title: Neural correlates of specific musical anhedonia.
abstract: Although music is ubiquitous in human societies, there are some people for whom music holds no reward value despite normal perceptual ability and preserved reward-related responses in other domains. The study of these individuals with specific musical anhedonia may be crucial to understand better the neural correlates underlying musical reward. Previous neuroimaging studies have shown that musically induced pleasure may arise from the interaction between auditory cortical networks and mesolimbic reward networks. If such interaction is critical for music-induced pleasure to emerge, then those individuals who do not experience it should show alterations in the cortical-mesolimbic response. In the current study, we addressed this question using fMRI in three groups of 15 participants, each with different sensitivity to music reward. We demonstrate that the music anhedonic participants showed selective reduction of activity for music in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), but normal activation levels for a monetary gambling task. Furthermore, this group also exhibited decreased functional connectivity between the right auditory cortex and ventral striatum (including the NAcc). In contrast, individuals with greater than average response to music showed enhanced connectivity between these structures. Thus, our results suggest that specific musical anhedonia may be associated with a reduction in the interplay between the auditory cortex and the subcortical reward network, indicating a pivotal role of this interaction for the enjoyment of music.
authors: Department of Cognition, Development and Educational Psychology, University of Barcelona, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, 08097 Barcelona, Spain.
authors: Noelia
authors: N
authors: Martínez-Molina
authors: Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada H3A 2B4.|Cognition and Brain Plasticity Group, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, 08097 Barcelona, Spain.
authors: Ernest
authors: E
authors: Mas-Herrero
authors: Department of Cognition, Development and Educational Psychology, University of Barcelona, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, 08097 Barcelona, Spain.|Cognition and Brain Plasticity Group, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, 08097 Barcelona, Spain.|Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, 08010 Barcelona, Spain.
authors: Antoni
authors: A
authors: Rodríguez-Fornells
authors: Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada H3A 2B4.|International Laboratory for Brain, Music, and Sound Research, Montreal, QC, Canada H3C 3J7.
authors: Robert J
authors: RJ
authors: Zatorre
authors: Department of Cognition, Development and Educational Psychology, University of Barcelona, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, 08097 Barcelona, Spain; josepmarco@gmail.com.|Cognition and Brain Plasticity Group, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, 08097 Barcelona, Spain.|Institute of Neurosciences, University of Barcelona, 08035 Barcelona, Spain.
authors: Josep
authors: 0000-0001-9175-1480
authors: J
authors: Marco-Pallarés
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D059445:Anhedonia / Q000502:physiology*; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005715:Gambling; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009146:Music; D009714:Nucleus Accumbens / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology; D012201:Reward; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: anhedonia; emotion; music; reward