Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-dnltx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T17:56:25.628Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Social bonding and music: Evidence from lesions to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 September 2021

Amy M. Belfi*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Science, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO65409, USA. amybelfi@mst.edu; www.amybelfi.com

Abstract

The music and social bonding (MSB) hypothesis suggests that damage to brain regions in the proposed neurobiological model, including the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), would disrupt the social and emotional effects of music. This commentary evaluates prior research in persons with vmPFC damage in light of the predictions put forth by the MSB hypothesis.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abel, T. J., Manzel, K., Bruss, J., Belfi, A. M., Howard, M. A., & Tranel, D. (2016). The cognitive and behavioral effects of meningioma lesions involving the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Journal of Neurosurgery, 124(6), 1568–77. https://doi.org/10.3171/2015.5.JNS142788.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beadle, J. N., Paradiso, S., & Tranel, D. (2018). Ventromedial prefrontal cortex is critical for helping others who are suffering. Frontiers in Neurology, 9, 113. https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2018.00288.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Belfi, A. M., Evans, E., Heskje, J., Bruss, J., & Tranel, D. (2017). Musical anhedonia after focal brain damage. Neuropsychologia, 97, 2937.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Belfi, A. M., Karlan, B., & Tranel, D. (2018). Damage to the medial prefrontal cortex impairs music-evoked autobiographical memories. Psychomusicology: Music, Mind, and Brain, 28, 201208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Downey, L. E., Blezat, A., Nicholas, J., Omar, R., Golden, H. L., Mahoney, C. J., … Warren, J. D. (2013). Mentalising music in frontotemporal dementia. Cortex, 49, 1844–55.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Griffiths, T. D., Warren, J. D., Dean, J. L., & Howard, D. (2004). “When the feeling's gone”: A selective loss of musical emotion. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 75, 341345.Google ScholarPubMed
Hirel, C., Leveque, Y., Deiana, G., Richard, N., Cho, T.-H., Mechtouff, L., & Nighoghossian, N. (2014). Acquired amusia and musical anhedonia. Revue Neurologique, 170, 536540. https://doi.org/doi:10.1016/j.neurol.2014.03.015.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jenkins, L. M., Andrewes, D. G., Nicholas, C. L., Drummond, K. J., Moffat, B. A., Phal, P., … Kessels, R. P. C. (2014). Social cognition in patients following surgery to the prefrontal cortex. Psychiatry Research – Neuroimaging, 224(3), 192203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pscychresns.2014.08.007.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnsen, E. L., Tranel, D., Lutgendorf, S., & Adolphs, R. (2009). A neuroanatomical dissociation for emotion induced by music. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 72, 2433. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2008.03.011.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Koenigs, M., Young, L., Adolphs, R., Tranel, D., Cushman, F., Hauser, M., & Damasio, A. (2007). Damage to the prefrontal cortex increases utilitarian moral judgements. Nature, 446, 908911. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05631.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leopold, A., Krueger, F., Dal monte, O., Pardini, M., Pulaski, S. J., Solomon, J., & Grafman, J. (2012). Damage to the left ventromedial prefrontal cortex impacts affective theory of mind. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 7(8), 871880. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsr071.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mazzoni, M., Moretti, P., Pardossi, L., Vista, M., Muratorio, A., & Puglioli, M. (1993). A case of music imperception. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 56, 322322.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pujara, M. S., Philippi, C. L., Motzkin, J. C., Baskaya, M. K., & Koenigs, M. (2016). Ventromedial prefrontal cortex damage is associated with decreased ventral striatum volume and response to reward. Journal of Neuroscience, 36(18), 50475054. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4236-15.2016.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Satoh, M., Kato, N., Tabei, K., Nakano, C., Abe, M., Fujita, R., … Kondo, K. (2016). A case of musical anhedonia due to right putaminal hemorrhage: A disconnection syndrome between the auditory cortex and insula. Neurocase, 22, 518–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/13554794.2016.1264609.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Satoh, M., Nakase, T., Nagata, K., & Tomimoto, H. (2011). Musical anhedonia: Selective loss of emotional experience in listening to music. Neurocase, 17, 410417.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schneider, B., & Koenigs, M. (2017). Human lesion studies of ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Neuropsychologia, 107, 8493. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.09.035.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed