OxCIN Global Scholars + WIP

Trait-Sensitive Dynamics of Music-Evoked Emotions: Integrating Behavioural Statistical Modelling and In-Vivo Functional MR Spectroscopy

Presented by Arijit Bhattacharya

Abstract: Music is a powerful naturalistic stimulus for evoking and modulating emotions, providing a unique model to investigate the dynamic relationship between subjective affective experience and its neurochemical substrates. This ongoing study employs a multimodal design integrating a behavioural emotion-tracking paradigm with functional magnetic resonance spectroscopy (fMRS) to characterise music-evoked emotional processes across psychological and neurochemical levels. In the behavioural experiment, participants complete validated questionnaires assessing trait-related factors such as mood, anxiety, and musicality, followed by continuous real-time emotion ratings during music listening using an MR-compatible joystick. Statistical modelling of these data reveals inter-individual variability in valence and arousal trajectories, partial correspondence between structural musical features and perceived emotions, and sequential priming effects across musical excerpts, highlighting the influence of trait-dependent top-down modulation on dynamic affective responses. In the neuroimaging experiment, functional H¹-MRS (SVS-PRESS) is used to track task-related fluctuations in key metabolites, including glutamate, glutamine, GABA, and N-acetylaspartate, within predefined regions of interest while participants perform the same music-emotion task inside the scanner. Preliminary findings suggest condition-dependent neurochemical modulation (Glutamate & GABA), with emerging evidence that individual differences in emotional responsiveness are paralleled by trait-linked variations in metabolite dynamics. Ongoing multivariate analyses aim to further characterise the relationship between neurochemical fluctuations and moment-to-moment emotional trajectories. Together, these findings demonstrate that music provides a robust experimental framework for linking behavioural affective dynamics with their underlying neurochemical mechanisms, advancing our understanding of the neurobiology of emotion.

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