Psilocybin and Contrasting Musical Compositions: Effects on Music-Evoked Emotional Responses in Healthy Adults

Psilocybin can alter certain emotional responses to music, while the type of music also shapes the emotional experience.

This exploratory, double-blind, placebo-controlled study investigated how psilocybin (0.26 mg/kg) and different musical compositions influence emotional responses to music in healthy adults. In the first stage (n=19), participants rated eight compositions from different genres; a classical/baroque piece had the highest overall pleasantness, while a psytrance piece showed the largest psilocybin–placebo difference and these two compositions were therefore selected for the second stage (n=17).

During the plateau phase of psilocybin, participants reported significantly greater wonder, transcendence and joyful activation than with placebo across both compositions, but there was no significant effect of psilocybin on the overall GEMS-9 emotional score. The musical compositions themselves produced distinct emotional profiles: compared with psytrance, classical music elicited greater peacefulness, tenderness and nostalgia, whereas psytrance elicited greater tension, regardless of drug condition. There was also a significant music × drug interaction for sadness: under placebo, sadness was higher with psytrance, whereas under psilocybin it was higher with classical music, although absolute sadness ratings were relatively low.

Overall, the findings suggest that psilocybin and musical composition each influence specific dimensions of music-evoked emotion, with relatively limited interaction between them, rather than demonstrating that psilocybin generally intensifies emotional responses to music. The study was small and exploratory, conducted in healthy volunteers in a controlled setting, so the findings should be considered preliminary and cannot establish whether particular musical styles produce different therapeutic outcomes.

Abstract

Music is a central component of psychedelic settings, yet little experimental work has examined how psilocybin and musical composition influence music-evoked emotional responses in healthy volunteers. This exploratory, double-blind, placebo-controlled study assessed these effects during the plateau phase of psilocybin and the corresponding time window in placebo sessions following oral administration of psilocybin (0.26 mg/kg) or placebo.

The study consisted of two parts. In Part 1 (n = 19), a pilot stage, the first half of participants rated music-induced affective valence for eight compositions representing different genres/subgenres (Rock/Punk, Metal/Industrial Metal, Metal/Industrial Metal, Classical/Baroque, Electronic/Dub, Folk/Nordic Folk, Electronic/Techno, Electronic/Trance, Electronic/Psytrance) using a visual analogue scale (VAS). Based on Part 1, the classical composition with the highest overall affective valence and the psytrance composition with the largest psilocybin–placebo contrast (i.e., the composition most responsive to psilocybin) were selected for Part 2 (n = 17), in which the second half of participants assessed emotional responses to music using the Geneva Emotional Music Scale (GEMS-9). Psilocybin increased wonder, transcendence, and joyful activation across both contrasting compositions.

Relative to each other, the classical composition elicited greater peacefulness, tenderness, and nostalgia, whereas the psytrance composition elicited greater tension across both psilocybin and placebo conditions. A composition × condition interaction was observed for sadness: under psilocybin, sadness increased during the classical composition and decreased during the psytrance composition. These findings suggest that psilocybin and contrasting musical compositions independently influence different aspects of music-evoked emotional responses, with limited interaction effects, and point to potential implications for protocol design and music selection in psychedelic settings.

Dojčánová D, Tylš F, Nikolič M, Novák T, Viktorin V, Bravermanová A, Viktorinová M, Androvičová R, Andrashko V, Korčák J, Zach P, Horáček J, Brunovský M, Páleníček T. Psilocybin and Contrasting Musical Compositions: Effects on Music-Evoked Emotional Responses in Healthy Adults. medRxiv. 2026. doi: 10.64898/2026.09.09.26362648. Posted September 23, 2026. Read Paper

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