We all take for granted that music is a universal source of pleasure. We use it to encourage, concentrate, celebrate or cope with a break. But, on the other hand, there is a small percentage of the population for which to listen to their ‘favorite’ song is as exciting as hearing the white noise of a signal without a sign. And it is not that they have bad taste or are weird, but that they suffer specific musical anhedonia.
A recent review article Posted by researchers from the University of Barcelona and the University of McGill deepens why some people are immune to the charms of music. And the answer is not in his ears, but in a peculiar disconnection in the ‘circuits’ of his brain.
The idea that someone does not like music may sound strange. However, researchers through tools such as Barcelona musical reward questionnaire (BMRQ) He has identified a group of people who, despite having a perfect audition and enjoying other pleasure sources such as food, money or sex, are completely indifferent to any song.
This condition has been baptized as Specific Musical Anhedonia. These people can recognize whether a song is sad or cheerful, but they feel absolutely anything. They do not experience chills, their skin is not bristling or feeling the impulse to move to the rhythm of music. For them music is simply one more sound. With nothing more background.
Studies have shown that these people have no problem feeling pleasure in general. By offering these patients rewards such as money, their brains and physiological responses such as sweating or heart rate, they responded as expected. And totally equal to the reaction presented by music lovers. But when listening to a song that this abysmal difference of emotion was presented.
It is not an ear problem, it is a “wiring” problem
The problem is in the reward system. We have all humans in our brain, and it is the responsible for feeling pleasure When eating chocolate, having sex or seeking security. This is where the classic animal experiment appears, where a mouse can have an electrode right in the area of this reward system and a button in front that by pressing it throws a download. Such is pleasure, that the mouse will not hesitate to be pressing it repeatedly to have that same feeling again and again, as if it were an orgasm.
And this is where this investigation has been focused. Using one functional magnetic resonance (FMRI), the researchers observed what happened in these people’s brain while listening to music. With this test you can easily see the parts of the brain that are stimulated when receiving a stimulus.
The results were revealing. When music sounded, its auditory bark (the part of the brain that processes the sound) They were activated normally. However, the Accumbens nucleus, a key region of the brain reward circuit, remained completely inactive. It is the center of pleasure, which lights up when we eat chocolate, we won a bet or fall in love. But in these patients, no stimulus appeared with music and remained dark.
The problem, therefore, is not in the pieces, but in the wiring, which is what is known as brain tracks. The investigation specifically indicates a functional and structural disconnection between the auditory cortex (specifically in the upper right temporary turn) and the Accumbens nucleus. It is like having a plug and bulb that work perfectly, but the cable that UNE is damaged or directly does not exist.
You can have a genetic component. A recent study with twins has thrown more firewood on the fire, demonstrating that sensitivity to musical reward has a genetic component of up to 54%. And most importantly: these genes are, for the most part, independent of those who regulate musical perception or the general ability to feel pleasure. This reinforces the idea that enjoying music is a different and specific biological capacity.
Interestingly, there is also the opposite phenomenon: the Musicophilia. An exacerbated passion already obsessive for music. Different cases of people who, after a stroke or an operation have been documented, developed a compulsive desire to listen to music, something that was previously indifferent to them. This shows that specific brain circuits can both cancel and enhance our emotional connection with music.
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