We
think of music as art, as entertainment, and as a pastime. It’s
personal; it’s communal. Music is one of those things that, for many of
us, can ignite innumerable feelings and memories in just one song, or
even one verse alone. Throughout history, music was used for medicinal
purposes, and research today has demonstrated that therapeutic value.
But now, new research suggests music could even get you high.
Without even knowing the findings, think
about how you can relate to this idea. When you’re feeling stressed
out, motivated or unmotivated, angry, sad, happy, celebratory, etc.,
music may be one of your favourite tools for heightening the emotions
you’re feeling, or shifting them. According to the new
study, this emotional response happens because music activates a
chemical reward system in the brain — the same one that makes delicious
food, intense exercise, and opioid drugs feel great.
Though the brain’s reward system can
cause us to feel amazing, it can also lead us down a rabbit hole of
detrimental habits, like overeating, overexercising, and drug addiction.
But if we can gain control over this system, we can learn to avoid such
behaviors and reap the benefits of the positive aspect of the high.
The study tested how
naltrexone, a drug that diminishes the effects of opioids in the brain
and is therefore used primarily to treat drug and alcohol
addiction, affects musical enjoyment. Conducted by researchers at McGill
University, the research required 15 students to pick between two
different pieces of music they loved, and that gave them chills, and
bring them into the lab.
The subjects were then given
either naltrexone or a placebo. After an hour, the students listened to
their music of choice, along with two “neutral” songs selected by the
scientists. While the music played, the students used a slider to
measure their form of pleasure in relation to a specific song.
Sensors
also measured electrical activity in their facial muscles. Prior to
exiting the lab, the participants also took a survey regarding their
reactions. After a week, the subjects were put through the same test,
except the naltrexone group received placebos and vice versa.
The results revealed that participants
moved their facial muscles less with naltrexone in their system, which
suggests that it had reduced their emotional response to what they were
hearing. This was found for both positive and negative emotions: the
highs felt lower, and the lows felt higher.
The sliders implemented in the study
revealed that the subjects’ pleasure lessened when listening to their
favourite music as a result of the naltrexone, but this did not have an
effect on their feelings about the neutral music.
The research suggests that, much like it
does for exercise, food, and drugs, naltrexone seems to prompt a low
response to music, which backs up the theory that the same reward system
in the brain accounts for our reactions to all of them.
No comments:
Post a Comment