Causal link between dopamine and musical [631171]

Causal link between dopamine and musical
pleasure and motivation in humans

A new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) , reveals
a causal link between dopamine and the reward responses in humans when listening to
music.

Researchers pharmacologically manipulated the dopaminergic transmission of twenty -seven
participants while they were listening to music and showed for the first time a causal link
between dopamine and musical pleasure and motivation. While the dopamine precursor
levodopa increased the hedonic experience and motivational responses , such as willingness
to purchase a song, the dopamine antagonist risperidone led to a reduction of both. These
results critically shed new light on the neurobiology and neurochemistry underpinning reward
responses, contributing to an open debate on human pleasures.

Humans usually take part in pleasurable experiences such as listening to music, singing or
playing. Understanding how the brain translates a sequence of sounds, such as music, into a
pleasant rewarding experience is thus a challenge.

In this s tudy, researchers addressed whether dopamine, a neurotransmitter playing a major
role in the regulation of pleasant experiences and motivation to behave in certain ways, has a
direct function in the positive experience induced by music. In order to answer this question,
the authors manipulated the dopaminergic synaptic availability for the participants' neuronal
receptors.

In the three different sessions, separated by one week at least, the experts orally
administrated to each participant a dopamine precur sor (levodopa, which increases
dopaminergic availability), a dopamine antagonist (risperidone; to reduce dopaminergic
signaling), and placebo (lactose; as a control). Researchers predicted that if dopamine plays
a causal role in music -evoked reward, levodo pa and risperidone should lead to opposite
effects regarding musical pleasure and motivation.

The first author of the study, says it "sheds new light on the role of the human dopaminergic
system regarding abstract rewards". Moreover, "these results challe nge previous evidence
conducted in animal models, where dopaminergic manipulations showed a clear role of

dopamine in motivation and learning, but a controversial function in regulating hedonic
responses in primary rewards such as food". The researcher con cludes that these results
"show that dopaminergic transmission in humans can play different roles than those
proposed in affective processing, particularly in abstract cognitive activities such as listening
to music".

The authors indirectly measured chang es in pleasure and reward using electrodermal
activity, which is a very sensitive technique to evaluate emotional changes (in this case, the
hedonic impact of music). In each session, participants listened to their favourite songs apart
from other ten sing les (the chosen singers and bands were Alejandro Sanz, Amaia Montero,
Antonio Orozco, Auryn, Birdy, Katy Perry, Maldita Nerea, Melendi, One Direction and Taylor
Swift). The objective was for them to evaluate the experience subjectively (real time ratings
and general pleasure rating for each song). Also, motivational responses were measured by
asking participants how much of their own money they would pay for each song. To control
the implication of rewarding processes under a non -music condition, researcher s carried out
a task in which the impact of monetary reward was evaluated -a task in which participants
could win or lose money.

Overall, the results straightforwardly revealed that pharmacological interventions modulated
the reward responses elicited by music. Risperidone, in contrast to levodopa, impaired
participants' ability to experience chills, which is considered a physical manifestation of the
peak pleasure experience to music listening. As seen in changes in electrodermal activity,
participants' r atings on emotional response were higher under levodopa and lower under
risperidone, ratings that were also compared with placebo administration.

These results parallel those observed when using money as a reward, being the increase in
emotional arousal l arger under levodopa and lower under risperidone. Finally, participants
were willing to spend more money under levodopa than under risperidone, indicating that
they were more motivated to listen to the music again when dopaminergic transmission was
enhance d than when it was blocked.
The senior author says this study "shows for the first time a causal role of dopamine in
musical pleasure and motivation: enjoying a piece of music, deriving pleasure from it, wanting
to listen to it again and be willing to spen d money for it… it all depends on the released
dopamine".
A new study published in Proceedings of the National Aca demy of Science (PNAS), reveals a causal
link between dopamine and the reward responses in humans when listening to music. The study was
conducted by researchers from the Cognition and Brain Plasticity Grou p of the University of
Barcelona and the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute of Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute
(UB-IDIBELL), the Human Neuropsychopharmacology group and the PKPD modeling and simulation
groups at the Biomedical Research Institu te of Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau and Universitat
Autònoma de Barcelona, and the Montreal Neurological Institute of McGill University.
Researchers pharmacologically manipulated the dopaminergic transmission of twenty -seven
participants while they were listening to music and showed for the first time a causal link between
dopamine and musical pleasure and motivation. While the dopamine precursor levodopa increased the
hedonic experience and motivational responses, such as willingness to purchase a s ong, the dopamine
antagonist risperidone led to a reduction of both. These results critically shed new light on the
neurobiology and neurochemistry underpinning reward responses, contributing to an open debate on
human pleasures.

