title: Brains "in concert": frontal oscillatory alpha rhythms and empathy in professional musicians.
abstract: Playing music in ensemble represents a unique human condition/performance where musicians should rely on empathic relationships. Recent theories attribute to frontal Brodmann areas (BAs) 44/45 and 10/11 a neural basis for "emotional" and "cognitive" empathy. We hypothesized that activity of these structures reflects empathy trait in professional musicians playing in ensemble. Simultaneous electroencephalographic (EEG) alpha rhythms (8-12 Hz) were recorded in three saxophone quartets during music performance in ensemble (EXECUTION), video observation of their own performance (OBSERVATION), a control task (CONTROL), and resting state (RESTING). EEG source estimation was performed. Results showed that the higher the empathy quotient test score, the higher the alpha desynchronization in right BA 44/45 during the OBSERVATION referenced to RESTING condition. Empathy trait score and alpha desynchronization were not correlated in other control areas or in EXECUTION/CONTROL conditions. These results suggest that alpha rhythms in BA 44/45 reflect "emotional" empathy in musicians observing own performance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Foggia, Foggia, Italy. c.babiloni@unifg.it
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Babiloni
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Buffo
authors.forename: Fabrizio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vecchio
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Marzano
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Del Percio
authors.forename: Danilo
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Spada
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.forename: Ivo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bruni
authors.forename: Paolo M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Rossini
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Perani
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000513:Alpha Rhythm / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D004645:Empathy / Q000502:physiology*; D006126:Group Processes; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009146:Music; D009790:Occupations; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult