Musical
anhedonia
Anhedonia is a diverse array of deficits in hedonic function, including reduced motivation or ability to experience pleasure. While earlier definitions emphasized the inability to experience pleasure, anhedonia is currently used by researchers t ...
is a neurological condition characterized by an inability to derive pleasure from
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
. People with this condition, unlike those suffering from
music agnosia, can recognize and understand music but fail to enjoy it.
Research has shown that people with this condition have reduced functional connectivity between the cortical regions responsible for processing sound and the subcortical regions related to reward.
History
Case studies of musical anhedonia and its symptoms date from 1993.
The term "musical anhedonia" was first used in 2011. It was originally used to describe the selective loss in emotional responses to music following damage to the brain. It has now come to mean, more generally, a selective lack of pleasurable responses to music in individuals with or without brain damage. This has led to the recognition of two different types of musical anhedonia.
The first type, known as "musical anhedonia without brain damage", manifests itself in individuals that do not present any neurological damage. Its incidence in the general population is low: between 3% and 5%. The second type is known as "acquired musical anhedonia". It is this form that develops as a result of brain damage. The incidence of this second form is even lower, and most studies of it focus on individual cases.
Research
A 2014 study correlated participants' reported enjoyment of music with neurological activity, as measured by
Functional magnetic resonance imaging
Functional magnetic resonance imaging or functional MRI (fMRI) measures brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow. This technique relies on the fact that cerebral blood flow and neuronal activation are coupled. When an area o ...
(fMRI). It found that those who reported stronger emotional reactions to music had greater neurological activity linking the
auditory cortex
The auditory cortex is the part of the temporal lobe that processes auditory information in humans and many other vertebrates. It is a part of the auditory system, performing basic and higher functions in hearing, such as possible relations to ...
and
mesolimbic pathway
The mesolimbic pathway, sometimes referred to as the reward pathway, is a dopaminergic pathway in the brain. The pathway connects the ventral tegmental area in the midbrain to the ventral striatum of the basal ganglia in the forebrain. The ventral ...
of the brain. This suggests that specific musical anhedonia exists as a discrete neurological condition, rather than a symptom of general anhedonia.
Music therapy may be ineffective for people with musical anhedonia, as is the case with certain other diseases and conditions such as
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...
and
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...
.
A 2019 study found that specific music-based treatments may alleviate anhedonia and other
depression symptoms.
Social stigma
Music is often considered to be a
universal language
Universal language may refer to a hypothetical or historical language spoken and understood by all or most of the world's people. In some contexts, it refers to a means of communication said to be understood by all humans. It may be the idea of ...
, and individuals with musical anhedonia may find it difficult to understand why they do not gain pleasure from it. Two core societal benefits have emerged from the new empirical research into the condition: it has helped people with the condition to better understand why they are affected by it; and it has helped to demonstrate to the rest of the population that it is a genuine condition that impacts the lives of many people.
Northeastern University professors investigated whether the correlation between music and the brain can impair "social bonding". They could link similar images of the brain of an
autistic
The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...
person with the images of the brain of a person with musical anhedonia.
See also
*
Amusia
Amusia is a musical disorder that appears mainly as a defect in processing pitch but also encompasses musical memory and recognition. Two main classifications of amusia exist: acquired amusia, which occurs as a result of brain damage, and con ...
*
Auditory agnosia Auditory agnosia is a form of agnosia that manifests itself primarily in the inability to recognize or differentiate between sounds. It is not a defect of the ear or "hearing", but rather a neurological inability of the brain to process sound meanin ...
*
Neuroscience of music The neuroscience of music is the scientific study of brain-based mechanisms involved in the cognitive processes underlying music. These behaviours include music listening, performing, composing, reading, writing, and ancillary activities. It also ...
References
{{Reflist, 2
Music psychology