A conference presented virtually by Léger, Sénécal and Boasen on May 31st, 2020 at "Music and the Brain: A Story of Immersion" organized by St Edmund Hall Centre for the Creative Brain.

1. PIERRE-MAJORIQUE LÉGER, Ph.D.
SYLVAIN SÉNÉCAL, Ph.D.
Co-directors Tech3Lab
JARED BOASEN, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow, Tech3Lab
Opera meets
Neuroscience

3. © Copyright Tech3Lab 2020
Jared Boasen, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Marie-Odile
Duchesneau
UX Intern
Félix Giroux
Doctoral Student
Zi-Su Zhao
UX Intern
Project Team
Pierre-Majorique
Léger, Ph.D.
Director ERPsim Lab
Co-direct0r Tech3Lab
pml@hec.ca
Co-direct0r Tech3Lab
ss@hec.ca
FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Sylvain Senecal, Ph.D.

4. © Copyright Léger (2020)
200 3000PROJECTS RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS
10YEARS

5. 7 experiment rooms
© Copyright Tech3Lab 2020

6. NEUTRAL
HAPPY
SAD
DISCUSTED
ANGRY
SURPRISED
SCARED
State of the Art Neurophysiological Tools

7. © Copyright Léger (2020)
Applied Neuroscience to Inform Design

8. © Copyright Léger (2020)
Music experience research program
POETRY HEAVY METAL POP MUSIC
Neuroscience Background
▪▪ working memory
▪▪ aging
▪▪ communication
▪▪ music
Jared Boasen, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow

9. © Copyright Léger (2020)
The neuroscience of music
MUSIC PERCEPTION
▪▪ brain waves cohere to the beat1
▪▪ music recruits reward network2
▪▪ inter-brain coherence predicts enjoyment3
1) Kaneshiro, B., Nguyen, D. T., Norcia, A. M., Dmochowski, J. P., & Berger, J. (2020). Natural music evokes correlated EEG responses reflecting temporal structure and beat. NeuroImage.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116559
2) Matthews, T. E., Witek, M. A. G., Lund, T., Vuust, P., & Penhune, V. B. (2020). The sensation of groove engages motor and reward networks. NeuroImage.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116768
3) Hou, Y., Song, B., Hu, Y., Pan, Y., & Hu, Y. (2020). The averaged inter-brain coherence between the audience
and a violinist predicts the popularity of violin performance. NeuroImage.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116655

10. Understanding
the operatic experience
LIVECINEMATIC

11. Cinematic Opera
HIGH-FIDELITY VIBROKINETICS
(HFVK)
▪▪ How do HFVK stimuli affect
the experience?
BIZET’S CARMEN, OPÉRA ROYAL
DE WALLONIE-LIEGE (2018)
HFVK PERFECTLY ALIGNED
TO AUDIO
INTERCORTICAL COHERENCE

12. Cinematic Opera
HOW DO SUBTITLES AFFECT THE
EXPERIENCE?
▪▪ Subtitles improved comprehension
▪▪ Facial expressions exhibited more
sadness when reading subtitles
SUBTITLE VIEWING

13. © Copyright Léger (2020)
Live Opera
ADAPTING DATA COLLECTION TO REAL-LIFE

14. © Copyright Léger (2020)
Live Opera
HYPERSCANNING SETUP
▪▪ 6 performances
▪▪ 5 participants/performance
RECORDING AREA

15. © Copyright Léger (2020)
Live Opera
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SHARED EXPERIENCE
▪▪ To what extent is the experience shared in the brain?
INTER-BRAIN COHERENCE
▪▪ Does synchronized brain activity correspond with
enjoyment of the experience?

16. © Copyright Léger (2020)
Major takeaways
for service design
▪▪ Collaboration can be a path forward
▪▪ Neuroscience to inform service design

17. Major takeaways for applied neuroscience
▪▪ Understanding the true response of a user
▪▪ Solving real-life issues

18. © Copyright Léger (2020)
Next Steps
▪▪ Entertainment in the post-COVID era
▪▪ Optimize the design of at-home
consumption models
▪▪ Develop protocol for remote
neuroscientific experimentation

19. Thank you!
2019-2020