From Lab to Concert Hall: Effects of Live Performance on Neural Entrainment and Engagement

Live music performances continue to captivate audiences despite widespread availability of high-quality recordings, yet the neural mechanisms underlying this enhanced experience remain poorly understood. This study investigates the effect of live versus recorded music on neural entrainment using phase-based approaches. 21 participants listened to 2 live and 2 recorded performances of fast and slow movements of J.S. Bach’s works for the solo violin in a concert hall setting, while their EEG data were collected. Participants made behavioral ratings of engagement, spontaneity, pleasure, investment, focus, and distraction after each trial. Live performances were rated as more engaging, pleasurable, and spontaneous than recorded performances. Live trials showed significantly higher acoustic-EEG phase-locking than recorded trials in frequencies specific to the tempo of the excerpts. Furthermore, the effect of liveness on phase-locking was linked to increases in pleasure and engagement for live over recorded trials. Control analyses confirmed that the effects of liveness on phase-locking were not explained by low-level acoustic differences between performances. Altogether, results provide the first evidence that live music enhances cerebro-acoustic phase-locking, and that this enhanced entrainment underlies the heightened affective experience of live performance, supporting theories of music as a vehicle for social bonding through shared neural dynamics.