Music Synchronizes Brainwaves Across Listeners with Strong Effects of Repetition, Familiarity and Training

A unique aspect of music when compared to other sensory experiences is repetition. Listeners engage deeply with the music they like and listen to it multiple times. This research published in the Nature journal was performed by Jens Madsen, Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis, Rhimmon Simchy-Gross and Lucas C. Parra in 2019 on undergraduate students at the University of Arkansas. The research aimed to quantify the degree of engagement among listeners of classical instrumental music, as well as how synchronized this level of engagement was. The researchers relied on EEG measurements. They were able to determine that participants with formal musical training showed more inter-subject correlation, and sustained it across exposures to music in an unfamiliar style.