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Music and ‘chills’ – the brain’s reward system in action
Article: Valorie N Salimpoor, Mitchel Benovoy, Kevin Larcher, Alain Dagher & Robert J Zatorre. Anatomically distinct dopamine release during anticipation and experience of peak emotion to music. Nature Neuroscience. Free Access Here See BBC Coverage here A few weeks ago I wrote a blog about the experience of musical chills or ‘shivers down the spine’ – that unique, intense, peak emotional as well as physical experience that we can get when listening to our favourite piece of music. Pavarotti singing ‘Panis Angelicus’ does it for me – what a voice! Well, this topic must be in fashion as today sees the pre-release online launch of a new Nature Neuroscience article…
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The journey to liking music is influenced by personality
Article in question: Hunter, P.G., & Schellenberg, E.G. (2011). Interactive effects of personality and frequency of exposure on liking for music. Personality and Individual Differences, 50, 175-179. Free to view here What is it that makes us like a certain piece of music while another person can detest the same collection of notes? And what is the cognitive process by which we come to like or dislike a piece of music in the first place? No doubt with music, as with all the aesthetic arts, there are different strokes for different folks and part of the beauty of music is that people can experience varying reactions, thoughts and feelings in…
