When tension is exciting: an EEG exploration of excitement in music

Abstract

Music powerfully affects people's emotions. In particular, moments of tension and deviation in musical features, including frequency, pitch, and rhythm (known as a Drop), are associated with positive emotions. However, the neuro-correlates of Drops emotive effects have never been explored. Thirty-six participants listened to music pieces containing a Drop, while undergoing continuous EEG, and rated felt excitement. Source reconstruction of EEG data showed significantly different activity in five brain regions before and after Drops: preand post-central gyri (PreCG and PostCG), and precuneus (PCUN) were more active before Drops and the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and middle frontal gyrus (MFG) were more active after Drops. Importantly, activity in the IFG and MFG showed a strong correlation with subjective excitement ratings during Drop apprehension. These results suggest expectancy is important to the induction of musical emotions, in agreement with the ITPRA theory.Specifically, when Drops are expected but do not occur immediately, moderate tension is induced. Strong positive emotions then ensue when expected deviations finally occur, due to contrastive valence. This is reflected in significant brain activity for regions associated with high arousing, pleasurable emotions, such as excitement.

The Effect of Music on Brain Activity an Emotional State

“…Turrell et al, 2019 [8] In this study, after subjecting some individuals to electroencephalographic recording while listening to music, to have a direct effect on people's emotions, it was possible to verify that there was significant activity in five different regions of the brain.…”

Analysis and Classification of Music-Induced States of Sadness

“…Additionally, given music's ability to produce strong positive emotions, there is scope to utilize this field of research to potentially produce interventions that aid mood regulation and can induce strong, intense, positive emotions. For instance, descriptions of sublime sorrow, such as transcendence and wonder, overlap with the described experience of listening to drops in electronic dance music (EDM) -a phenomenon in which musical patterns suddenly deviate as the song transitions from the build-up to the drop (Turrell et al, 2019), creating anticipation, tension, and release. This transition from negative tension to positive release is thought to result in amplified positive emotions due to contrastive valence (Huron, 2006), eliciting high arousal and excitement, as well as positive emotions (Turrell et al, 2019).…”

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