Intensely pleasurable responses to music correlate with activity in brain regions implicated in reward and emotion.
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Non-randomized observational neuroimaging laboratory study graded by design analogy.
PubMed 11573015 · doi:10.1073/pnas.191355898
What was done
Researchers used positron emission tomography (PET) to measure changes in regional cerebral blood flow while participants listened to subject-selected music designed to elicit intensely pleasurable responses ("chills" or "shivers-down-the-spine"). Subjective reports of chill intensity were recorded alongside continuous physiological monitoring of heart rate, electromyography, and respiration.
What was found
The abstract reports no numerical values or statistical effect sizes. Subjective reports of musical chills were accompanied by concurrent changes in heart rate, electromyography, and respiration. As chill intensity increased, cerebral blood flow increases and decreases were observed in brain regions involved in reward/motivation, emotion, and arousal, including the ventral striatum, midbrain, amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex, and ventral medial prefrontal cortex.
Why it matters
This study provides biological evidence that abstract, aesthetic stimuli like music engage the same evolutionary reward and emotion circuitry typically activated by survival-related rewards such as food, sex, and drugs of abuse.
Limits
The abstract does not disclose the sample size, participant characteristics, or precise statistical metrics (such as effect sizes or p-values). Additionally, the correlational PET design and use of individualized, subject-selected music make it impossible to isolate the specific acoustic features driving the neural changes based on the abstract alone.
Cited by
- contradicts A PET neuroimaging study by Anne Blood and Robert Zatorre showed that listening to music that induces goosebumps or shivers activates the insula and amygdala.