Document Type

Article

Publication Title

ISRG Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

Abstract

Neuroaesthetic frequency tuning posits that deliberate selection of musical parameters can modulate large-scale neural systems to support emotional memory retrieval and cognitive regulation in neurodivergent populations. Drawing on contemporary evidence from network neuroscience, cognitive musicology, and affective science, the article synthesizes how rhythmic, harmonic, and lyrical structures align with Default Mode (DM), fronto-parietal control, salience, motor, and limbic systems, and how these alignments can be targeted to balance internally oriented mentation with task engagement. The theory further integrates autonomic and cellular mechanisms, describing how tempo and spectral energy shift arousal and heart rate variability, and how astrocytic ensembles contribute to consolidation and reactivation of emotionally salient memory traces. The argument advances specific mappings: structured baroque and film-score textures to stabilize attention and downregulate DM dominance; steady rhythmic entrainment to engage motor timing circuits and improve executive timing; improvisational forms to stimulate creative recombination through salience-mediated switching; and autobiographically meaningful lyricism to unlock autobiographical memory via limbic pathways. A translational schema is proposed that links assessment of attentional profile, sensory preference, and autobiographical salience to a dosing rubric for frequency, tempo, predictability, and lyrical density, with measurement through behavior, EEG, and heart rate variability. The model yields testable predictions regarding responder profiles, dose–response curves, and network-specific outcomes in attention and emotional regulation. The article concludes that neuroaesthetic frequency tuning offers a theoretically coherent, mechanistically plausible, and ethically tractable basis for precision music intervention in education and clinical practice for neurodivergent communities. Future research should refine protocols and validate outcomes across settings.

Research Highlights

  • The Problem: A lack of falsifiable, network-informed frameworks that link specific musical parameters to neural targets for emotional memory and cognitive regulation in neurodivergent populations. 

  • The Method: A theoretical synthesis of network neuroscience, cognitive musicology, and affective science mapping musical features (tempo, rhythmic regularity, harmonic predictability, spectral energy, and lyric density) to large-scale brain networks like the Default Mode, salience, motor, and limbic systems. 

  • Qualitative Finding: Structured, mid-tempo textures stabilize attention and downregulate Default Mode dominance; rhythmic entrainment engages motor timing circuits; improvisational forms facilitate creative switching via the salience network; autobiographically meaningful lyrics activate limbic pathways for memory retrieval. 

  • Finding: Neuroaesthetic frequency tuning provides a mechanistically plausible basis for precision music interventions in clinical and educational settings by matching stimulus "doses" to individual neurodivergent responder profiles.

Publication Date

1-2026

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