Posted on 01/22/2019 3:06:31 PM PST by ETL
An international team of researchers has found evidence of dopamine in the brain playing a role in the pleasure people feel when they listen to music. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes experiments they carried out with volunteers who were given a dopamine precursor or antagonist and what they found.
People are known to experience a range of emotions when listening to music, from annoyance to euphoria. And while researchers have long believed that at least some of the pleasure people derive from listening to music is tied to an increase in brain dopamine levels, the idea had never been tested until now. In this new effort, the researchers gave volunteers drugs that increased or decreased their dopamine levels and then administered various tests to gauge whether doing so caused a change in the experience of musical pleasure.
In the study, 27 volunteers were given either levodopa, a dopamine precursor that raises levels of the neurotransmitter in the brain, or risperidone which has the opposite effect. Some were also given a placebo. Over the course of three separate sessions (on different days), the volunteers were asked to listen to music for a period of 20 minutes. Some of the songs were chosen by the experimenters and others were chosen by the volunteers themselves. Pleasure responses were measured via a skin sensor that measured electrodermal activity (goosebumps) and through questionnaires. They also asked each of the volunteers if they would be willing to buy the songs they were listening to, and if so, how much they would be willing to pay for them.
The researchers found that those volunteers who received levodopa reported experiencing more pleasure while listening to music than did the placebo group. They were also more willing to buy the music and to pay more for it. Conversely, those given risperidone reported experiencing less pleasure and were less willing to pay for the music.
The researchers suggest their findings indicate that dopamine plays a major role in the pleasure sensations that people experience from listening to music. They further suggest that their experiments indicate that enjoyment of music can be regulated by the use of drugs that impact dopamine levels.
Yeah I’d need a dopamine boost to listen to any of that.
“A couple of doobies and ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ worked for me back in the day..”
Oh hell yeah. That and “Meddle”.
I see you like to listen to lunatic drug addicts. :). Lol.
“Dear Sirs:
I meant to write “Clapton is good.”
I hope I didn’t cause any confusion.
An urchin
London”
HA HA HAh ha ha
The surprising finding would have been no effect - both drugs same as placebo.
“Chopinine”
And I thought I was the only classical music buff on FR.
If I had Chopin’s talent, my piano would be surrounded by beautiful women, too.
;^)
“Careful about giving Sinemet(L-Dopa) to normal volunteers
It drives compulsive, delusional behavior, and hallucinations”
Yes. And risperidone could have negative effects.
But I think for l-dopa it happens under chronic use. It takes time to build up.
I’d be more worried about acute effects with risperidone.
“dopamine in the brain playing a role in the pleasure people feel when they listen to music”
Duh! They should have saved the money for this “study”-and just asked us who are fans of psychedelic and heavy music how it has always worked-open a beer, light up a joint crank up the stereo with Pink Floyd, Cream, Led Zeppelin, etc, have a drink take a toke, lie on the floor, get into the music and feel; pleasure-repeat as desired.
Maybe they needed to use the L-dopamine to bring the human lab rats pleasure because that playlist totally sucks...
‘Zat you Joycelyn?
I’ve always loved classical music especially the romantic period. People that love classical music must have a different neurochemistry and circuitry than most of the population.
So why did the audience riot and tear up the seats at the Paris premiere of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring? What is the explanation?
And what type music is it that causes this? I don’t need drugs to enjoy Mozart, Bach, Verdi or Wagner. But then I also like QUEEN, BLONDIE and BOB WILLS, and Cab Calloway.
Where can I get some?
I like it all but Gangsta Rap, But I’m from the 60’s, not many bands were sober... Lol
As a nutritionist, an audiophile, and a musician, I classify this under:
Zero Surprise.
Eric K is known for his song - Lai-laa
From 5 years old was taught classical music on piano. Then got into the Beatles, the Stones, Cream and all that. You are right we are different how we perceive and interpret.
Dunno dopamine, but years ago it was attributed to an endorphin release. Is that the same thing?
I understand that some jam bands used to rehearse material that had been known to give audience and band members that musical high. I’ve felt it a few times. Once at an Allman Bros encore of One Way Put at RFK with the Dead, and another time during a rehearsal, the sound msn caught it on tape but the replay didn’t repeat the experience. Maybe it has something to do with physical sound waves and the inner ear.
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