Whether it’s Bach, Beethoven, or Mozart, it’s widely recognized that classical music can positively influence mood. In a study published in the journal ‘Cell Reports,’ a team of scientists in China used brainwave measurements and neural imaging techniques to show what’s happening in the brain and how these musical works can exert their beneficial effects on the brain. The goal: to find more effective ways to use music to activate the brain in unresponsive people, such as people with treatment-resistant depression.
“We hope to translate our research findings into clinical practice by developing affordable and effective music therapy tools and applications,” says senior author Bomin Sun, director and professor of the Center for Functional Neurosurgery at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
The study on patients with depression
The study focused on 13 patients with resistant depression who already had electrodes implanted in their brains for deep brain stimulation. These implants are placed in a circuit that connects two areas of the forebrain: the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (Bnst) and the nucleus accumbens (Nac). Using these implants, researchers found that music generates its antidepressant effects by synchronizing neural oscillations between the auditory cortex, which is responsible for processing sensory information, and the reward circuit, which is responsible for processing emotional information.
“The Bnst-Nac circuit, sometimes referred to as part of the extended amygdala, highlights the close relationship between this circuit and the amygdala, a central structure in processing emotional information,” Sun says. “This study reveals that music induces triple temporal locking of neural oscillations in the cortical-Bnst-Nac circuit via auditory synchronization.”
Patients in the study were assigned to two groups: low music appreciation or high music appreciation. Those in the high music appreciation group showed more significant neural synchronization and better antidepressant effects, while those in the low music appreciation group showed worse results. By grouping patients, the investigators were able to study the antidepressant mechanisms of music more precisely and propose personalized music therapy plans.
Several pieces of Western classical music were used in the study. This type of music was chosen because most of the participants were unfamiliar with it and the researchers wanted to avoid any interference that could arise from subjective familiarity.
The team’s future research will focus on several areas. “Collaborating with clinicians, music therapists, computer scientists, and engineers, we plan to develop a series of music therapy-based ‘digital health’ products, such as smartphone apps and wearables,” Sun says. “These products will integrate personalized music recommendations, real-time emotional monitoring and feedback, and multisensory virtual reality experiences to provide convenient and effective self-help tools for managing emotions and improving symptoms in daily life.”
