Why some people find no joy in music
For most people, music sparks emotion, lifts mood, and invites movement. Yet a small group of people feel nothing at all when they listen. Scientists call this condition specific musical anhedonia, and new research explains why it happens and why it matters far beyond music, Qazinform News Agency correspondent reports, citing Science Daily.
Researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences say the issue is not a broken reward system. Instead, it is a communication problem. In people with musical anhedonia, the brain regions that process sound do not properly connect with the regions that generate pleasure.
Brain imaging shows that these individuals recognize melodies and rhythms just like anyone else. The auditory system works normally. What is missing is the emotional payoff. When they hear music, the brain’s reward circuit stays quiet, even though the same circuit responds normally to other pleasures such as winning money.
According to neuroscientist Josep Marco Pallarés of the University of Barcelona, the lack of enjoyment comes from weak links between networks, not from an inability to feel pleasure in general.
Study results
To identify and study this condition, researchers developed the Barcelona Music Reward Questionnaire. The test measures how rewarding music feels across five areas: emotional response, mood regulation, social connection, physical movement like dancing, and the desire to seek out new music.
People with musical anhedonia score low in all five categories. This pattern helps scientists separate those who simply have different tastes from those whose brains process musical reward in a fundamentally different way.
The findings challenge a long-held assumption in neuroscience that pleasure works like a switch. Instead, enjoyment appears to exist along a spectrum and depends on how well specific brain systems interact.
Neuroscientist Ernest Mas Herrero, also from the University of Barcelona, explains that even a healthy reward circuit cannot create pleasure on its own. It must work closely with the brain areas that process each type of experience, whether that experience is music, food, or social interaction.
Why some people develop musical anhedonia is still unclear. Studies suggest both genetics and environment contribute. Research involving twins indicates that genetic factors may explain up to about half of the differences in how much people enjoy music.
Even among people without this condition, sensitivity to reward varies widely. Musical anhedonia represents one extreme of that natural range.
The research team is now working with geneticists to identify genes linked to musical anhedonia. They also plan to study whether the condition remains stable over time or can change, and whether it might one day be reversible.
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that the music reduces anesthesia needs during surgery.
