Studies // Cited work

Anatomically distinct dopamine release during anticipation and experience of peak emotion to music

Salimpoor, V. N., Benovoy, M., Larcher, K., Dagher, A., & Zatorre, R. J. (2011). Anatomically distinct dopamine release during anticipation and experience of peak emotion to music.

Level B Experiment doi:10.1038/nn.2726

What this study supports

Supports the claim that peak emotional responses to music were accompanied by striatal dopamine release, with caudate and nucleus accumbens linked to anticipation and experience. Small imaging sample of self-selected music; not about dance music or crowds.

Who was studied
Listeners scanned with PET and fMRI while hearing self-selected music that reliably elicited peak emotion.
Design
Experiment
Level of evidence
Controlled studies: randomised or experimental designs, and syntheses of correlational work.

Claims that rest on it

Each claim states what the site asserts, at what strength, and with what caveat.

EmpiricalLevel BConfidence MODERATE

Peak emotional responses to self-selected music were accompanied by striatal dopamine release, with the caudate more involved in anticipation and the nucleus accumbens in the peak experience.

Scope
A small PET and fMRI study of listeners with music they had chosen.
Caveat
Electronic dance music and crowds were not studied; the parallel with a build-up and drop is an analogy.

Last reviewed · Review due · music-peaks-dopamine

EmpiricalLevel BConfidence HIGH

The cited synchrony and music studies measured liking, cooperation, pain thresholds, closeness and reward responses during or shortly after the activity, and provide insufficient evidence that collective rhythm reduces the difficulties people bring into it.

Scope
The outcomes measured in the synchrony and music studies cited on this site.
Caveat
Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence; longer-term studies could find lasting benefits.

Last reviewed · Review due · synchrony-evidence-short-term