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Neural correlates of the popular music phenomenon: evidence from functional MRI and PET imaging

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European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Music can induce different emotions. However, its neural mechanism remains unknown. The aim of this study was to use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and position emission tomography (PET) imaging for mapping of neural changes under the most popular music in healthy volunteers.

Methods

Blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI and monoamine receptor PET imaging with 11C-N-methylspiperone (11C-NMSP) were conducted under the popular music Gangnam Style and light music A Comme Amour in healthy subjects. PET and fMRI images were analyzed by using the Statistical Parametric Mapping software (SPM).

Results

Significantly increased fMRI BOLD signals were found in the bilateral superior temporal cortices, left cerebellum, left putamen and right thalamus cortex. Monoamine receptor availability was increased significantly in the left superior temporal gyrus and left putamen, but decreased in the bilateral superior occipital cortices under the Gangnam Style compared with the light music condition. Significant positive correlation was found between 11C-NMSP binding and fMRI BOLD signals in the left temporal cortex. Furthermore, increased 11C-NMSP binding in the left putamen was positively correlated with the mood arousal level score under the Gangnam Style condition.

Conclusion

Popular music Gangnam Style can arouse pleasure experience and strong emotional response. The left putamen is positively correlated with the mood arousal level score under the Gangnam Style condition. Our results revealed characteristic patterns of brain activity associated with Gangnam Style, and may also provide more general insights into the music-induced emotional processing.

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Acknowledgements

This work is partly sponsored by Grants from the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFA0100900), National Key Basic Research Program of China (2013CB329506), National Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (no. 81425015, 81271601) and Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (LR13H180001). No other potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

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Author notes

    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Psychiatry, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China

      Qiaozhen Chen

    2. Zhejiang University Medical PET Center, Hangzhou, China

      Qiaozhen Chen, Ying Zhang, Haifeng Hou, Fenglei Du, Shuang Wu, Lin Chen, Yehua Shen, Fangfang Chao, Hong Zhang & Mei Tian

    3. Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

      Qiaozhen Chen, Ying Zhang, Haifeng Hou, Fenglei Du, Shuang Wu, Lin Chen, Yehua Shen, Fangfang Chao, Hong Zhang & Mei Tian

    4. Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Imaging of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, China

      Qiaozhen Chen, Ying Zhang, Haifeng Hou, Fenglei Du, Shuang Wu, Lin Chen, Yehua Shen, Fangfang Chao, Hong Zhang & Mei Tian

    5. Department of Nuclear Medicine, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, 88 Jiefang Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310009, China

      Qiaozhen Chen, Ying Zhang, Haifeng Hou, Fenglei Du, Shuang Wu, Lin Chen, Yehua Shen, Fangfang Chao, Hong Zhang & Mei Tian

    6. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, South Korea

      June-key Chung

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    1. Qiaozhen Chen
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    Correspondence to Mei Tian.

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    The authors declares no conflict of interest.

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    All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee, and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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    Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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    Qiaozhen Chen, Ying Zhang and Haifeng Hou contributed equally to this work.

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    Chen, Q., Zhang, Y., Hou, H. et al. Neural correlates of the popular music phenomenon: evidence from functional MRI and PET imaging. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 44, 1033–1041 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-017-3614-7

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-017-3614-7

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