New Music Is Rewarding for the Brain, Study Finds

A series of experiments carried out at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital have led researchers to the conclusion that, whenever introduced to new music, the human brain labels the experience as a rewarding one.

Furthermore, the scientists who conducted this investigation maintain that, by analyzing data collected with the help of fMRI (functional resonance imaging) they can predict with a high degree of accuracy how likely a person is to purchase a song shortly after having listened to it for the first time ever.

These experiments concerning how the brain responds to new pieces of music were carried out on several volunteers.

All of them were asked to listen to a total of 60 music excerpts they were unfamiliar with prior to their taking part in these investigations.

While the volunteers were busy listening to the music assigned to them by the researchers, the latter kept a close eye on their brain activity.

It was thus discovered that the practice of listening to previously unheard music stimulates certain regions in the brain which are associated with expectations of reward, Zee News informs us.

The brain area now said to be stimulated by new songs is known to the scientific community as the nucleus accumbens.

Apparently, the greater the stimulation in this region of the brain, the greater the chances that the volunteers would be willing to purchase a certain piece of music when given the opportunity to do so.

“When people listen to a piece of music they have never heard before, activity in one brain region can reliably and consistently predict whether they will like or buy it, this is the nucleus accumbens which is involved in forming expectations that may be rewarding,” lead researcher Dr. Valorie Salimpoor commented with respect to the findings of these experiments.

“Activity in the nucleus accumbens is an indicator that expectations were met or surpassed, and in our study we found that the more activity we see in this brain area while people are listening to music, the more money they are willing to spend,” said specialist went on to argue.

Apparently, a pleasant new song need also be held accountable for facilitating the cross-talk between the nucleus accumbens and the auditory cortex, the latter being the one responsible for storing information concerning music and sound.