Individual brain-frequency responses to self-selected music Yvonne Höller a, b, d, ⁎, Aljoscha Thomschewski a, b, c , Elisabeth Verena Schmid a, b , Peter Höller a, d , Julia Sophia Crone a, b, c , Eugen Trinka a, d a Department of Neurology, Christian-Doppler-Clinic, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria b Neuroscience Institute & Center for Neurocognitive Research, Christian-Doppler-Clinic, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria c Department of Psychology & Center for Neurocognitive Research, University of Salzburg, Austria d Spinal Cord Injury and Tissue Regeneration Center, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria abstract article info Article history: Received 3 May 2012 Received in revised form 9 September 2012 Accepted 11 September 2012 Available online 18 September 2012 Keywords: Single-subject analysis Music Frequency analysis Music is a stimulus which may give rise to a wide range of emotional and cognitive responses. Therefore, brain reactivity to music has become a focus of interest in cognitive neuroscience. It is possible that individual preference moderates the effectof music on the brain. In the present study we examined whether there are common effects of listening to music even if each subject in a sample chooses their own piece of music. We invited 18 subjects to bring along their favorite relaxing music, and their favourite stimulating music. Additionally, a condition with tactile stimulation on the foot and a baseline condition (rest) without stimu- lation were used. The tactile stimulation was chosen to provide a simple, non-auditory condition which would be identical for all subjects. The electroencephalogram was recorded for each of the 3 conditions and during rest. We found responses in the alpha range mainly on parietal and occipital sites that were significant compared to baseline in 13 subjects during relaxing music, 15 subjects during activating music, and 16 subjects during tactile stimulation. Most subjects showed an alpha desynchronization in a lower alpha range followed by a synchronization in an upper frequency range. However, some subjects showed an increase in this area, whereas others showed a decrease only. In addition, many subjects showed reactivity in the beta range. Beta activity was especially increased while listening to activating music and during tactile stimulation in most subjects. We found interindividual differences in the response patterns even though the stimuli provoked comparable sub- jective emotions (relaxation, activation), and even if the stimulus was the same for all subjects (somatosensory stimulation). We suggest that brain responsivity to music should be examined individually by considering individ- ual characteristics. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The use of music in psychiatric and neurologic disorders is a promising therapeutic method (Thaut et al., 2009). There is evidence for beneficial effects of music on attention and mood in patients with Parkinson's disease and dementia (Sacks, 2006), on memory in patients with demen- tia (Foster and Valentine, 2001), on mood in patients with depression (Thaut et al., 2009), and on epileptic brain activity in patients with epilep- sy (Hughes et al., 1998; Kuester et al., 2010; Lin et al., 2010a; Wieser, 2003). Music therapy in neurology may act through activation of the motor system by acoustic stimulation and through synchronization of motor reactions (Levitin and Tirovolas, 2009; Thaut et al., 2009). The rhythmic synchronization may coincide with the timing of attentional processes (Klein and Riess Jones, 1996). Music listening may evoke strong and consistent cognitive and emo- tional responses in the human brain (Brattico et al., 2010; Koelsch, 2010). A preference for consonant sounds and, thus, some sense for musical aesthetics is detectable in early childhood (see Nieminen et al., 2011, for a review). Even people without musical education can tell if a piece of music is harmonically appropriate. The cognitive aspect International Journal of Psychophysiology 86 (2012) 206–213 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Christian-Doppler-Klinik, Ignaz-Harrer-Str. 79, 5020 Salzburg, Austria. Tel.: +43 662 4483 3966; fax: +43 662 4483 3004. E-mail address: yvonne.hoeller@sbg.ac.at (Y. Höller). 0167-8760/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2012.09.005 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect International Journal of Psychophysiology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijpsycho