to heighten emotional reactions is partly due to its dynamic, free-flowing quality.
To highlight the social component of live music encounters, Frühholz and the colleagues plan to repeat the experiment in a larger-scale concert setting.
The study sheds light on the neural underpinnings of our strong emotional bond with live music and raises possible social ramifications.
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