Music evokes story-like brain activity beyond auditory processing, brain imaging shows
In a paper appearing in Nature Communications, Princeton University researchers show how music produces distinct patterns in the regions of the brain associated with imagination and meaning, similar to those prompted by spoken narratives.
A recent study from Princeton University reveals that music triggers brain activity patterns similar to those evoked by spoken narratives, according to a paper published in Nature Communications. Researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans to observe the brains of participants while they listened to ten unfamiliar pieces of instrumental music and ten spoken stories in two separate sessions.
After each excerpt, participants were asked to describe their imagined narratives. The fMRI scans demonstrated that the regions of the brain associated with imagination and meaning were similarly activated by both music and speech. Additionally, different listeners reported shared associations with the same musical excerpts, with an average of 71% of participants matching the consensus story for each musical piece.
Moreover, the fMRI scans showed that when musical excerpts triggered the same imagined story as spoken narratives, similar patterns were evoked in the same regions of the brain. These regions included not only the auditory areas responsible for processing speech and music, but also the brain's default mode network, which is involved in higher-level functions like imagination, memory, and meaning.
Elizabeth Margulis, the principal investigator and a music professor at Princeton, emphasized that the study uncovered a new dimension of meaning-making in music. She noted that listeners are not merely engaging with an abstract stimulus, but are actively constructing concrete meaning through their imagination.
The findings of this research could provide insights into the neural mechanisms underlying spontaneous thought and mind-wandering. Furthermore, they may have potential clinical applications, such as helping to treat depression or anxiety by addressing fixated thought patterns.
Other contributors to the study include Itamar Jalon, Jamal Williams, Grace Simmons, Karen Electra Christianson, and Cara Turnbull from Princeton's Department of Psychology and the Princeton Neuroscience Institute. The research was published in Nature Communications under the title "Music Evokes Shared Neural Representations of Imagined Narratives Across Sensory Modalities" (DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-76452-0).
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