Brain Research: How Classical Music Improves Your Mood

It is well known and proven by numerous studies that music can affect mood. The research team at Shanghai Jiaotong University used brain wave measurements to see how much music by composers Antonio Vivaldi, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and others positively affects the brain.

The aim of the study was to find effective ways to activate brain regions with music. The participants were 13 patients with treatment-resistant depression, meaning they did not respond to the usual measures of antidepressants and psychotherapy. Because of their illness, they already had electrodes implanted for deep brain stimulation – a treatment approach in which the reward center of the brain is stimulated using very thin electrodes.

The team reused these implants. Boomin SunHead of the Institute of Functional Neurosurgery, Jiaotong University, is currently studying In the specialized journal “Cell Reports” It has been published.

Vibrations in perfect harmony

The study showed that the antidepressant effect of music arises from the synchronization of neural oscillations in two areas of the brain: the auditory center, which is responsible for processing sound stimuli, and the reward center, which is crucial in creating positive emotions such as happiness and joy. The brain waves vibrated in perfect harmony.

The patients were also divided into two groups: one with low and one with high music appreciation. In the second group there was a clearer synchronization and therefore a stronger antidepressant effect than in the first group. This distinction allowed the research team to examine the mechanisms that music triggers in the brain in more detail. It also makes it easier to design treatment plans that are tailored to each individual, Sun says.

New treatments 'urgently needed'

The results of the study should be used in clinical practice “to develop practical and effective tools and applications for music therapy,” first author Sun said in a press release. The study, which combines neuroscience, psychiatry and neurosurgery, also serves as a basis for further research into the interaction between music and emotions. Sun’s team also plans to study how other stimuli, such as images, affect brain mechanisms in severe depression. The goal is to combine therapies with auditory and visual stimuli, for example with music and images at the same time.

“Depression is a major public health challenge worldwide,” the study says, with an estimated 4.4 percent of the world’s population affected. Nearly half of patients with severe depression are classified as treatment-resistant. According to the research team, new treatments are urgently needed — and music could be “an accessible approach with far-reaching implications.”