How The Brain Reacts to Live Music: Arun Asthagiri '20 Prep, '24 Participates in a Collaboratory Study with NEC and Northeastern University
Neuroscientist, musician, and technologist Arun Asthagiri '20 Prep, '24 has participated in a study on how the brain reacts to live music as a collaboratory project between NEC and Northeastern University.
Arun is an interdisciplinary scientist and musician who has played the violin for nearly two decades, earning a Bachelor of Music from NEC before pursuing a PhD at Northeastern University’s Music Image and Neural Dynamics lab. His research bridges systems neuroscience, music cognition, and affective science to investigate how the predictive brain derives meaning and pleasure from music. Specifically, his work explores how the brain uses music to predict bodily signals (interoception) and has previously examined the unique impact of live versus recorded music on the brain, as well as health-based musical applications for cognitive health. Currently, Arun utilizes biofeedback and machine learning techniques to study musical predictions and brain dynamics in naturalistic settings.
Brainwaves and soundwaves align stronger when we listen to live performances, the research found. This Northeastern news article shares,
"We have high fidelity vinyl and home audio systems that rival the quality of the sound systems
at the local movie theater and we even have high-quality recordings that we can listen to on our preferred personal music device. But there’s just something about hearing live music as it’s being played in real time."
Associate Professor of Creative Practice and Director of the MIND lab at Northeastern University, Psyche Loui, says,
“Live performance tunes brainwaves to music."
Much like a musician tunes their instrument to a pitch or an orchestra, our brains undergo a similar tuning process.
Arun states,
"The rhythms in the brain actually align with rhythms in music."
The research was published in March in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, a publication of the Social and Affective Neuroscience Society (SANS), which is committed to research investigating the neural basis of social and affective processes.
We applaud your work, Arun!
