--- title: "New Research: Listeners Synchronize Brain Activity With Musicians" description: "According to new research, something happens during a musical performance: the brain activity of listeners synchronizes with that of the musician." date: "2020-03-24" modified: "2020-03-24" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/research-listeners-synchronize-brain-activity-musicians" categories: - "Brain" - "Health & Medicine" tags: - "brain" - "music" - "neuroscience" - "the digest" --- # New Research: Listeners Synchronize Brain Activity With Musicians ![According to new research, something happens during a musical performance: the brain activity of listeners synchronizes with that of the musician.]() *\Image: Images via Pixabay/Victor Tangermann\* ## Brain Waves According to new research by Chinese neuroscientists, [something extraordinary happens]() during a musical performance: the brain activity of listeners appears to sync up with the brain activity of the musician playing music for them. Yes, anyone who’s ever seen an awesome concert now has confirmation: Musicians and crowds really are connecting, at a neurological level. "These findings suggest that neural synchronization between the audience and the performer might serve as an underlying mechanism for the positive reception of musical performance," reads [a paper]() about the research. "This study expands our understanding of music appreciation." ## Violin Content The paper, published in the journal *NeuroImage* by a team at East China Normal University, describes a cyberpunk experiment in which researchers recorded a classical violinist performing a series of compositions, then played the recordings back to sixteen listeners. Both violinist and audience were wired up to record blood flow in their brains during the music. Intriguingly, the scientists found what they call "inter-brain coherence" between the brains of the listeners and the brain of the musician. In other words, the same portions of the brain lit up in the brain of the person playing the music and the people listening. ## Soul Music Even more intriguingly, the researchers found, the synchronization was stronger when the audience enjoyed the music. In other words, this avenue of research could deepen our understanding for the neurological appreciation of music — or give risk-averse record execs new tools to cook up perfectly crowd-pleasing pop tunes. **READ MORE:** [Musicians And Their Audiences Show Synchronised Patterns Of Brain Activity]() \[The British Psychological Society Research Digest\] **More on music:** [*Billionaire: Future Music Will Be AI-Generated to Match Our Moods* ]() ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()