Scientists are uncovering the biological reasons behind the pleasure music can give us. — AFP
There's a good chance that you’ve experienced the sensation of a thrill running down your spine when you listen to your favourite song.
What if this ecstasy, both intense and difficult to describe, had its roots in human neurochemistry?
That’s precisely what a Finnish study published in the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging reveals.
It argues that music directly activates the brain’s opioid system – the same network involved in the fundamental pleasures associated with our survival.
To explore this mystery, researchers at the Turku PET Center in Turku, Finland, sought to understand what actually happens in our brains when we listen to a song we like.
Their study used a dual brain imaging technique.
First, they used positron emission tomography (PET) on around 15 volunteers with an average age of 26.
This technique measures chemical activity in the brain by tracking the release of certain substances, such as opioids.
Then, the researchers performed fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) scans on the same participants to record changes in blood flow, and thus, locate the areas of the brain activated when they were listening to music.
The results are unequivocal: listening to your favourite music triggers the release of opioids in several areas of the brain associated with pleasure.
This phenomenon is even more pronounced in people who report experiencing “music-induced chills”, i.e. intense feelings of pleasure that can be accompanied by goose bumps, tingling or sudden emotions.
The more frequent these chills were, the higher the brain activity in the relevant areas of the brain.
In addition, the density of opioid receptors, which varies from person to person, directly influences how the brain responds to music.
In other words, the more opioid receptors we have, the stronger our emotional response to our favourite songs.
“These results show for the first time directly that listening to music activates the brain’s opioid system.
“The release of opioids explains why music can produce such strong feelings of pleasure, even though it is not a primary reward necessary for survival or reproduction, such as food or sexual pleasure,” explains Turku PET Centre academy research fellow Dr Vesa Putkinen in a press release.
Much more than just a source of pleasure, music also has an amazing power to soothe.
Long observed by researchers, this analgesic effect now has a neuromodulator explanation.
“The brain’s opioid system is also involved in pain relief.
“Based on our findings, the previously-observed pain-relieving effects of music may be due to music-induced opioid responses in the brain,” explains the centre’s Human Emotion Systems laboratory lead Professor Dr Lauri Nummenmaa.
These discoveries could well change the way we think about music in the field of health.
In addition to improving our understanding of the mechanisms of musical pleasure, they pave the way for innovative therapeutic approaches.
Integrating music into treatments for pain or mental disorders is no longer a far-fetched idea, but a serious avenue supported by neuroscience.
Because behind the magic of a simple melody, there is a whole chemical orchestra at work in our brains.
Perhaps that’s a great reason to put your headphones back on, close your eyes and let yourself be carried away by the universal, mysterious and deeply human pleasure that is music. – AFP Relaxnews
