加拿大一项最新研究显示,大脑在听音乐时的感觉可以比享受美食更好,这正应了孔子当年听过美妙韶乐后的一句夸张感叹,“三月不知肉味”。
新一期英国《自然·神经科学》杂志刊登报告说,加拿大麦基尔大学等机构研究人员请一些对音乐“特别有感觉”的人参与试验,让他们听各种不同的音乐,同时利用功能磁共振成像技术监测其大脑活动。结果显示,他们在听特别喜欢的音乐时,大脑中的多巴胺含量明显上升,这与美食在大脑中引起愉悦反应时的情况相同。
研究人员瓦洛里·萨里波尔说,一般受试者在听喜欢的音乐时大脑中多巴胺含量上升幅度在6%到9%之间,不过也有人出现过21%的上升幅度。以前的相关研究显示,美食一般也就使多巴胺含量上升6%。由此可见,在听过美妙的音乐后,“三月不知肉味”也不是不可能。
这项研究证实了音乐刺激也能引起与食物等实体刺激相同的反应。不过,由于研究对象是从200多名自认为对音乐“有感觉”的人中精心挑选出来的,上述研究结论还不能简单地推广到所有人中。(生物谷Bioon.com)
生物谷推荐原文出处:
Nature Neuroscience doi:10.1038/nn.2726
Anatomically distinct dopamine release during anticipation and experience of peak emotion to music
Valorie N Salimpoor,Mitchel Benovoy,Kevin Larcher,Alain Dagher& Robert J Zatorre
Music, an abstract stimulus, can arouse feelings of euphoria and craving, similar to tangible rewards that involve the striatal dopaminergic system. Using the neurochemical specificity of [11C]raclopride positron emission tomography scanning, combined with psychophysiological measures of autonomic nervous system activity, we found endogenous dopamine release in the striatum at peak emotional arousal during music listening. To examine the time course of dopamine release, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging with the same stimuli and listeners, and found a functional dissociation: the caudate was more involved during the anticipation and the nucleus accumbens was more involved during the experience of peak emotional responses to music. These results indicate that intense pleasure in response to music can lead to dopamine release in the striatal system. Notably, the anticipation of an abstract reward can result in dopamine release in an anatomical pathway distinct from that associated with the peak pleasure itself. Our results help to explain why music is of such high value across all human societies.