Using music to explore the dynamics of emotions

While listening to evocative music, the human brain transitions between emotions in a way that depends on the previous emotional context

Society for Neuroscience

Facebook

WhatsAppEmail

How does the human brain track emotions and support transitions between these emotions? In a new eNeuro paper, Matthew Sachs and colleagues, from Colombia University, used music and an advanced approach for assessing brain activity to shed light on the context dependence and fluctuating nature of emotions. 

The researchers collaborated with composers to create songs that evoked different emotions at separate time points. They then assessed the brain activity of study participants as they listened to these songs. Sachs et al. discovered that changes in patterns of activity in brain areas that support sound processing and social cognition reflected transitions between different emotions triggered by music. Notably, these changes in patterns of brain activity were influenced by the previous emotional state. For example, if someone listened to a joyful passage of music before listening to a sad passage, their brain responded differently to the sad passage than someone who previously listened to a tense musical passage. The researchers also found that when the previous emotion was more similar to the new emotion triggered by music, the emotional transition in the brain occurred earlier in time. These findings suggest that the relationship between neural activity and emotional responses may depend on the context of a person’s previous emotional state.  

Expressing excitement about the therapeutic potential of this work, says Sachs, “We know that people who suffer from mood disorders or depression often demonstrate emotional rigidity, where they basically get stuck in an emotional state. This study suggests that maybe we could take someone with depression, for instance, and use the approach we developed to identify neural markers for the emotional rigidity that keeps them in a very negative state.” 

### 

Please contact media@sfn.org for the full-text PDF. 

About eNeuro 

eNeuro is an online, open-access journal published by the Society for Neuroscience. Established in 2014, eNeuro publishes a wide variety of content, including research articles, short reports, reviews, commentaries and opinions. 

About The Society for Neuroscience 

The Society for Neuroscience is the world's largest organization of scientists and physicians devoted to understanding the brain and nervous system. The nonprofit organization, founded in 1969, now has nearly 35,000 members in more than 95 countries. 

---

Journal

eNeuro

DOI

10.1523/ENEURO.0184-24.2025 

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Emotions in the Brain Are Dynamic and Contextually Dependent: Using Music to Measure Affective Transitions

Article Publication Date

30-Jun-2025

 

Hurricane ecology research reveals critical vulnerabilities of coastal ecosystems

Study calls for adaptive management as climate change intensifies tropical cyclone risks to biodiversity hotspot

American Institute of Biological Sciences

Facebook

WeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

A recently published article in the journal BioScience reveals that endangered longleaf pine ecosystems—among North America's most biodiverse habitats—face mounting threats from intensifying hurricane regimes driven by climate change. An interdisciplinary team of authors headed by Nicole Zampieri (Tall Timbers and The Jones Center at Ichauway) describe the urgent situation: The North American Coastal Plain was once characterized by extensive longleaf pine savannas covering approximately 36 million hectares. Today, these ecosystems "now occupy less than 5% of their historic distribution, primarily because of habitat fragmentation, widespread unsustainable logging, land-use conversion, and fire suppression during the past half millennium."

The remaining savannas are now under threat, say the authors: "Endangered coastal ecosystems, such as biodiverse longleaf pine savannas, have historically been resistant and resilient to the impacts of tropical cyclones. But changing hurricane regimes, coupled with little remaining habitat and detrimental management actions, threaten their persistence."

The research team analyzed the remaining habitat, finding that the overwhelming majority faces frequent hurricane disturbance. "Almost all extant longleaf habitat (more than 90%) has experienced, on average, cyclonic winds every decade," the authors say. These ecosystems' vulnerability was starkly demonstrated in 2018 when Hurricane Michael affected "more than 25% of all remaining longleaf pine savannas and woodlands."

Linked disturbances, often involving fire, post-hurricane salvage operations, and insect outbreaks, can worsen the damage. Intensive salvage logging can lead to a damaged understory, compacted soils, and colonization by nonnative species, say the authors, who recommend the conversion of even-aged stands to more resilient uneven-aged forests, strategic prescribed fire management, and comprehensive post-storm response plans coordinated across public and private lands.

As climate change intensifies hurricane activity, the fate of these crucial ecosystems—and the "hyper-diverse ground layer plant communities" they host—hangs in the balance.

---

Journal

BioScience

DOI

10.1093/biosci/biaf086 

Method of Research

Literature review

 

Montana State geologist’s Antarctic research focuses on accumulations of rare earth elements

Montana State University

Facebook

WeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

BOZEMAN – They’re in the headlines every week – critical minerals like lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite and the rare earth elements essential for high-technology and national security applications.

