Study by experts in neuroscience reveals that reggaeton generates greater brain activity than classical music

This Monday will learned about the revealing results of a study carried out a few months ago by five Spanish neuroscience experts, who realized that listening to reggaeton-style music generates greater brain activity than classical music.

The study, which formed part of the doctoral thesis of the neurosurgeon of the Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria University Hospital in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Jesús Martín-Fernández, was endorsed by the work contributed by other specialists in the area, the neuroscientists Iballa Burunat, Cristián Modroño , José Luis González-Mora and Julio Plata-Bellod.

In the study carried out by the five experts, the samples of 28 participants “without musical training” were considered, who were exposed to various musical genres, apart from reggaeton and the classical style, such as electronic music and Hispanic folklore.

The reggaeton effect

In the case of reggaeton, the people analyzed listened to the songs “Shaky” by Daddy Yankee; and “Ginza”, by J Balvin; in electronics, the song “Passion”, by Alberto Feria; and “L’amour toujours”, by Dzeko; in the classical genre, the concerto in E minor by Vivaldi and the minuet of the airs in D by Luis Cobiella; while in folklore folias and canary malagueñas.

“While the volunteers listened to different pieces of the musical genres in passive listening, greater brain activity was detected with reggaetón than with the others, highlighting that it is above classical music. And thanks to an analysis of images at the level of the whole brain, and in the auditory-motor regions, it was possible to reach the conclusion that urban rhythms generate greater stimulation ”, indicated in adnradio.cl.

Among the findings of the study, the following conclusions were reached:

– Image analysis was performed at the whole brain level and in auditory-motor regions of interest (ROI). Moreover, the musical competence of each participant was measured and its relationship with brain activity in the ROIs studied was analyzed.

– Whole-brain analysis showed higher brain activity while listening to reggaeton than the other music genres in areas related to hearing.

– The ROI analysis showed that reggaeton led to increased activity not only in listening-related areas, but also in some motor-related areas, mainly when compared to classical music.

– A positive relationship was identified between the Melodic Music Ear Test (MET) score and brain activity during reggaeton listening in some areas related to hearing and motor.

– The findings revealed that listening to different musical styles in musically inexperienced subjects elicits different brain activity in related auditory and motor areas.

– Reggaeton was, among the musical genres studied, the one that evoked the greatest activity in the auditory-motor network. These findings are discussed in relation to acoustic analyzes of musical stimuli.