How your music taste can reflect what you think

According to the study, researchers have shown that thinking patterns whether a person was an 'empathiser' who liked to focus on and respond to the emotions of others, or a 'systemiser' who liked to analyse rules and patterns in the world-was a predictor of the type of music people like.

In the study, the researchers argued that musical preferences reflect explicit characteristics such as age and personality.

The team of scientists has looked at how our 'cognitive style' influences our musical choices. This is measured by looking at whether an individual scores highly on 'empathy' or on 'systemizing or whether we have a balance of both.

The results proved consistent even within specified genres: empathizers' preferred mellow, unpretentious jazz, while systemisers preferred intense, sophisticated (complex and avant-garde) jazz.

Senior author Dr Jason Rentfrow said that this line of research highlights how music is a mirror of the self, adding music is an expression of who we are emotionally, socially, and cognitively.

Based on their findings, the researchers believe following songs are likely to fit particular styles: High on empathy-Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley, Come away with me - Norah Jones, All of me - Billie Holliday, Crazy little thing called love - Queen and High on systemizing, Concerto in C - Antonio Vivaldi, Etude Opus 65 No 3-Alexander Scriabin, God save the Queen - The Sex Pistols, Enter the Sandman - Metallica.

The study is published in the journal PLOS ONE.