London SE14 6NW
UK
From goosebumps to tears to breaking into a smile, music has the remarkable ability to work on our emotions and give us pleasure. About 20 years worth of neuroimaging evidence confirms that the brain networks implicated in emotion and pleasure in several sensory domains are also observable when we listen to music. But a musical piece is not a fearful face or a delicious meal and the challenge remains to understand how sequences of auditory events with no immediately obvious adaptive value can have the effect they do.
In this talk, I will present work that uses depth electrode recordings to examine the neural mechanisms underlying the processing of some of music’s fundamental building blocks. I will then present data showing that music listening episodes tend to be punctuated by discrete moments of heightened physiological and emotional arousal in the listener. Finally, I will propose a framework for investigating “what it is about music” that builds on current understanding of the role of the dopaminergic mesolimbic system in both cognition and affect.
Biography
Diana Omigie studied Neuroscience at University College London before completing her MSc and PhD at Goldsmiths, University of London. Following her doctoral work she carried out research fellowships and postdocs in the USA and France and is currently a post-doctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics in Frankfurt, Germany. Her current research activities revolve around investigations into music induced emotion and pleasure.