New music excites our brains, literally
A study published in the journal Science has found that the part of our brains that handle reward are activated when we hear a new song and the connections get stronger the more we enjoy it.
The study, at the Montreal Neurological Centre at McGill University, played 60 excerpts of new music to 19 volunteers based on their musical preferences, and gave them the opportunity to buy the ones they liked in a mock online music store.
Participants’ brain activity was monitored in an MRI machine and the scientists found that the nucleus accumbens – part of the brain’s pleasure centre – lit up when the music was played, and they could predict whether the participant was likely to buy a song depending on the level of activity. The researchers also found that the nucleus accumbens was interacting with another region of the brain called the auditory cortical stores – the area that holds sound information of music we’ve heard before.
Dr Valorie Salimpoor from the Rotman Research Institute explained:
“We know that the nucleus accumbens is involved with reward […] but music is abstract: It’s not like you are really hungry and you are about to get a piece of food and you are really excited about it because you are going to eat it – or the same thing applies to sex or money – that’s when you would normally see activity in the nucleus accumbens.”
“What’s cool is that you’re anticipating and getting excited over something entirely abstract – and that’s the next sound that is coming up.”
The researchers now want to find out how these findings influence our tastes, and whether specific brain activity can explain why we all different types of music.
