Study: Musical Preferences Linked to Cognitive Styles.

[KuriousKatKommittee]

Neural correlates of musical preferences.
Since there is evidence that differences in empathizing-systemizing have a neurobiological basis [45–47], findings from the present study suggest that individual differences in musical preferences may be linked to brain activity and structure. Advancements in neuroimaging technologies have helped researchers to explore the neurological basis of musical experience such as evoked emotion and structural processing [58–60]. However, researchers are only beginning to investigate the neurological underpinnings of musical preferences.

In one study, fMRIs of depressed patients and healthy controls found that listening to their favorite music was linked to activity in the medial orbital frontal cortex and nucleus accumbens (NAc), compared to a control group who listened to neutral music [61]. Specifically, activity in the left medial orbital cortex was positively associated with ratings of enjoyment when listening to their favorite music and the middle temporal cortex and NAc/ventral striatum was negatively associated with enjoyment ratings. In a study on musical tempo, preferences for musical tempo were correlated with the frequency of motor beta activity observed through EEG [62]. Future studies should extend this line of research by using the MUSIC model as a framework for which to conduct neural studies on musical preferences.

Summary
Research has shown that musical preferences and personality are linked, yet little is known about other influences on preferences such as cognitive styles. To address this gap, we investigated how individual differences in musical preferences are explained by the empathizing-systemizing (E-S) theory. Study 1 examined the links between empathy and musical preferences across four samples. By reporting their preferential reactions to musical stimuli, samples 1 and 2 (Ns = 2,178 and 891) indicated their preferences for music from 26 different genres, and samples 3 and 4 (Ns = 747 and 320) indicated their preferences for music from only a single genre (rock or jazz). Results across samples showed that empathy levels are linked to preferences even within genres and account for significant proportions of variance in preferences over and above personality traits for various music-preference dimensions. Study 2 (N = 353) replicated and extended these findings by investigating how musical preferences are differentiated by E-S cognitive styles (i.e., ‘brain types’). Those who are type E (bias towards empathizing) preferred music on the Mellow dimension (R&B/soul, adult contemporary, soft rock genres) compared to type S (bias towards systemizing) who preferred music on the Intense dimension (punk, heavy metal, and hard rock). Analyses of fine-grained psychological and sonic attributes in the music revealed that type E individuals preferred music that featured low arousal (gentle, warm, and sensual attributes), negative valence (depressing and sad), and emotional depth (poetic, relaxing, and thoughtful), while type S preferred music that featured high arousal (strong, tense, and thrilling), and aspects of positive valence (animated) and cerebral depth (complexity).

Full article: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ar...l.pone.0131151

[joanna_38]

I probably fit into the S type of people. Always had trouble liking slow and sad songs. But i don't really listen to Rock as much as i do listen to movie soundtracks & classical music. (i do listen to all genres though.) but generally i'd prefer if there weren't any lyrics accompanied.

[Harley]

i’m about to read the article.

i’ve been telling people for years that because math is the most widely known universal language, music, when properly applied, can be used as an effective therapy to treat certain mental ailments, like a rehabilitation of sorts. i should probably try to look into this and see if there are studies on this.

it makes sense to me that certain brain types would prefer certain types of music. i’m really interested in this topic.

[Celestia]

Interesting. I’d say I’d lean more toward Type S but I definitely have a good amount of mellow and depressing music on my playlists too.

I’m sure there is a correlation between brain types and music.
I’ve been interested in how personality types (mbti) correlate with preferred musical genres.