Enjoying music is considered a subjective experience. What one person finds satisfying can find another person annoying. Music theorists have long stressed that although musical taste is relative, our pleasure of music, whether classical or heavy metal, arises, among other things, from structural features of music, such as chord or rhythm patterns that generate anticipation and expectation. Now researchers from the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital of McGill University have proven that it is possible to increase or decrease our pleasure in music and our desire for more by improving or disrupting certain brain circuits.

Music brain research

Previous studies using brain images, have shown that listening to enjoyable music engages brain circuits involved in reward prediction and surprise, known as the fronto-striatal circuits. However, no one has ever tested whether these circuits are essential to musical reward, or whether they can be manipulated, leading to changes in subjective and physiological measures of experienced musical pleasure. To modulate the functioning of the fronto-striatal circuits, the researchers from Robert Zatorre's laboratory used a non-invasive brain stimulation technique, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), which uses magnetic pulses to control selected parts of the brain stimulate or brake. In this case, the researchers applied TMS to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Brain imaging studies have shown that stimulation over this area modulates the functioning of the fronto-striatal circuits, leading to the release of dopamine, a major neurotransmitter in reward processing.

Brain music behavior

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