Neural Correlates of Music Listening: Does the Music Matter?

The last decades have seen a proliferation of music and brain studies, with a major focus on plastic changes as the outcome of continuous and prolonged engagement with music. Thanks to the advent of neuroaesthetics, research on music cognition has broadened its scope by considering the multifarious phenomenon of listening in all its forms, including incidental listening up to the skillful attentive listening of experts, and all its possible effects. These latter range from objective and sensorial effects directly linked to the acoustic features of the music to the subjectively affective and even transformational effects for the listener. Of special importance is the finding that neural activity in the reward circuit of the brain is a key component of a conscious listening experience. We propose that the connection between music and the reward system makes music listening a gate towards not only hedonia but also eudaimonia, namely a life well lived, full of meaning that aims at realizing one's own daimon or true nature. It is argued, further, that music listening, even when conceptualized in this aesthetic and eudaimonic framework, remains a learnable skill that changes the way brain structures respond to sounds and how they interact with each other.

Automated summary

In recent decades, there has been a surge in research on the relationship between music and the brain, particularly focusing on the plastic changes resulting from prolonged engagement with music. The field of music cognition has expanded its scope to include various forms of listening experiences, from passive listening to expert attentive listening, and their diverse effects. It has been found that neural activity in the brain's reward circuit plays a crucial role in conscious listening experiences, suggesting that music listening can lead to both hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Furthermore, despite being situated in an aesthetic and eudaimonic framework, music listening remains a learnable skill that can alter brain structures and their interactions in response to sound.