While nations and businesses around the globe strategize to secure supplies of the coveted resources, Montana State University geologist Zachary Burton studies how rare earth elements are moved by geochemical and aqueous forces, such as freeze-thaw cycles and snowmelt, to concentrate in different environments. 

“Rare earth elements aren’t technically rare – they are somewhat ubiquitous at very low concentrations – but highly concentrated, economically attractive deposits are indeed rare and hard to find,” explained Burton, an assistant professor in MSU’s Department of Earth Sciences in the College of Letters and Science, who has studied rare earths for nearly 15 years. “That’s in large part because we don’t even know many fundamental scientific processes of why they concentrate in certain areas and how they’re moving around.”

Burton is the lead author of a paper published this week in the journal Cold Regions Science and Technology that describes the movement and accumulation of rare earth elements in salt ponds in an arid, partially permafrost region of Antarctica. Though mineral extraction is prohibited on the Antarctic continent by international agreement, Burton said the geochemical processes described in the paper may help us understand how the materials behave and accumulate in desert and cold regions elsewhere, including places like Greenland and Ukraine, whose natural resources are frequently in the news.

Burton said that little scientific research has been published on sediment-hosted rare earth elements in cold regions, especially by American scientists. That’s in part because most of the metals are currently extracted in tropical or subtropical regions, especially in China, and because mining activity and research in the United States has been on the decline since the 1970s.

“Rare earths are an area that’s been relatively neglected these past decades in terms of scientific research, but now — with these critical minerals constantly making headlines — there’s a whole lot to be learned in terms of where deposits are,” he said.

That isn’t limited only to deposits on Earth, according to the paper. Conditions in the Antarctic are similar to those found on various other planets, which is important because space agencies like NASA want to be able to use resources available on the moon and Mars to support future space missions.

Back on Earth and beyond Antarctica, Burton is working in Nevada, Utah and the Mojave Desert of California to understand how critical minerals — especially lithium and the rare earth elements — move and accumulate in the hot desert basins of the western U.S. 

As the department’s newest faculty member, he said he is looking forward to expanding collaborations with his colleagues and future students on further critical resources research and innovation.

“It’s a challenge and a scramble, but also very exciting, because there’s a lot more for the world to learn in these areas,” he said.

Alison Harmon, vice president for research and economic development, said she is excited to see growing expertise in critical minerals among MSU’s faculty.

“This will be an area where MSU can make an important contribution to national security and economic development in Montana and beyond,” she said.

---

Journal

Cold Regions Science and Technology

DOI

10.1016/j.coldregions.2025.104583 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Controls on cold-climate critical minerals: Regolith-hosted

Article Publication Date

28-Jun-2025

 

Study reveals that internet searches can hinder creativity

The internet has a vast amount of accumulated human knowledge, but a study finds that, in certain scenarios, “Googling” can get in the way of a good brainstorm session

Carnegie Mellon University

Facebook

When asked to brainstorm new and creative uses for a common object, many people’s first instinct may be to search online and see what ideas already exist before putting pen to paper. Interestingly, doing so might come at a cost to collective creativity, according to research out of Carnegie Mellon University.

In a study published in the journal Memory & Cognition, researchers asked participants to brainstorm novel uses for two objects — umbrellas and shields. In some trials, the participants had access to Google search, while in other trials, they were forbidden from seeking outside help via search engines.

So, who fared better in the task?

While the study found no statistically relevant difference between the creativity of individuals with access to internet search and those without, as those individuals were clumped into groups, internet search appeared to stymie their production of ideas.

“This appears to be due to the fact that Google users came up with the same common answers, often in the same order, as they relied on Google, while non-Google users came up with more distinct answers,” wrote lead author Danny Oppenheimer, a professor in CMU’s Department of Social and Decision Sciences.

The study revealed an unexpected pattern between two objects: umbrellas and shields. While online searches turned up a variety of alternative uses for umbrellas, they yielded little for shields. Interestingly, participants struggled more to generate new ideas for umbrellas — perhaps because the readily available suggestions online limited their thinking. In contrast, the absence of pre-existing ideas for shields may have left more room for creativity to bloom.

This may be an example of what’s known as “fixation effects,” where being shown a possible solution to a problem primes participants to think of other, similar answers, but also apparently obstructs them from thinking of new or different answers.

“For example, a person trying to brainstorm ‘things you might spread’ who sees other people, or Google, give answers like ‘butter’ or ‘jam’ is more likely to come up with other foods, such as cream cheese, and less likely to come up with non-food-based answers, like disease or rumors,” said Oppenheimer.

