What we found
This is a first pass through a rich dataset, so what follows is preliminary and subject to further checks. Two relationships stood out. The first centres on a single recurring pattern, labelled "microstate E" in the player above and shown there in blue. Its presence over time rose and fell in step with the orange line, which records how strongly listeners reported feeling they were part of the musical features. Of all the patterns measured, Microstate E was the only one to correlate with this feeling, although Microstates A, B, and C are also shown for comparison.
The second relationship is one you can explore for yourself. As Bliss Code 000 plays, watch the blue Microstate E line: it tends to climb as new sounds and layers enter and grow, and to ease as the musical features clear. Look at the moments where it peaks, dips, rises and falls, and listen for what the music is doing there. Further analysis is needed to quantify exactly what in the music is shifting at these points.
What it suggests
These observations are intriguing because of what microstate E has been associated with elsewhere. In other research it has been linked to the brain's salience network - the system that picks out whatever matters most in a given moment, integrating signals from the outside world with sensations from inside the body. That offers a natural reading of a brain state responding to new musical information arriving, and to the feeling of being drawn into it.
A neural marker like this hints at a way to read musical attention and embodiment directly from the brain. If it holds up as the research develops, that could open practical uses: tools that help music studios gauge how a mix holds a listener, techniques for shaping live sets and the spaces they happen in, and sound designed more deliberately for focus or relaxation.
A full technical manuscript, with the complete analysis and statistics, will be written up and shared with the research community at a later date.
To follow the project as it develops, sign up for updates using the form on this page. For specific questions, you are welcome to contact the project manager, Oliver Durcan, using the contact details at the foot of the site.
Further reading
Custo, A., Van De Ville, D., Wells, W. M., Tomescu, M. I., Brunet, D., & Michel, C. M. (2017). Electroencephalographic resting-state networks: source localization of microstates. Brain connectivity, 7(10), 671-682.
Tarailis, P., Koenig, T., Michel, C. M., & Griškova-Bulanova, I. (2024). The functional aspects of resting EEG microstates: a systematic review. Brain topography, 37(2), 181-217.
Yaden, D. B., Haidt, J., Hood Jr, R. W., Vago, D. R., & Newberg, A. B. (2017). The varieties of self-transcendent experience. Review of general psychology, 21(2), 143-160.