Bravo F, et al. - Employing functional MRI (fMRI), researchers examined how the brain codes emotional value when processing musical stimuli of contrasting levels of tonal dissonance, strictly controlled by changes in interval content. In line with previous evidence, behavioral findings supported the association between increased dissonance and negative emotion. As per findings, tonal dissonance manipulation through systematically controlled changes in interval content evoked contrasting valence ratings but no significant influences on either arousal or potency. Neuroscientific findings showed that participants listened to dissonant vs consonant music exhibit an engagement of the left medial prefrontal cortex and the left rostral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), supporting the studies proposing a core role of these regions during conflict monitoring (detection and resolution), and in the appraisal of negative emotion and fear-related information. Stronger functional connectivity was observed between the left and right primary auditory cortices and the ACC during the dissonant portion of the task, inferring a demand for greater information integration when processing negatively valenced musical stimuli. The findings thereby illustrate the possible application of the systematic control of musical dissonance to isolate valence from the arousal dimension, facilitating novel access to the neural representation of negative emotion.