Analysis of music–brain interaction with simultaneous measurement of regional cerebral blood flow and electroencephalogram beta rhythm in human subjects

• Published in: Neuroscience letters Vol. 275; no. 3; pp. 222 - 226
• Main Authors: Nakamura, Satoshi, Sadato, Norihiro, Oohashi, Tsutomu, Nishina, Emi, Fuwamoto, Yoshitaka, Yonekura, Yoshiharu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shannon Elsevier Ireland Ltd 19.11.1999; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; Behavioral psychophysiology; Beta Rhythm; Biological and medical sciences; Brain - blood supply; Brain - diagnostic imaging; Brain - physiology; Brain Mapping; Cerebral blood flow; Cerebrovascular Circulation; Electroencephalogram; Electroencephalography; Electrophysiology; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Male; Music; Positron emission tomography; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Regional Blood Flow; Tomography, Emission-Computed; Beta rhythm; Electroencephalogram; Cerebral blood flow; Positron emission tomography; Music; Human; Regional blood flow; Central nervous system; Electrophysiology; Electroencephalography; Brain (vertebrata); Emission tomography
• ISSN: 0304-3940; 1872-7972
• DOI: 10.1016/S0304-3940(99)00766-1

To elucidate the neural substrates of the receptive aspect of music, we measured regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) with positron emission tomography (PET) and simultaneously recorded the electroencephalogram (EEG) in eight normal volunteers. Compared with the rest condition, listening to music caused a significant increase in EEG beta power spectrum (13–30 Hz) averaged over the posterior two third of the scalp. The averaged beta power spectrum was positively correlated with rCBF in the premotor cortex and adjacent prefrontal cortices bilaterally, the anterior portion of the precuneus and the anterior cingulate cortex in both the rest and the music conditions. Listening to music newly recruited the posterior portion of the precuneus bilaterally. This may reflect the interaction of the music with the cognitive processes, such as music-evoked memory recall or visual imagery.