# Method for Using Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) to Explore Music-Induced Brain Activation in Orchestral Musicians in Concert

## TL;DR

This paper explores how brain activity of orchestral musicians changes during performances using fNIRS technology.

## Contribution

The study introduces protocols for using fNIRS to measure brain activation in real-time during live musical performances.

## Key findings

- Protocols were developed to measure brain activation in musicians during seven sequential concerts.
- fNIRS was used to project brain activation to an audience in real-time using OxySoft software.
- The study suggests fNIRS can reveal brain dynamics during artistic performance in natural settings.

## Abstract

The act of performing music may induce a specific state of mind, musicians potentially becoming immersed and detached from the rest of the world. May this be measured? Does this state of mind change based on repetition? In collaboration with Stavanger Symphony Orchestra (SSO), we developed protocols to investigate ongoing changes in the brain activation of a first violinist and a second violinist in real time during seven sequential, public concerts using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Using wireless fNIRS systems (Brite MKII) from Artinis, we measured ongoing hemodynamic changes and projected the brain activation to the audience through the software OxySoft 3.5.15.2. We subsequently developed protocols for further analyses through the Matlab toolboxes Brainstorm and Homer2/Homer3. Our developed protocols demonstrate how one may use “functional dissection” to imply how the state of mind of musicians may alter while performing their art. We focused on a subset of cortical regions in the right hemisphere, but the current study demonstrates how fNIRS may be used to shed light on brain dynamics related to producing art in ecological and natural contexts on a general level, neither restricted to the use of musical instrument nor art form.