Listening to pleasant music has been shown to activate the same receptors in the brain involved in the pleasure of food and sex. Previously, these receptors were thought to be responsible only for the feeling of physical, not aesthetic, pleasure. But new knowledge about their function may find application in the development of music therapy for pain and neuropsychiatric disorders associated with impaired ability to feel pleasure. Research published in European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.
The researchers studied the activity of μ-opioid receptors, which are involved in the feeling of pleasure from so-called primary, or physical, rewards, such as food and sex. To measure the activity of these receptors, the researchers used a radioactive carbon-labeled drug that binds to them. Using positron emission tomography, which helps detect such radioactive compounds, the researchers measured the activation of receptors in different parts of the brain while listening to pleasant music and at rest.
It turned out that listening to music activated opioid receptors in the anterior striatum and orbitofrontal cortex, areas of the brain that contain the so-called hedonistic centers. Activation of these receptors in the nucleus accumbens, which is responsible for feelings of pleasure and reward, led to the release of opioid compounds and the pleasant goosebumps felt when listening to music.
Future research will help understand the role these receptors play in the analgesic, emotional, and cognitive effects of music therapies for mental illnesses, particularly antisocial disorders.
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