“This study is the first evidence of fixation effects being induced by internet search,” said Oppenheimer.

Does Online Search Make People Dumber?

While one might be tempted to look at such results and declare that the internet is hindering our ability to think creatively, Oppenheimer said rather that we should accept that access to the internet is changing the way people think and problem-solve. Instead of simply shunning search engines while trying to brainstorm, he and his colleagues would rather investigate how such resources can be used more efficiently.

“The internet isn’t making us dumb, but we may be using it in ways that aren’t helpful,” he said.

While it may be difficult to remember what life was like before the internet, both search engines and other technologies, such as artificial intelligence, are relatively new. And that means there’s still lots of room for improvement and optimization in how they’re used, said Oppenheimer.

“Many of us are sort of rethinking what our relationships with technology are like,” said study coauthor Mark Patterson, an assistant teaching professor in CMU’s Department of Social and Decision Sciences and director of the Quantitative Social Science Scholars Program. “It feels like every week there’s some sort of mind-blowing, new advance, and I think one interpretation of our paper is a reminder about the important advantages that we have just as regular people trying to solve problems.”

“Even though it sounds like the kind of messaging you might get from your preschool teacher. Like, ‘You’re you, and you’re different, and you’re unique.’ That messaging actually does matter,” said Patterson. “We want to hold on to our individuality and our regular, un-tech-aided humanity, because it’s the thing that’s going to make us solve problems slightly differently than other people, and that can really be valuable.”

Why Prompt Engineering Matters

The authors believe that using different prompt engineering strategies might lead to different, or better, results.

“Our hope is that by studying how human thought interacts with technology use, we can figure out ways to glean the best of the internet while minimizing the negative consequences,” he said.

The researchers suggest that doing a bit of offline brainstorming before turning to the internet might also help avoid the fixation effects that cropped up in the study.  The goal isn’t to forsake the powers of online search — it’s to learn how to use them better, Oppenheimer said.

Finally, experiencing fixation effects is probably not that big of a deal for everyday tasks. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel for most of the things we search online on a given day, in other words.

“For some of these bigger, tough, societal-level challenges that we’re facing, I think taking advantage of real diversity and a wide range of solutions requires groups to come up with a lot of different solution strategies,” said Patterson.

---

Journal

Memory & Cognition

DOI

10.3758/s13421-025-01732-x 

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Thinking outside the box means thinking outside the search engine

 

Legislation not the ‘silver bullet’ in fight against barbaric practices

Every year thousands of people globally are wrongly accused of witchcraft, often with fatal consequences yet, says new research, legislation designed to stamp out the barbaric practices is rarely used.

Lancaster University

Facebook

X
BlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

 

image: 

These women are alleged witches and live in the Northern Region of Ghana. They are picking pebbles and sieving dust mixed with maize, soya bean and other grains gathered from the floor of the town market to clean and make food for themselves and their families living in a witch camp. Witch camps are protected villages where women who have been accused of being witches flee to for their own safety, but where they can become trapped.
 

view more 

Credit: Rural Women & Youth Empowerment for Development Agency - RUWYEDA

Every year thousands of people globally are wrongly accused of witchcraft, often with fatal consequences yet, says new research, legislation designed to stamp out the barbaric practices is rarely used.

Co-authored by researchers from Lancaster University and the Australian National University, the global review found 15 countries had legislation addressing witchcraft in place. Available data from 12 of those countries revealed only nine countries had used the law to prosecute cases.

The study also found a global trend for countries to criminalise witchcraft practices actually sent out ‘confusing messages’ in the fight to rid the world of the accusations of witchcraft which so often leave weak and vulnerable marginalised groups, including widowed and divorced women, children and those living with disabilities and albinism, at risk of torture, mutilation, banishment and death.

Harmful practices related to accusations of witchcraft and ritual attacks are a form of extreme human rights abuse occurring across many parts of the world today

The report, ‘Legislative Approaches to Addressing Harmful Practices Related To Witchcraft Accusations and Ritual Attacks: A Global Review’, is launched this evening (June 30) at Doughty Street Chambers in London.

In 2021 the UN Human Rights Council passed Resolution 47/8 to explicitly target the elimination of harmful practices related to accusations of witchcraft and ritual attacks.

As a result, some countries reviewed their legislative frameworks and introduced new laws aimed at prosecuting and preventing such harmful practices. In some countries, that included repealing older, often colonial-era, laws deemed no longer fit for purpose.

The new research examines where, how and to what extent new legislation is being used.

