ArticleAnnals of neurosciences2025
Functional Impact of Increasing Minor Intervals in North Indian Classical Music on Cortical Sources and Emotional Responses.
Article in Annals of neurosciences, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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.
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.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- ICT training with wearable devices to enhance emotional communication and musicality in vocal education.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Article
- Affective priming through Indian ragas: influence on perception of ambiguous visual stimuli and creativity.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: North Indian classical music ragas evoke distinct emotional responses, shaped by their tonal structures. Prior studies on Western music have shown that minor and major intervals influence affective valence and neural activity, but similar research in the Indian context is limited. Purpose: This study aimed to investigate how increasing minor-to-major intervals (m/M tonal ratios) in North Indian classical music affect cortical sources and emotional responses. Methods: Thirty healthy participants listened to four ragas-Bilawal (M1), Yaman (M2), Puriya Kalyan (M3), and Todi (M4)-while undergoing EEG recording. Emotional responses were assessed using the GEMS-25 and self-assessment manikin (SAM) scales. The ragas were selected to represent ascending m/M tonal ratios. Results: Ragas with higher proportions of major intervals (e.g., Bilawal) elicited positive emotions such as joy and calmness, accompanied by widespread cortical activation, particularly in areas associated with emotional processing and musical familiarity. In contrast, ragas with increasing minor intervals (e.g., Todi) induced negative affect such as sadness and tension, with reduced cortical engagement. Raga Todi showed minimal deviation from resting-state EEG, correlating with low arousal and negative valence. EEG analysis revealed heightened activation in areas involved in acoustic processing and the Default Mode Network during Bilawal, which progressively declined across Yaman, Puriya Kalyan, and Todi as the m/M ratio increased. Conclusion: The minor-to-major tonal ratio significantly modulates emotional and cortical responses in Indian classical music. Increasing minor intervals reduces cortical engagement and evokes negative affective states. These findings not only mirror trends observed in Western music but also highlight the cultural and therapeutic potential of ragas in emotional regulation and mental well-being.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.