Why do some melodies give us such pleasure? The secret is how our brain reacts to them, neuropsychologists have found out.
When jazz legend John Coltrane first heard another celebrity, Charlie Parker, play the saxophone, the music, he said, hit him “right between the eyes.” Neuroscientists believe that Coltrane was extremely accurate. When we hear sounds we like, we have a strong response in certain areas of the brain – primarily in the nucleus accumbens, which serves as the center of pleasure! * Appreciating music as beautiful, this center works “in conjunction” with other brain structures responsible for recognition of familiar patterns and thinking. While listening to a new tune, the brain is constantly trying to predict its further development, and if it differs from expectations (for the better), we experience pleasure. Neuropsychologists have given this effect the name “positive prediction error.” When such an error occurs in the calculations, the hormone dopamine is released into the blood. It is he who makes us feel a sense of pleasure and euphoria. But the words of the songs do not produce such an effect, scientists assure.
* Science, 2013, vol. 340.