Humans usually take part in pleasurable experiences such as listening to music, singing or playing.
Understanding how the brain translates a sequence of sounds, such as music, into a pleasant rewarding
experience is thus a challenge.

In this study, researchers addressed whether d opamine, a neurotransmitter playing a major role in the
regulation of pleasant experiences and motivation to behave in certain ways, has a direct function in
the positive experience induced by music. In order to answer this question, the authors manipulate d the
dopaminergic synaptic availability for the participants’ neuronal receptors. In the three different
sessions, separated by one week at least, the experts orally administrated to each participant a
dopamine precursor (levodopa, which increases dopamin ergic availability), a dopamine antagonist
(risperidone; to reduce dopaminergic signaling), and placebo (lactose; as a control). Researchers
predicted that if dopamine plays a causal role in music -evoked reward, levodopa and risperidone
should lead to oppo site effects regarding musical pleasure and motivation.
Laura Ferreri, UB -IDIBELL researcher and first signer of the study, says it “sheds new light on the
role of the human dopaminergic system regarding abstract rewards”. Moreover, “these results
challeng e previous evidence conducted in animal models, where dopaminergic manipulations showed
a clear role of dopamine in motivation and learning, but a controversial function in regulating hedonic
responses in primary rewards such as food”. The researcher concl udes that these results “show that
dopaminergic transmission in humans can play different roles than those proposed in affective
processing, particularly in abstract cognitive activities such as listening to music”.
Electrodermal response
The authors indi rectly measured changes in pleasure and reward using electrodermal activity, which is
a very sensitive technique to evaluate emotional changes (in this case, the hedonic impact of music). In
each session, participants listened to their favourite songs apar t from other ten singles (the chosen
singers and bands were Alejandro Sanz, Amaia Montero, Antonio Orozco, Auryn, Birdy, Katy Perry,
Maldita Nerea, Melendi, One Direction and Taylor Swift). The objective was for them to evaluate the
experience subjectively (real time ratings and general pleasure rating for each song). Also,
motivational responses were measured by asking participants how much of their own money they
would pay for each song. To control the implication of rewarding processes under a non -music
condition, researchers carried out a task in which the impact of monetary reward was evaluated –a task
in which participants could win or lose money.
Overall, the results straightforwardly revealed that pharmacological interventions modulated the
reward re sponses elicited by music. Risperidone, in contrast to levodopa, impaired participants’ ability
to experience chills, which is considered a physical manifestation of the peak pleasure experience to
music listening. As seen in changes in electrodermal activ ity, participants’ ratings on emotional
response were higher under levodopa and lower under risperidone, ratings that were also compared
with placebo administration. These results parallel those observed when using money as a reward,
being the increase in emotional arousal larger under levodopa and lower under risperidone. Finally,
participants were willing to spend more money under levodopa than under risperidone, indicating that
they were more motivated to listen to the music again when dopaminergic trans mission was enhanced
than when it was blocked.
Antoni Rodríguez Fornells, ICREA researcher and head of the UB -IDIBELL group, says this study
“shows for the first time a causal role of dopamine in musical pleasure and motivation: enjoying a
piece of music, deriving pleasure from it, wanting to listen to it again and be willing to spend money
for it… it all depends on the released dopamine”.

Reference Article :
Ferreri, L.; Mas -Herrero, E.; Zatorre, R.; Ripollés, P.; Gomez -Andrés, A.; Alicart, E.; Olivé, G.;
Marco -Pallarés, J.; Antonijoan, R. M.; Valle, M.; Riba, J., y Rodriguez -Fornells. “ Dopamine
modulates the reward experiences elicited by music ”, Proceedings of the National Academy of
Science , January 2019. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1811878116