{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,16]],"date-time":"2026-02-16T06:05:55Z","timestamp":1771221955199,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":75,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,16]],"date-time":"2026-02-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1771200000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Music is widely recognized as a powerful elicitor of embodied emotion, yet the precise mechanisms by which auditory patterns are translated into specific bodily feelings remain underspecified. Existing models of contagion and entrainment often lack granular mappings between musical features and distinct interoceptive states. This article proposes a novel theoretical framework viewing musical emotion as an instance of active interoceptive inference. I argue that musical structures (e.g., rhythm, dynamics, timbre) function as \u201cpseudo-interoceptive\u201d evidence. Within a hierarchical generative model, the brain integrates these cues with actual physiological signals and extramusical context to infer the somatic state of a \u201cvirtual body\u201d implied by the music. Conceptually, this approach extends bottom-up theories by emphasizing top-down predictions. It is posited that the resulting conscious experience is a composite: it blends the listener\u2019s genuine physiological arousal\u2014serving as an energetic substrate\u2014with the simulated affective qualia of the virtual persona. To illustrate this, principled mappings are proposed between musical parameters and internal states, specifically focusing on cardiac and pain-like sensations. Analyses of works by Mozart, Schubert, Berlioz, Beethoven, and Verdi demonstrate how composers manipulate these cues to drive a relatively high level of precision-weighted prediction error, thereby sustaining attention and fostering immersion as the music unfolds. Ultimately, this framework redefines music-induced emotion as a \u201ccontrolled hallucination\u201d of bodily change, offering new insights into aesthetic empathy and the therapeutic potential of music.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1759699","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,16]],"date-time":"2026-02-16T05:19:04Z","timestamp":1771219144000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Music-induced emotion as controlled hallucination: an active interoceptive inference account"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Chen-Gia","family":"Tsai","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Graduate Institute of Musicology, National Taiwan University","place":["Taipei, Taiwan"]},{"name":"Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, National Taiwan University","place":["Taipei, Taiwan"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1577","DOI":"10.3390\/brainsci12111577","article-title":"Musical experience relates to insula-based functional connectivity in older adults","volume":"12","author":"Ai","year":"2022","journal-title":"Brain Sci."},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e3002239","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pbio.3002239","article-title":"Functional geometry of auditory cortical resting state networks derived from intracranial electrophysiology","volume":"21","author":"Banks","year":"2023","journal-title":"PLoS Biol."},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1833","DOI":"10.1093\/scan\/nsx060","article-title":"The theory of constructed emotion: an active inference account of interoception and categorization","volume":"12","author":"Barrett","year":"2017","journal-title":"Soc. 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