Overview

• New research from the University of Turku shows that listening to favorite music directly activates the brain’s opioid system, similar to primary rewards like food and sex.
• The study used neuroimaging on 30 women to identify increased opioid release in brain regions tied to emotion and reward, including the orbitofrontal cortex, amygdala, and nucleus accumbens.
• Findings reveal that individual differences in opioid receptor density correlate with the intensity of pleasure experienced while listening to music.
• The study, published in the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, highlights music's potential to alleviate chronic and postoperative pain by reducing reliance on opioid medications.
• Researchers emphasize that culturally learned stimuli, such as music, can engage fundamental survival-related reward systems, bridging biological and aesthetic perspectives on pleasure.