THE NEUROSCIENCES AND MUSIC III: DISORDERS AND PLASTICITY Subjective Appraisal of Music Neuroimaging Evidence Elvira Brattico a and Thomas Jacobsen b a Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, and Finnish Centre for Interdisciplinary Music Research, University of Jyv ¨ askyl ¨ a, Jyv ¨ askyl ¨ a, Finland b Institute of Psychology I, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany In the neurosciences of music, a consensus on the nature of affective states during music listening has not been reached. What is undeniable is that subjective affective states can be triggered by various and even opposite musical events. Here we review the few recent studies on the neural determinants of subjective affective processes of music, contrasted with early automatic neural processes linked to the objective univer- sal properties of music. In particular, we focus on the evaluative judgments of music by subjects according to its aesthetic and structural values, on music-specific emotions felt by listeners, and on conscious liking. We then discuss and seek to stimulate further research on the interplay between the emotional attributes of music and the subjective cognitive, psychological, and biographic factors, such as personality traits and cognitive strategies of listening. We finally draw the neuroscientist’s attention to the sociocultural context as a relevant variable to study when considering music as an aesthetic domain. Key words: neuroaesthetics; judgment; musical preference; liking; functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI); late positive potential (LPP); appraisal Introduction The majority of people seek music to accom- pany their life activities or even to be the princi- pal focus of attention. Questionnaire surveys 1–3 have revealed that music is sought after for af- fective (its power to induce or modulate emo- tional or mood states), hedonic (as a carrier of pleasure), or aesthetic reasons (“it’s beautiful”). These findings stand out against the limited volume of neuroscientific research devoted to affective and aesthetic aspects of music. More- over, the importance and peculiarity of affective experiences during music listening and perfor- mance should prompt one to study music also as an aesthetic domain closely related to vi- sual art, poetry or architecture, as well as a Address for correspondence: Elvira Brattico, Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Unit, Department of Psychology, University of Helsinki, Finland. Voice: +358-44-373-3297; fax: +358-9-191-29450 elvira.brattico@helsinki.fi cognitive domain in relation to, for example, memory, language, or mathematics (see Refs. 4 and 5). Influential traditions in cognitive sci- ences and neurosciences, such as modularity 6 or cortical plasticity, 7 have dominated biolog- ical music research in the past two decades. Only recently, falsifiable models of (visual) art appreciation based on information processing, neuroscience or neuropsychology approaches, have emerged, providing new hypotheses on the subsequent stages constituting an aesthetic experience. 8–11 Additionally, in the visual do- main, a new field of research termed neuroaes- thetics has emerged with the aim of determining the neural foundations of art appreciation, al- though music is only briefly treated within the neuroaesthetic framework. 12,13 These endeav- ors, combined with recently flourishing studies on music emotions 14 and the pioneering exper- imental work on subjective music experience promise new leaps in understanding the phe- nomenon of music in its entirety. The Neurosciences and Music III: Disorders and Plasticity: Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 1169: 308–317 (2009). doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04843.x c  2009 New York Academy of Sciences. 308