Music with Concurrent Saliences of Musical Features Elicits Stronger Brain Responses

Abstract

Brain responses are often studied under strictly experimental conditions in which electroencephalograms (EEGs) are recorded to reflect reactions to short and repetitive stimuli. However, in real life, aural stimuli are continuously mixed and cannot be found isolated, such as when listening to music. In this audio context, the acoustic features in music related to brightness, loudness, noise, and spectral flux, among others, change continuously; thus, significant values of these features can occur nearly simultaneously. Such situations are expected to give rise to increased brain reaction with respect to a case in which they would appear in isolation. In order to assert this, EEG signals recorded while listening to a tango piece were considered. The focus was on the amplitude and time of the negative deflation (N100) and positive deflation (P200) after the stimuli, which was defined on the basis of the selected music feature saliences, in order to perform a statistical analysis intended to test the initial hypothesis. Differences in brain reactions can be identified depending on the concurrence (or not) of such significant values of different features, proving that coterminous increments in several qualities of music influence and modulate the strength of brain responses.