A brain study of 23 people with treatment-resistant depression while they listen to classical music has identified the antidepressant mechanisms of this music. Using intracranial recordings and electroencephalogrammes, the researchers concluded that listening to classical music synchronises neuronal oscillations between the auditory cortex - responsible for processing sensory information - and the reward circuit - responsible for processing emotional information. "The improvement of depressive symptoms was not linked to the emotion of the music itself but was correlated with the patient’s level of music enjoyment," says the study published in Cell Reports.
240809 Rafael música depresión EN
Rafael Román Caballero
Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellow
McMaster Institute for Music & the Mind, McMaster University (Canada)
Mind, Brain and Behaviour Research Centre, University of Granada
This study’s findings add to the large body of results confirming that music is a powerful stimulus that produces pleasure in our species. Previous studies on musical anhedonia (present in people who suffer from an inability to enjoy music specifically) show us the special relationship between our auditory brain and brain regions linked to the reward system. Data from this new research reveal that music's relationship with pleasure is so strong that it helps to alleviate depression. And that relationship may have an identifiable, measurable pattern of electrical activity in the brain.
What the future holds is to understand whether such patterns of activity can be induced. Can we recreate the feelings of enjoyment of music without music? Could music teach us how a brain behaves in a state of full pleasure? Is that brain pattern of pleasure alone similar to the pattern of enjoyment we experience at group musical events (concerts with friends, singing with family, singing along to our team anthem, etc.)? As musical beings and social beings, what do others add to our emotional experience?
- Research article
- Peer reviewed
- Experimental study
- People
Xin Lv et al.
- Research article
- Peer reviewed
- Experimental study
- People
