Effects of Sad and Happy Music on Mind-Wandering and the Default Mode Network

Listening to sad music, compared with happy music, leads people to withdraw attention inward and engage in more mind-wandering—spontaneous, self-referential thought. Three experiments using probe-caught thought sampling and fMRI showed that sad music was associated with stronger mind-wandering and greater centrality of nodes in the Default Mode Network (DMN). The findings demonstrate that DMN activity can be modulated by the emotional valence of music, suggesting that sad music promotes internally directed cognition. These results have implications for using music in education and clinical settings to influence thought patterns.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Music is a ubiquitous phenomenon in human cultures, mostly due to its power to evoke and regulate emotions. However, effects of music evoking different emotional experiences such as sadness and happiness on cognition, and in particular on self-generated thought, are unknown. Here we use probe-caught thought sampling and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the influence of sad and happy music on mind-wandering and its underlying neuronal mechanisms. In three experiments we found that sad music, compared with happy music, is associated with stronger mind-wandering (Experiments 1A and 1B) and greater centrality of the nodes of the Default Mode Network (DMN) (Experiment 2). Thus, our results demonstrate that, when listening to sad vs. happy music, people withdraw their attention inwards and engage in spontaneous, self-referential cognitive processes. Importantly, our results also underscore that DMN activity can be modulated as a function of sad and happy music. These findings call for a systematic investigation of the relation between music and thought, having broad implications for the use of music in education and clinical settings.