Preferred music effect on human brain using functional near-infrared spectroscopy

Abstract

The following thesis develops a scientific experiment in the field of neuroscience, applicable to the innovative world of neuromarketing and even also applicable in the clinical psychological field. The aim of the research is to determine if the music preferred by a subject generates different brain activity in the prefrontal cortex of the brain compared to classical music or white noise. To do this, an experiment has been done with 11 subjects, who have listened to different audio tracks without any distraction. The methods used in this study have been, on the one hand, functional near-infrared spectroscopy to obtain the data of the subjects and, on the other hand, a statistical analysis of variances in the means. Previously, the data has been preprocessed using lowpass and highpass filters and moving averages. Both the preprocessing and the analysis have been carried out using the statistical software R. The statistical results of the study show different activity generated in the prefrontal cortex by the preferred music to classical music or to the resting status. However, at a qualitative level, a similar behaviour has been observed in subjects under the stimulus of preferred music or white noise. The most important conclusion that has been obtained is the clear reduction of brain activity when subjects have been under classical music stimulus. Future studies should be conducted in order to determine the effect of white noise on the brain, as well as that of an unpleasant sound compared to a pleasant one.