On a positive note, the study found:

• Fifteen countries have enacted specific legislation to address harmful practices related to accusations of witchcraft and ritual attacks.
• Many countries are using general criminal laws to prosecute harmful practices related to witchcraft accusations and ritual attacks.
• Some countries have enacted legislation designed to prevent the activities of individuals who create fear around witchcraft, such as diviners, or who exploit people’s belief in witchcraft for financial gain, such as so-called ‘witch doctors’.

On a negative note:

• In general, the specific legislation has not been widely used in practice to prosecute harmful practices related to witchcraft accusations and ritual attacks. This, says the report, suggests that enactment of legislation alone is not sufficient to address the problem.
• Courts (and the justice system and media) often do not reference belief in witchcraft as a feature of the case, as they are subsumed under general categories such as ‘murder’, making tracking of cases difficult.
• Some countries problematically continue to treat belief in witchcraft as a mitigating factor in relation to the commission of criminal offences.

And, adds the report, rather than addressing the violence and social dynamics behind harmful practices related to accusations of witchcraft and ritual attacks, some countries are actively doing the opposite and prosecuting alleged witches through state courts.

This report makes clear that the enactment of legislation and use of the criminal law can be a critical component in the fight against human rights abuses flowing from harmful practices related to accusations of witchcraft and ritual attacks.

“However, legislation is not the silver bullet many hope for,” says the report. “Enacting new laws, or repealing outdated or harmful ones, is not, on its own, sufficient to bring about changes in attitudes and everyday practices.”

The report advocates the development of comprehensive, victim-centric, and rights-based legal frameworks and implementation packages specifically targeting harmful practices related to accusations of witchcraft and ritual attacks.

These reforms, says the report, should include stringent punishment (excluding the death penalty), provision for rehabilitation, judicial and police training, measures for ensuring the accountability of police and local officials, and proactive educational initiatives at the community level.

“Achieving this will require both strong political commitment and adequate resourcing. Without these complementary efforts, legislation alone is unlikely to deter violence or offer real protection to those at risk, and the current cycle of impunity around witchcraft-belief related harm will likely persist.”

Charlotte Baker, a Professor of French and Critical Disability Studies at Lancaster University’s new School of Global Affairs and who co-authored the report and a key campaigner in the bid to get the UN Resolution passed, said: “Our report underlines the important role of legislation and criminal law in combatting human rights abuses linked to witchcraft accusations and ritual attacks.

“However, our research also shows that laws alone are not enough to change attitudes and behaviours, and so we call for a comprehensive, victim-focused legal framework to tackle this violence, which often affects the most vulnerable members of our societies.”

Hosts and speakers at the launch: International human rights barrister Kirsty Brimelow KC, UN Independent Expert on Albinism Muluka-Anne Miti-Drummond, Professor Charlotte Baker, Lancaster University and Mardoche Yembi, a survivor of witchcraft accusation. Guests will include: representatives from the United Nations Human Rights Council, barristers, members of the House of Lords, MPs, APPGs, policing bodies, NGOs, charities and academics.

 

Kirsty Brimelow, Charlotte Baker and the former UN Independent Expert on Albinism Ikponwosa Ero were key members of the small group who successfully took the Resolution to the UN in Geneva.

Report Authors:

Miranda Forsyth is a Director of the International Network Against Witchcraft Accusations and Ritual Attacks and a professor in the School of Regulation and Global Governance at the Australian National University. Biobele Danagogo is a Research Assistant for the International Network Against Witchcraft Accusations and Ritual Attacks and a PhD student in the School of Law at Lancaster University. Charlotte Baker is a Director of the International Network Against Witchcraft Accusations and Ritual Attacks and a professor in the School of Global Affairs at Lancaster University.

 

Towards better communication schemes for IoT-driven societies

Researchers reveal key limitations in existing techniques for massive connectivity in wireless networks, paving the way to better solutions

Chiba University

Facebook

XLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

Imagine a world where every smart device, from traffic sensors to wearable health monitors, can seamlessly communicate. This vision is at the heart of Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC), a cornerstone of 5G and future 6G mobile networks. Simply put, mMTC aims to connect an unprecedented number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices—up to one million per square kilometer—allowing them to sporadically send small bursts of data. This capability is crucial for advancements in smart cities, autonomous vehicles, and remote healthcare, among many other applications.

 

A key approach to enabling this massive connectivity is through 'grant-free' communication schemes. Unlike traditional cellular communication, where devices must first request permission from a base station to transmit, grant-free schemes allow devices to send data without prior authorization. This simplifies the communication process, significantly reducing processing and power consumption in end devices and scheduling operations in base stations. However, grant-free schemes come with a significant drawback: the increased risk of data collisions when many devices transmit simultaneously, which can lead to network congestion and communication failures.

