sarahness

According to a study done at the University of Sussex-led, music has stronger impact if played by musicians rather than clever computers.

The study was led by Dr. Stefan Koelsch at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig. He played excerpts from classical piano sonatas to twenty ‘unmusical’ participants, who did not play any instruments. He recorded electric brain responses and skin conductance responses.

They found that, while the computerised music elicited an emotional response it was not as strong as listening to the same piece played by a professional pianist.

“It was interesting for us that the emotional reactions to the unexpected chords were stronger when played with musical expression. This shows us how musicians can enhance the emotional response to particular chords due to their performance, and it shows us how our brains react to the performance of other individuals,” said Dr. Koelsch.

The study also suggest that the brain was more likely to look for musical meaning when the music was played by a pianist.