2019/01/22 by Laura Ferreri, Ernest Mas‐Herrero, Robert J. Zatorre +9 · 2 citations
Neuroscience · Arts and Humanities · Psychology · #Neuroscience and Music Perception #Diverse Music Education Insights #Music Therapy and Health #Dopamine #Singing #Active listening #Psychology #Dopaminergic #Musical #Neuroscience #Cognitive psychology #Communication #Art #Visual arts
paper · pdf · doi:10.1073/pnas.1811878116
openalex publication_date 2019/01/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
= 27) were engaged in music listening. We orally administrated to each participant a dopamine precursor (levodopa), a dopamine antagonist (risperidone), and a placebo (lactose) in three different sessions. We demonstrate that levodopa and risperidone led to opposite effects in measures of musical pleasure and motivation: while the dopamine precursor levodopa, compared with placebo, increased the hedonic experience and music-related motivational responses, risperidone led to a reduction of both. This study shows a causal role of dopamine in musical pleasure and indicates that dopaminergic transmission might play different or additive roles than the ones postulated in affective processing so far, particularly in abstract cognitive activities.