Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26778996›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in human neuroscience2015

It's Sad but I Like It: The Neural Dissociation Between Musical Emotions and Liking in Experts and Laypersons.

Elvira Brattico, Brigitte Bogert, Vinoo Alluri, Mari Tervaniemi, Tuomas Eerola, Thomas Jacobsen

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in human neuroscience, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
49citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

49 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Trial
  3. Regulation of Mindfulness-Based Music Listening on Negative Emotions Related to COVID-19: An ERP Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021
    Trial
  4. Musicality is Preserved in Neurodegeneration.The Yale journal of biology and medicine · 2026
    Review
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Pleasurable music activates cerebral µ-opioid receptors: a combined PET-fMRI study.European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging · 2025
    Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Effects of Dual Tasks Including Gum Chewing on Prefrontal Cortex Activity.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2024
    Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Elvira BratticoCenter for Music in the Brain (MIB), Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University and Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg (RAMA)Aarhus, Denmark; Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of HelsinkiHelsinki, Finland; Advanced Magnetic Imaging Centre, Aalto UniversityEspoo, Finland.
Brigitte BogertCognitive Brain Research Unit, Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki Helsinki, Finland.
Vinoo AlluriDepartment of Music, University of JyväskyläJyväskylä, Finland; Neuroscience of Emotion and Affective Dynamics Lab, University of GeneveGeneve, Switzerland.
Mari TervaniemiCognitive Brain Research Unit, Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of HelsinkiHelsinki, Finland; Cicero Learning, University of HelsinkiHelsinki, Finland.
Tuomas EerolaDepartment of Music, Durham University Durham, UK.
Thomas JacobsenExperimental Psychology Unit, Helmut Schmidt University/University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg Hamburg, Germany.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Emotion-related areas of the brain, such as the medial frontal cortices, amygdala, and striatum, are activated during listening to sad or happy music as well as during listening to pleasurable music. Indeed, in music, like in other arts, sad and happy emotions might co-exist and be distinct from emotions of pleasure or enjoyment. Here we aimed at discerning the neural correlates of sadness or happiness in music as opposed those related to musical enjoyment. We further investigated whether musical expertise modulates the neural activity during affective listening of music. To these aims, 13 musicians and 16 non-musicians brought to the lab their most liked and disliked musical pieces with a happy and sad connotation. Based on a listening test, we selected the most representative 18 sec excerpts of the emotions of interest for each individual participant. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) recordings were obtained while subjects listened to and rated the excerpts. The cortico-thalamo-striatal reward circuit and motor areas were more active during liked than disliked music, whereas only the auditory cortex and the right amygdala were more active for disliked over liked music. These results discern the brain structures responsible for the perception of sad and happy emotions in music from those related to musical enjoyment. We also obtained novel evidence for functional differences in the limbic system associated with musical expertise, by showing enhanced liking-related activity in fronto-insular and cingulate areas in musicians.

Indexed as

aestheticsemotion perceptionfMRIlikinglimbic systemmusicsalience network

Identifiers

PMID26778996
PMCPMC4701928

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.