Imagining a song triggers similar brain activity as moments of silence in music, according to a pair of studies recently published in journal JNeurosci. The results reveal how the brain continues responding to music, even when none is playing.
When we listen to music, the brain attempts to predict what comes next. This increases brain activity. Even though brain activity increases, it is difficult to isolate the brain’s prediction signal because it also responds to the actual sensory experience.
Researchers used EEG to measure the brain activity of musicians while they listened and imagined music notes. Activity while imagining music had the opposite polarity of activity while listening to music.
‘The brain keeps making predictions even when music is not playing.’
The same type of activity occurred in moments of silence in music as there is no sensory input during silence and imagined music helped the brain to predict this activity.
The research team also revealed that the brain activity to determine which song someone imagined because music is more than a sensory experience for the brain.
Source: Medindia