 

In an effort to tackle these critical challenges, a research team led by Professor Shigeo Shioda from the Graduate School of Informatics, Chiba University, Japan, has developed a comprehensive analytical model to evaluate the performance of grant-free communications schemes. Their paper, which was made available online on Computer Communications on April 22, 2025, and was published in Volume 238 of the journal on June 1, 2025, explores how a widely known grant-free method called 'slotted ALOHA' performs in a densely populated IoT environment. Other members of the team included Mr. Yuki, who is also from Chiba University, and Professor Takeshi Hirai from the Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, The University of Osaka.

 

Worth noting, this paper is an extended version of a study that received the Best Paper Award at ACM MSWiM 2023 (presented at The 26th International Conference on Modeling, Analysis, and Simulation of Wireless and Mobile Systems), an international conference in the field of performance modeling and evaluation of wireless communication systems, ranked as a Core Conference Rank A.

 

The team's approach involved creating a sophisticated analytical model based on stochastic geometry, a mathematical tool for analyzing systems with randomly distributed elements. They assumed that both base stations and IoT devices are scattered across an area in a statistically random yet predictable manner. They then analyzed three different scenarios for slotted ALOHA: a basic version without any special enhancements, a version incorporating an interference cancellation technique called 'NOMA,' and a version employing power control, where devices can adjust their own signal strength. The team focused on two key performance indicators, namely the transmission success probability and base station throughput (how much data a base station can successfully receive in a given time frame).

 

Their findings revealed many complex dynamics for the different ALOHA versions. While interference cancellation improved base station throughput by up to 20% in some cases, it did not resolve what's known as the 'near-far problem.' This is a phenomenon where devices closer to a base station have a much higher chance of successful transmission, while those further away struggle. Surprisingly, the study found that interference cancellation was most effective for devices at intermediate distances, not those very close or very far from the base station. On the other hand, while applying power control successfully addressed the near-far problem and ensured fairer transmission opportunities for all devices, it led to a substantial decrease in overall network performance.

 

"Our study reveals that ALOHA-based communications face an inherent trade-off between two conflicting objectives: fairness, in the sense that devices should have equal opportunities to communicate regardless of their distance from the base station, and throughput, the goal of enabling a single base station to receive data from as many devices as possible," explains Prof. Shioda. "In other words, it is fundamentally difficult to achieve both fairness and maximum throughput simultaneously." This highlights a critical design challenge for future IoT networks, suggesting that relying solely on grant-free schemes might not be feasible to achieve both optimal performance and equitable access.

 

Overall, the results of this study will help guide the development of IoT. Understanding the fundamental trade-offs in communication schemes is crucial for designing next-generation networks that are both efficient and fair. "We have shed light on the inherent limitations of IoT networks that will form the backbone of future IoT-driven societies. These limitations stem from the use of grant-free communication schemes and may potentially be overcome by adopting grant-based schemes. In future work, we intend to explore this possibility further," concludes Prof. Shioda. Exciting applications in such societies include vehicle-to-everything communications, in which vehicles and road infrastructure exchange data, and remote medical care using wearable devices, where high communication reliability is essential for monitoring vital information. With any luck, this study's insights will ultimately lead to more convenient and safer daily lives for everyone.

 

About Professor Shigeo Shioda from Chiba University, Japan

Dr. Shigeo Shioda is the Dean of the Graduate School of Informatics at Chiba University. He received his B.S. in physics from Waseda University in 1986 and his M.S. and Ph.D. in teletraffic engineering from The University of Tokyo. Formerly at NTT, his research spans teletraffic engineering, stochastic processes, and network optimization. He also explores social media analysis, localization, and Wi-Fi sensing. He has authored over 160 publications and received awards from ACM MSWiM, SNAMS, WPMC, and IEEE MASS, among others. Dr. Shioda is a member of IEICE, IEEE, ACM, and a fellow of the Operations Research Society of Japan.

---

Journal

Computer Communications

DOI

10.1016/j.comcom.2025.108177 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Modeling and performance analysis of slotted ALOHA with interference cancellation for mMTC

Article Publication Date

30-Jun-2025

COI Statement

The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships, which may be considered as potential competing interests: Shigeo Shioda reports that financial support was provided by JSPS KAKENHI (Grant Numbers JP22H01480). Takeshi Hirai reports that financial support was provided by the Support Center for Advanced Telecommunications Technology Research (SCAT) and JSPS KAKENHI (Grant Numbers JP23K16868). If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.