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Although both target articles develop compelling theories on the evolutionary origins of music, the current commentary will focus on the neurobiological model underlying the music and social bonding (MSB) hypothesis. In their model, the authors propose key neural systems underlying the social bonding function of music. Accordingly, they predict that individuals with disruptions to these neural systems may show altered responses to music. One such prediction is that “special populations with high sociability may respond well to musical features especially when coupled with social stimuli” (sect. 5.4, para. 2). Although it is not exactly clear what “respond well” means in this case (let's assume this means that individuals with heightened sociability will also show heightened social and/or emotional responsiveness to music), one could also consider the converse prediction, that individuals with abnormally low social functioning may not respond emotionally to music.
When thinking of populations with disrupted social functioning, one can look toward the neuropsychological literature: A rich history of literature demonstrates that individuals with damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) show substantial changes in their social and affective behaviors (for review, see Schneider & Koenigs, 2017). The vmPFC is highlighted by Savage and colleagues as a critical component of the neuroanatomical model underlying the MSB hypothesis (see Fig. 3). Because the authors claim that this system is “involved causally in the link between music and social bonding” (sect. 4.2, para. 2), a useful approach might be to consider whether the behavior of individuals with damage to the vmPFC aligns with...