Social Pleasures of Music

Humans across all societies engage in music-listening and making, which they find pleasurable, despite music having no obvious survival value. Here we review the neurobiology of musical pleasures and propose a “simulated sociability” hypothesis – that the social dimension of music is the key reason for musical hedonia. Neuroimaging studies show that positively and negatively valenced music elicit largely similar activation patterns, and that music induces comparable brain activity as social signals. We argue that this reflects the inherent sociability of music, and the fact that musical pleasures are consistently associated with autobiographical events linked with musical pieces. Brain’s mu-opioid receptor (OR) system governing social bonding also modulates musical pleasures, and listening to and making of music increase prosociality and OR activity. Finally, interpersonal synchrony signals affiliation, and music-induced movements increase social closeness and pleasant feelings. We conclude that these links between music, interpersonal synchrony and affiliation makes music so rewarding.