Your Favorite Musician Tells More About Your Brain Than You Ever Thought

A new study from the University of Cambridge says an individual's favorite musical artist can give away clues about the way they think, The Independent reported.

The study revealed interesting findings about particular musical artists. For instance, it was noted that Queen fans show better responses to other people's emotions whereas Sex Pistols fans tend to be more organized.

The researchers who conducted the study said that they think some people like to analyze rules and patterns around them, they call them 'systemizers', and some others tend to focus on other's emotions and respond to those better, they are called 'empathizers.' They said that an individual's favorite musician can predict which part of the spectrum they stand on.

For instance, they observed that people who are considered empathisers are more likely to choose genres such as folk, R&B, electronica, soft rock and Euro pop while systemizers showed higher preference for genres like heavy metal, punk, hard rock.

The study was published in The Plos One journal with the title "Musical Preferences Are Linked to Cognitive Styles." The leading author of the study David Greenberg is both a PhD student and a jazz saxophonist by training. He said: "Although people's music choices fluctuate over time, we have discovered a person's empathy levels and thinking style predicts what kind of music they like. In fact, their cognitive style- whether they are strong on empathy or strong on systems- can be a better predictor of what music they like than their personality," reported by The Independent.

Another senior author of the study Jason Rentfrow made emphasis on the fact that the taste in music can reveal a lot of things about an individual. He said : "This line of research highlights how music is a mirror of the self. Music is an expression of who we are emotionally, socially, and cognitively."

Researchers believe that their findings can provide insight for music streaming services such as Apple Music and Spotify, for customizing playlists for their listeners depending on their personality type, The Independent reported.