Good music releases neurotransmitters in our brains

LAURI KUBUITSILE
Correspondent | Wednesday January 26, 2011 00:00

It is released both at the anticipation stage, before we actually listen to the music, and when we are at the peak of enjoyment. It is released from different sites in the brain at each stage.  This is the first time that scientists have shown an abstract rewarding experience could release dopamine, which is usually released in response to activities such as taking drugs, having sex or eating.  According to the researchers, it also shows that these neurological pathways that respond to music are ancient and, though music has no obvious survival benefit, this response has been found across societies.

In the study conducted at the Montral Neurological Institute and Hospital (The Neuro) at McGill University in conjunction with The Centre of Interdisciplinary Research in Music, Media and Technology (CIRMMT) the researchers used two types of brain imagining in a unique way to uncover what takes place in the brain while study participants listened to music. They used functional magnetic resonance imagery (fMRI) and positron emission topography (PET). The fMRI allowed them to see which areas of the brain became active when the participants listened to the music and the PET revealed the chemicals and receptors that were activated. This was a unique and novel approach for using these technologies.

It has been established in previous studies that certain people feel chills, which include goose bumps and chills down their spine, when listening to music that they enjoy. In this study they wanted to find out what is going on in the brain when these chills are experienced. The researchers asked the participants to count the chills they felt during the music and to rate those chills on a scale of 1-10. They were also asked to rate the music on a scale of 1-10. At the same time, the researchers monitored the temperature, heart rate, the electrical response on the skin, respiration and blood volume and they ran the brain scans simultaneously. They wanted to measure what was actually happening during the times when the participants were feeling the chills.  The researchers found that there were two different brain circuits involved while listening to music. One was linked to the area of the brain used for learning and moving, the other was linked to the limbic system, a section of the brain on both sides of the thalamus, under the cerebrum, which is responsible for our emotional life and the formation of memory. Dr Robert Zatorre, a neuroscientist at The Neuro, said on the university's website, 'Our results help to explain why music is of such high value across all human societies'.

Music has been shown in other studies to have effects on the brain. People who listen to classical music tend to perform better on cognitive tests. It has also been found that the grey matter in the auditory cortex of the right hemisphere of the brain is larger in musicians as compared to non-musicians. Scientists have established that this is not linked to genetics but instead is developed over time by use and practice.