A Symphony of Genres: Driving Information Dynamics in Functional Brain Networks

While the influence of music on brain networks is well-established as a behavioral and cognitive phenomenon, how different musical genres modulate these networks remains an open question. In this study, we analyzed a publicly available 128-channel EEG dataset recorded from 20 participants during eyes-closed listening to 12 music genres. To investigate genre-specific effects, we constructed directed information flow networks using transfer entropy. The backbone of these networks was then extracted using a two-stage pipeline comprising sparse encoder auto-denoising followed by an entropy-based inter-subject stability filter. Our analysis revealed that music listening significantly alters information routing within brain networks. Critically, different musical genres induced distinct patterns of neural integration. Rhythmically and structurally complex music was associated with enhanced integration within a “super-rich club” of hub regions. In contrast, ambient and traditional genres promoted more distributed and differentiated patterns of connectivity. Hub and centrality analyses further identified genre-specific effects on particular brain regions. While eight of the twelve genres elicited largely homogeneous network effects, two genres produced distinct regional signatures: Soft Jazz specifically engaged the left parieto-occipital region, whereas Progressive Instrumental Rock preferentially modulated the right posterior parieto-temporal region. These findings demonstrate that music listening evokes genre-dependent reorganization of information flow in functional brain networks, with only with only four genres recruiting a super-rich-club regime.