Trait empathy shapes neural responses toward sad music
Open accessAbstract
Individuals with a predisposition to empathize engage with sad music in a compelling way, experiencing overall more pleasurable emotions. However, the neural mechanisms underlying these music-related experiences in empathic individuals are unknown. The present study tested whether dispositional empathy modulates neural responses to sad compared with happy music. Twenty-four participants underwent fMRI while listening to 4-min blocks of music evoking sadness or happiness. Using voxel-wise regression, we found a positive correlation between trait empathy (with scores assessed by the Interpersonal Reactivity Index) and eigenvector centrality values in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), including the medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC). We then performed a functional connectivity (FC) analysis to detect network nodes showing stronger FC with the vmPFC/mOFC during the presentation of sad versus happy music. By doing so, we identified a "music-empathy" network (vmPFC/mOFC, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, primary visual cortex, bilateral claustrum and putamen, and cerebellum) that is spontaneously recruited while listening to sad music and includes brain regions that support the coding of compassion, mentalizing, and visual mental imagery. Importantly, our findings extend the current understanding of empathic behaviors to the musical domain and pinpoint sad music as an effective stimulus to be employed in social neuroscience research.
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The vmPFC, a core area of the empathy network, normally receives inhibitory OXT projections.
“The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), a core area of the empathy network (Taruffi et al., 2021), normally receives inhibitory OXT projections.”
From Music's context-dependent influence on oxytocin, social bonding, and emotion regulation: a systematic review (2026) · cites this paper as Taruffi et al., 2021
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- Authors
- Taruffi, L., Skouras, S., Pehrs, C., & Koelsch, S.
- Affiliations
- Durham University (GB)
- University of Bergen (NO)
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Taruffi, Liila
- Venue
- Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience
- Published
- 2021-01-20
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 231-241
- ISSN
- 1530-7026 (ISSN-L)
- 1531-135X
- PMC
- PMC7994216
- OpenAlex
- W3125330175
- Cited by
- 22
- References
- 82
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3
- FWCI
- 1.97
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Cognitive Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Durham Research Online (Durham University) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Durham Research Online (Durham University) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- Durham Research Online (Durham University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (EXC302)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Music Perception
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Music Therapy and Health
- Keywords
- trait empathy, sad music, music and emotion, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, medial orbitofrontal cortex, eigenvector centrality, functional connectivity, Interpersonal Reactivity Index, mentalization, compassion, visual imagery
- MeSH terms
- Sadness, Brain, Empathy, Happiness, Humans, Music
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