Neural response to sad autobiographical recall and sad music listening post recall reveals distinct brain activation in alpha and gamma bands.

Although apparently paradoxical, sad music has been effective in coping with sad life experiences. The underpinning brain neural correlates of this are not well explored. We performed Electroencephalography (EEG) source-level analysis for the brain during a sad autobiographical recall (SAR) and upon...

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Main Authors: Ashish Gupta, Braj Bhushan, Laxmidhar Behera
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2023-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279814
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author Ashish Gupta
Braj Bhushan
Laxmidhar Behera
author_facet Ashish Gupta
Braj Bhushan
Laxmidhar Behera
author_sort Ashish Gupta
collection DOAJ
description Although apparently paradoxical, sad music has been effective in coping with sad life experiences. The underpinning brain neural correlates of this are not well explored. We performed Electroencephalography (EEG) source-level analysis for the brain during a sad autobiographical recall (SAR) and upon exposure to sad music. We specifically investigated the Cingulate cortex complex and Parahippocampus (PHC) regions, areas prominently involved in emotion and memory processing. Results show enhanced alpha band lag phase-synchronization in the brain during sad music listening, especially within and between the Posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and (PHC) compared to SAR. This enhancement was lateralized for alpha1 and alpha2 bands in the left and right hemispheres, respectively. We also observed a significant increase in alpha2 brain current source density (CSD) during sad music listening compared to SAR and baseline resting state in the region of interest (ROI). Brain during SAR condition had enhanced right hemisphere lateralized functional connectivity and CSD in gamma band compared to sad music listening and baseline resting state. Our findings show that the brain during the SAR state had enhanced gamma-band activity, signifying increased content binding capacity. At the same time, the brain is associated with an enhanced alpha band activity while sad music listening, signifying increased content-specific information processing. Thus, the results suggest that the brain's neural correlates during sad music listening are distinct from the SAR state as well as the baseline resting state and facilitate enhanced content-specific information processing potentially through three-channel neural pathways-(1) by enhancing the network connectivity in the region of interest (ROI), (2) by enhancing local cortical integration of areas in ROI, and (3) by enhancing sustained attention. We argue that enhanced content-specific information processing possibly supports the positive experience during sad music listening post a sad experience in a healthy population. Finally, we propose that sadness has two different characteristics under SAR state and sad music listening.
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spelling doaj.art-e23a08faad4c43ecb286b25c6f89d6e92023-03-21T05:31:48ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032023-01-01181e027981410.1371/journal.pone.0279814Neural response to sad autobiographical recall and sad music listening post recall reveals distinct brain activation in alpha and gamma bands.Ashish GuptaBraj BhushanLaxmidhar BeheraAlthough apparently paradoxical, sad music has been effective in coping with sad life experiences. The underpinning brain neural correlates of this are not well explored. We performed Electroencephalography (EEG) source-level analysis for the brain during a sad autobiographical recall (SAR) and upon exposure to sad music. We specifically investigated the Cingulate cortex complex and Parahippocampus (PHC) regions, areas prominently involved in emotion and memory processing. Results show enhanced alpha band lag phase-synchronization in the brain during sad music listening, especially within and between the Posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and (PHC) compared to SAR. This enhancement was lateralized for alpha1 and alpha2 bands in the left and right hemispheres, respectively. We also observed a significant increase in alpha2 brain current source density (CSD) during sad music listening compared to SAR and baseline resting state in the region of interest (ROI). Brain during SAR condition had enhanced right hemisphere lateralized functional connectivity and CSD in gamma band compared to sad music listening and baseline resting state. Our findings show that the brain during the SAR state had enhanced gamma-band activity, signifying increased content binding capacity. At the same time, the brain is associated with an enhanced alpha band activity while sad music listening, signifying increased content-specific information processing. Thus, the results suggest that the brain's neural correlates during sad music listening are distinct from the SAR state as well as the baseline resting state and facilitate enhanced content-specific information processing potentially through three-channel neural pathways-(1) by enhancing the network connectivity in the region of interest (ROI), (2) by enhancing local cortical integration of areas in ROI, and (3) by enhancing sustained attention. We argue that enhanced content-specific information processing possibly supports the positive experience during sad music listening post a sad experience in a healthy population. Finally, we propose that sadness has two different characteristics under SAR state and sad music listening.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279814
spellingShingle Ashish Gupta
Braj Bhushan
Laxmidhar Behera
Neural response to sad autobiographical recall and sad music listening post recall reveals distinct brain activation in alpha and gamma bands.
PLoS ONE
title Neural response to sad autobiographical recall and sad music listening post recall reveals distinct brain activation in alpha and gamma bands.
title_full Neural response to sad autobiographical recall and sad music listening post recall reveals distinct brain activation in alpha and gamma bands.
title_fullStr Neural response to sad autobiographical recall and sad music listening post recall reveals distinct brain activation in alpha and gamma bands.
title_full_unstemmed Neural response to sad autobiographical recall and sad music listening post recall reveals distinct brain activation in alpha and gamma bands.
title_short Neural response to sad autobiographical recall and sad music listening post recall reveals distinct brain activation in alpha and gamma bands.
title_sort neural response to sad autobiographical recall and sad music listening post recall reveals distinct brain activation in alpha and gamma bands
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279814
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